Habitat Furnishings

I have people that write or call us all the time asking us if our latex mattresses are made from “organic latex”. I though I’d address that very issue, having just come from the Highpoint market and speaking with industry experts on natural latex, as well as many legitimate organic products. First things first…there is no such thing as “organic latex”. Products that are labelled organic are generally certified organic by some sort of recognized authority, whether it b e private or regulatory..but keep in mind, certified organic cotton is one thing, organic latex is another. Raw liquid latex is collective typically from plantation grown Hevea brasiliensis trees grown in vast numbers. True natural latex is botanical in origin, and the end product, if advertised as “natural latex”, will contain no synthetic, petroleum based foam. However, there is no know certification program which regulates latex plantations, either privately or publicly, at the moment. Think about it…certifying any produce “organic” involves thoroughly  testing and evaluating hundreds of thousands of acres of earth and soil to determine that it is free of pesticides, herbicides, and a myriad of other compounds..which would probably be of extreme interest to consumers were are thinking of eating their latex mattress, but not to anyone else, so there is no real marathon race to certify latex as organic. Besides, Hevea trees thrive in regions where they are grown on the plantation scale largely without the use of these chemicals…the product is truly all natural, but certifying them as organic is, well, probably something that is not likely to happen any time soon. So, you are shopping for a natural latex mattress, realize that anyone claiming that the latex is organic…is using illusion and not reality. Worry about your avocados being organic. Natural latex, since it is vulcanized, is cleaned by triple rinsing using drinkable water (our product anyway), and the heating process essentially sterilizes the latex, removing any pathogens as well. Natural latex, if it is botanical in origin, is pretty pristine stuff.

Recently we launched our Habitat Ascend Air Bed System, which features a 2″ Natural Latex, and customers have loved the extraordinarily plush and cushier feel. We also incorporate the same 2″ layer of high quality memory foam in the Ascend model as well, to make sure the bed is highly functional at relieving pressure points as well as providing good weight distribution. Since it is a little higher price wise than our previous models, we’ve received a lot of feedback from folks who wish we had a less expensive, more simplistically designed model that was within their grasp, perhaps in the $1400 range for a queen, versus the $1899 Queen Ascend pricepoint. Our original Habitat Air Bed offered a memory foam layer and a layer of convoluted high density foam, but didn’t have the natural latex layer (the layer that provides the “plusher” feel of the Ascend bed). We are currently developing a more basic model, called the Arise Air Bed System, that will be in the $1400-1500 price range in a queen, with the same basic “chassis” that we use in our Ascend bed, our fabric backed vulcanized rubber air chambers, hardwired digital remote system, premium side rail design, our wonderful Hollofil quilted top which will not pack down over long term use, and our high quality memory foam layer. It will also include a softer High Density foam layer to offer some “cush” factor to the bed, without the higher cost of our natural latex layer. Look for this more conservatively priced bed to appear on our website around April 1 or so. We’re excited about offering a more diverse line of Air Beds on our site so that we can meet the needs of our highly discerning customer base. But building a great Air Bed takes a lot of chin scratching and research! Look for our Habitat Arise Air Bed to appear soon, with  great in depth videos to help you visualize our latest innovation.

Thanks to our many customers who have called and emailed us about our brand new Ascend Air Bed System, which we’re almost ready to present on our Air Bed page. It’s amazing to us how electric the response to this product has been. We’re so excited about it, that we can’t wait to begin shipping! Many people have asked about the cost, and, after days sharpening our pencils, we can tell you that the special introductory price will be $1899 for the Queen system, and $2299 for a King system. This will include the complete Ascend Air Bed System, with pump and digital remotes, free shipping, no sales tax (if you don’t live in Louisiana), and our free mattress protector, as always. It’s astonishing that this bed will be almost half the cost of the leading brand’s top of the line bed, which contains NO natural latex, the magic ingredient which will provide the “wow factor” you’ll get when you lie on this mattress. Keep a close eye on our site, as we are in the final stages with our Ascend videos and expect to have them on the site soon. We are gearing up in our assembly and shipping facility, and we just received our shipment of Natural Latex material to incorporate into our new model. Thanks for the interest!

Always advancing and improving our products has been one of our mission statements since we started in specialty bedding in 1994. Our customers have provided a tremendous amount of input into the enhancement of our beds, and since most of them have had a lot of experience with bedding that just is not comfortable, we learned to listen early on. Our Habitat Air Bed System has been a phenomenal success, as has our Natural Latex Mattress program, and with many of our customers becoming much more focused on the amazing comfort qualities of Natural Latex, people began asking….”Why don’t you have a latex layer in your Air Bed?”. Because our latex mattress program has been such a stratospheric success, we took that advice to heart. For the last 2 months, we have been developing our Brand New, Habitat Ascend Air Bed System. The only fundamental difference between our current Habitat Air Bed and the Ascend Air Bed is the addition of a 2″ layer of natural latex material, right below our 2″ layer of visco-elastic memory foam. We were astonished at what an incredible difference just a 2″ layer of latex could make in the comfort and appeal of the bed. Creating a wonderfully responsive, even more “cushier”, livelier, and more buoyant, supportive sensation was what were hoping would happen, but there is something more mysterious about how amazingly comfortable the Ascend Air Bed truly is. I feel as if I am floating, with even more effective pressure point reduction. I feel like I weigh less, which is a weird sensation at first, but believe me, you get used to it fast. We expect to have the Ascend Air Bed System in our online store by March 15, and anticipate rave reviews from our highly discerning customers! Get ready, it’s like having a Spa in your bedroom!!

When we introduced our Habitat Air Bed System, we thought we had designed the ultimate floatation bed, a bed that was a distillation of our 15 years of collective experience about all of the ingredients that went into the bed. We wanted to build an Air Bed better than even the leading brand, and we didn’t want to skimp on any of the materials. At first, we thought it would end up being way out of whack price wise, but after 2 years of chin scratching and field testing out ourselves and with our pretty picky “bed testers”, we were amazed at what we had created. What we finally produced was an astonishingly comfortable air bed system, with the best materials built in to the mattress, everything from the vulcanized fabric backed rubber air bladders, to a great piece of memory foam, a solidly built pump, and more. Best of all, it was FAR less expensive to produce than we thought, and we ended up being able to offer it up at a fair price, much less than the comparable leading brand model, and even less than their middle of the road model. But what is it about the bed that makes it unique? Why would you buy one?

Without question, the adjustability feature is the single most common reason folks look hard at our bed, beyond the price issue. The range of support, from soft to firm, and with the weight distribution and pressure point qualities of our memory foam (we use a 3.5 lb density vs. a cheaper grade like the leading brand uses), to the ergonomically friendly hard wired remotes, all add up to great value, and a well thought out bed. You can try it our too, for 180 days, risk free, that’s how sure we are you’ll love it. Read the reviews on our Air Bed page and get some real third party, uninfluenced opinions about what people think about our Air Bed. We have sold hundreds of Air Beds, and we have built a solid customer base that refer friends and relatives  to our site, after trying out beds in their own homes. It’s almost like a little “grassroots” movement that has taken on a life of its own, and we’re really proud of that.

Lately, I’ve received a number of calls from customers asking us very specifically about the adhesives we use in our Natural latex mattresses.  We carry only two models, the 6″ slightly firmer Natural Latex Mattress, and our cushier, plusher, 8″ Natural Latex Mattress. With the 6″ model, there are no layers laminated together, so the adhesive issue is not applicable, but we do layer together our 8″ model, which consists of our base 6″ firmer layer, and our 2″ softer blend up top. Offering a totally “green” Natural Botanical Latex mattress is not easy to do…when you consider that most mattresses, whether conventional innerspring or pillowtop, the leading brand of visco-elastic memory foam, or even a “natural” latex mattress, contains, almost always, a formaldehyde type adhesive. These compounds are volatile organic compound type glues that potentially can off gas fumes and vapors for years. These materials have also been found to be carcinogenic. To defeat this, we spend a lot of time and energy trying to find a “natural” glue to maintain the integrity and true to form,  ”All Natural Botanical Product” that we offer.

Our adhesive is commercially known as Simalfa 308, and despite it’s spiffy and kind of “chemical” sounding name, it is one of the more robust, cutting edge, completely safe and non-toxic adhesives available. It costs more to use, but it’s made from liquid natural latex and acrylic resin (like the acrylic used in artist’s paint, non-toxic), is water based, contains NO Volatile Organic Compounds (offgassing compounds that produce vapors) and is technically inert. Always wanting to field test everything that goes into our beds, we took a piece of laminated (glued) latex mattress, and tried to rip it into two pieces, at the seam where it was glued suing our Simalfa latex adhesive- and we tore the latex in half along the edges, the seamed pieces remaining completely tightly sealed.

If you’re considering a latex mattress, a memory foam bed, even a conventional mattress, ASK specifically-what adhesives are used? Are they water based? Are they VOC’s?  We’re proud to offer our totally Natural Latex Mattress with the safest water based adhesives available. Hey, we sleep on our own beds, along with our kids, cats, and dogs, too!

As our natural latex business has exploded, more and more customers have called me back after sleeping on their new latex bed to tell me how much relief they’ve had from chronic neck and back pain. Amazingly, some of the folks have been “through the mill” as I call it..having tried everything from the leading brand of memory foam bed, expensive high end pillow top mattresses, all kinds of air beds, water beds, and urethane foam beds. The elastic qualities of Natural Latex are hard to duplicate, and when trying them out for the first time, many people have told me that the support they get in the head and neck area is completely different form anything else they’ve tried. You don’t sink in or bottom out, and when you move, especially if you are a side sleeper, natural latex “instantly responds”, and there’s no “waiting for the bed to catch up to you” in the words of one of my customers who has suffered for decades after being rear ended in a car. Other customers have indicated that since “foam rubber” (which is an archaic term for Natural Latex, but nevertheless accurate) does not accumulate body heat like petroleum based foams, it is far more soothing and you don’t have to constantly reposition yourself because you are overheated. One question people often ask me is “Which of your two models should I choose?”, which is why we highly recommend watching our videos which, step by step, evaluate both our 6″ and 8″ models so you can choose the right fit. You can watch our videos on our site, http://www.habitatfutons.com/latex_mattress.html, scroll down to choose the “..which model might work best for you” video, which is really in-depth. Latex bedding, even though it’s been around for decades, is becoming a mainstream bedding option now, and in many cases, we’ve found that pain relief is a driving force behind this.

This is a commonly asked question, suprisingly, and easy to answer, too. Viscoelastic memory foam is manufactured using petroleum based products, and is a urethane foam. The manufacturing process itself is what provides the “memory” characteristics, the slow response time, the settling or sinking in feeling, if you will. Natural latex, which is foam rubber to be exact, is a botanical product, derived from the rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis.

   The raw material used to make a latex bed is collected in vast quantities, and vulcanized after being mixed with air, to create the wonderfully elastic and flexible all natural material. You can watch a video about the “green” characteristics of our Natural Latex on our site, http://www.habitatfutons.com/latex_mattress.html, including lots of information about the unique qualities of this renewable and sustainable resource.

I guess one of the reasons why people want to know the difference between “visco” foam and natural latex might be issues regarding offgassing and fumes, which are often associated with petroleum derived products like the visco-elastic urethane foams. Natural Latex bedding produces no offgassing or noxious fumes, since it is an all natural material.

We receive many calls from customers really excited about natural latex beds, both inspired by reading our website (http://www.habitatfutons.com/latex_mattress.html), and by nostalgic recollections of the foam rubber mattress that Mom had in her house in the 60’s and 70’s. As we mention on our site and perhaps in other blog entries, foam rubber latex beds have been around much longer than most of the alternative bedding products on the market today..by decades longer. “I remember how incredibly comfortable it was..how elastic, how responsive, how giving it was” was one comment from a woman whose Mom had a Sears foam rubber bed that lasted for 30 years. “It was as white as the day she bought it, in perfect condition..like it was in a time machine”. Of course, we’re aware of the wonderful organic properties of a natural latex mattress such as it’s resistance to photoreactive discoloration, cracking, drying out, and general disintegration well known by folks who own memory foam or high density foam beds. Of course, as petroleum products came on strong and synthetic foam rubber and other materials displaced the natural foam rubber mattresses, they fell out of favor for many years. Now, the appeal of an all natural foam rubber mattress is unprecedented, and we are astonished at how many of these beds we sell, how people love them, and the networking they do to get friends and relatives to own them, too. Totally green, wonderfully comfortable, your Mom’s foam rubber bed is the hottest mattress trend out there! If you’re the least bit nostalgic, call Mom and tell her to come visit..you’ve got a surprise for her.

    The new federal fire codes for mattresses manufactured in the U.S. went into effect on July 1, 2007. The regulations, collectively known as CFR Part 1633, require that all mattress products meet rigid open flame testing which essentially meets or exceeds even the tough California regulations. Many of our customers have asked me, “How do you guys meet the code..do you use any of the notorious PBDE chemicals, brominated materials, or other chemicals?”. I certainly understand the concern, especially since we sell a botanical product that is all natural, with no petroleum based compounds anywhere near our product. First, to put everyone’s mind at ease, PBDE’s (polybrominated diethyl ethers) aren’t even used in the U.S. any longer to treat foam or other materials, and haven’t even been manufactured here since January of 2005.

     What’s really cool, though, is how our manufacturer, and our resident “in-house” textiles expert, Mark, developed an innovative, all natural covering for our Natural Latex mattresses, which meets the CFR Part 1633 regulations. Up until July 1, 2007, our Natural Latex mattress came with an organic cotton cover, that had no fire retardant material or qualities in it. So, we wanted to use the organic cotton cover as the main element of our exterior casing, because everyone loved the wonderful feel of the material and the fact that the fiber itself was not harvested from cotton product using herbicides, pesticides, or other chemicals.

       The organic cotton cover we offer now has an additional blend of wool fiber called wool “vissle” woven into it. The wool fiber is encased with silica (not be confused with colored silica gel, which is toxic because of dyes added to the sand), which of course, is made from… pure sand. The process is unique, and involves mixing the wool fiber with a slurry made using the silica material, so that it coats the wool fiber, basically coating it with a protective and fire resistant layer of flexible glass (no, it’s not scratchy like fibreglass, and in fact, is remarkably soft, soothing, and insulative, like the flexible coating on speaker wire, for example). The end result is an all natural, fire resistant fiber covering which is chemical free, and because of the wool vissle, provides insulation so the material sleeps cool in summer, warm in winter. We’re really excited about it, and everyone who’s received them on our new compliant product, has raved about the unique qualities of the fiber.

 Let us know what you think of our new organic covering!

     I got a call today from a woman who really wanted to buy an all Natural Latex bed, and she’d been to every online store and every retailer in her city, but felt uncomfortable about the information she had received, being quite confused and frustrated. By the time she got to me, I think she was pretty worn out. Having slept on a Natural Latex bed years ago, she knew what she was looking for, but could never figure out how the raw liquid latex was made into a solid, how it was transformed from a white thick liquid into a highly elastic and flexible solid…and what was with all of those holes in the finished Latex mattress? No one could seem to give her a solid answer, so I helped her out.

     I told her that the reason for the holes in the mattress was quite straightforward. Natural latex needs the pincore holes, as they are called, to increase flexibility of the material, so it does not tear when rolled or handled. This adds a tremendous ventilation quality, too, that keeps the material bone dry, and thus providing all of the wonderful qualities like the inability for Natural Latex to harbor dust mites, mold, mildew, fungi, and bacterial organisms. True, there are some organic properties of Natural Latex, like its pH (level of acidity) that ward off these organisms, but keeping the material dry is by far the greatest contributor.

     The pincore holes are built into the mold, looking like very long spikes, around which the liquid latex is vulcanized (”slow cooked”) in the metal mold, which is really quite like a gigantic waffle iron, leaving its imprint on the finished product. Ever made Belgian waffles or pancakes? Very similar process. Just don’t burn them, or they quickly become brittle, black, and highly inedible.

     There are basically 5 steps in the Dunlop method of vulcanization that is used in our Natural Latex conversion from botanical liquid to semi-solid.

1. Compounding  is the step where all of the liquid latex is combined into a large vessel just prior to pouring into the mold. The liquid is filtered to remove any particulate matter, like you would sift flour before baking.             

2. Foaming and Gelling is the next step, where the liquid latex is frothed much like whipping cream, to incorporate as much air into the mixture as possible. The trick with the Dunlop method is to froth thoroughly (you know, the highest setting on the blender so to speak) so the mixture does not settle while in the mold still liquified.

3. Vulcanization is the next step, where the liquid latex has been poured into the mold, and is slow cooked so that the process from liquid to flexible “semi-solid” takes place. The heat applied is significant enough to “set” the material, remove the water, while at the same time, not scorching it..you know, again like a well cooked pancake.

4. Washing involves the vulcanized, now solid piece of Natural Latex being thoroughly rinsed to remove residual microscopic powdery latex proteins from the finished mattress core. Our production uses drinkable water to rinse the mattresses. During this process they are also repeatedly squeezed like a giant sponge, wrung out, rinsed, then wrung out again. The rinsing process makes the Natural Latex virtually hypoallergenic, and people with Latex allergies very rarely have any response while using our mattress (though we do advise doing a rub test, and when you purchase a mattress from us, we send you a piece before your mattress arrives to do this if you like). Once rinsed, the Natural Latex core is pristine, purified, and is 100% Natural Latex, botanically derived.

5. Drying is the final step before packaging and shipping, and involves passing the Natural Latex mattress cores through what looks like a gian pizza oven, only with high velocity moving air that is dry and warm, to remove any remaining water. After this step, the process is complete, and the mattress is ready for use!

      Many of my customers do a lot of research before they purchase a Natural Latex mattress. One of the problems is finding an online store like us who actually carries a genuine Natural Latex, and isn’t calling it Natural Latex when what they are really selling is a blend of Natural and synthetic latex. To be sure, I always advise people to ask questions, like “where is your Natural Latex collected?”, and if they can’t answer basic questions like that, most likely you’re dealing with synthetic latex. By the time customers get to us, a lot of times, they’re exhausted and completely confused, having been to twenty web sites, each of which has their own proprietary spin on their bed being the best. How do you distill all of this information down, so you can make a logical choice, and how do you know you’re going to get all Natural material?

    One of the most commonly asked questions we get, is “What is the Talalay method, and what is the difference between the Talalay method and the Dunlop method?”, the latter method being the process we use with our Natural Latex , turning it from liquid into solid form.  Talalay latex gets its name from the Talalay brothers who in the 1950s, created and then perfected a new method for manufacturing latex foam, taking the raw, hand collected, liquid material, and converting into the solid state. The process was based on first expanding the latex foam to fill a mould by sucking out all of the air after a small amount of “frothy” liquid latex was added, momentarily freezing it to capture and suspend the bubbles so they did not settle, and then gelling it with carbon dioxide gas to lock everything in place. Supposedly, the end result would be a product with lower density, coupled with greater uniformity and consistency. And indeed, the end product is quite unique, but it is significantly softer than natural Dunlop method latex, I think, and some folks find it not as elastic. The best application for Talalay Natural Latex is to use it as a top layer, not a support layer, where Dunlop method latex is more resilient and elastic and better as the “superstructure” layer.     

   I’ve been on dozens of latex beds at shows and in stores, and I have to be honest, I don’t really understand why many folks seem to get caught up in the process rather than the product. I really believe each is unique, and as long as you are getting all natural, not synthetic, Talalay or Dunlop, and preferably no blends, you will have completely detached yourself from using a sleep surface that is derived from a petroleum product with potential off gassing, smells, and fume issues.

      The real downside, though,  is that the Talalay method often is found in the maketplace as a blend of some Natural Latex, but mostly synthetic, petroleum based latex. It’s a whole lot cheaper to make, and a whole lot more profitable for the manufacturer who makes it. Ask a lot of questions when buying any latex bedding. Ask specifically, “Is it all natural, all botanical?”    

 For a really good reliable one layer, firmer, more supportive Natural Latex mattress,  the Dunlop method is simple, consistent, and has been time tested for 50 years. Natural Latex rubber mattresses were commonplace in the U.S. before cheaper, synthetic foams became available to the bedding industry, and many customers I speak to have Natural Latex beds in their homes or their parents homes, and are amazed at how resilient, elastic, and flexible these beds are even after decades. The Talalay method is new, not as time tested, and not as much information is available on the long term lifespan of this material as there is on the 50 year old Dunlop technique. But the material does make an unbeatable topper or finish layer for a really cushy, softer latex mattress..if it is Natural Talalay. Like anything else, ask for it by name!

      When I compare our Dunlop mattresses side by side with a Talalay bed, to me it so obvious, the main observation being that you tend to sink more in the Talalay material, vs. the Dunlop Natural material, which keeps you suspended if you will, on top of the mattress. Side sleepers especially seem to respond better to the Dunlop method since when you apply a lot of weight to the latex in a limited area (imagine side sleeping being like a knife on edge, vs. a belly or back sleeper, where the weight is more evenly distributed), the pressure point reduction and weight distributing qualities of the latex being clearly superior. You don’t bottom out on it, and you can easily turn from side to side effortlessly. This is important when you consider that a common complaint of memory foam users, and a few Talalay process mattress owners I have spoken with, say that the sinking effects of this materials cause you to feel like your stuck in a rut, and you can actually wake up as your body fights to wrestle its way out of the sinkhole in your bed.

       We have found again and again, that the Dunlop vulcanization method, basically involving a thorough whipping and frothing of the liquid latex to evenly disperse the air bubbles, is the better choice for comfort, but the only choice if you intend to buy a 100% all Natural Latex mattress. The Dunlop method uses a kind of gentle, “slow cook” heating process to solidify the latex, sealing in the wonderfully elastic and resilient qualities that you are looking for.

        For hundreds of years, people in the deep south made remarkably comfortable mattresses by stuffing them with Spanish Moss, the ubiquitous fungi like organism that hangs from big Oak trees all through the humid, hot tropical southern U.S. It was springy, naturally resistant to mold and mildew if kept dry, easily replaced when it matted down (you would go outside, gather up some more, and refill your mattress ticking), and was, quite simply, a totally natural, botanically derived bedding product. The world’s first mattress using a renewable and sustainable resource, if you will. Of course, the trade off was that Red Mites live symbiotically with the Spanish Moss, so there was a lot of itching and sneezing going on as well, and there were no insecticides back in those days.

     When I first tried a Natural Latex mattress, it was at a bedding show, and all I can recall was how comfortable it was, not really paying attention to the fact that it was made from a hand harvested, botanical liquid, collected from living trees. It was so wonderfully flexible, elastic, and I didn’t sink to the bottom of it (I had spent the whole days mindlessly shuffling from one memory foam mattress booth to the next, and was tired of hearing buzz phrases such as “restorative sleep”, “developed by NASA”, and the like, no doubt) and it was so astonishingly soothing, I was amazed. I took a 15 minute cat nap. We were looking for something different, having already been successful in the memory foam business, sensing that consumers were looking for a change..not necessarily green, but offering a different kind of comfort.

     When I got home, I did some research, spoke with some suppliers, had some samples sent, developed a little bit of knowledge base, and it would come up in conversation more often with customers who had purchased memory foam mattresses from us, but had returned them for various reasons, the most common being problems with off gassing smells, and the beds being way too hard. “What else do you have?”, customers would ask. And, eventually, we introduced our own line of Natural Latex mattresses, without a lot of fanfare. We were really playing up the comfort side of things, and had not really appreciated the “tree hugger” perspective as much as we should have I guess, so we went about trying to offer a pure, all natural product. 

    If you watch our videos, we touch on the renewable resource philosophy a bit, and the whole “circle of life” thing..okay, it’s corny, and maybe I should have come up with a more original phrase, but the concept is the same. Worrisome issues such as limited fossil fuel resources and putting all of our eggs in the petroleum basket concern us all now, what with our world the way it is, so more than ever, any product that can demonstrate a self sustaining lifecycle is certainly worth taking a look at, don’t you think?

   It just so happens that Natural Latex falls into that category. The Hevea brasiliensis tree, thrives  in the Sri Lankan climate, planted in rows of thousands on plantations with lowland topography, gentle rolling hills. Many thousands of Sri Lankan workers, whose lives depend upon the flow of liquid latex, collect the fluid daily from the excised cambium layer of the trees. For about twenty years, the trees product liquid latex, and then, the tree stops producing the raw material.

    After liquid latex stops flowing from the trees, vast quantities of them are harvested for their finely grained wood, so closely resembling Teak that they are used as furniture grade lumber stock, but also for timbers and beams used in construction as well. When the tree is felled, the plantation owner can plant a sapling in the same spot, and well, therein lies the “circle of life” reference.

      So green is the concept of Natural Latex, that many retailers say that their customers often factor the tree hugger component in first, but we don’t want you to do that. It just so happens that a Natural Latex mattress, like the Spanish Moss mattress in the analogy I used at the top of this post, so astonishingly comfortable, that the green thing is well, just a little something extra.

      Many of my customers call seeking information about Natural Latex, already having some seasoned experience and knowledge base about this unique, botanically derived  material. In fact, I talk to lots of folks who have actually slept on a Natural Latex mattress decades ago, many remembering the wonderfully comfortable, elastic, and supportive bed their Mom and Dad had in their house that was most likely a Sears product, like their Harvest House line of natural latex mattresses.

       In the 50’s, natural latex rubber mattresses were hugely popular, and even most automotive seating upholstery was done with latex rubber. By the mid 60’s however, cheaper, synthetic, petroleum based urethane foam was taking the place of natural latex in the bedding industry, and automobile manufacturers wanted something lighter in weight as well, since natural latex rubber is much more dense.  Soon, synthetic foams dominated  the bedding industry since they were cheap, light weight, and you could control the composition in such a way that different densities and unique aesthetic qualities could be created and controlled.

      Memory foam products are a good example of a material that has dominated the bedding industry for the last few years, with manufacturers playing up on it’s body enveloping, “melt up around you” sensation as being the best way to obtain proper spine alignment and receive “restorative sleep” benefits. Also, since NASA pioneered the development of this foam, customers liked the idea of anything romantically linked to space technology.

      Unfortunately, petroleum based foams tend to have some downsides, and with the current global mindset about oil derived products in general, the interest in greener, naturally derived products is undergoing a huge renaissance, and consumers are becoming more tuned in to chemical sensitivity and exposure to substances which are built into their sleep surfaces, and complaints are commonplace. I speak to medical professionals who call inquiring about natural latex, and there is genuine concern about these issues. Previously undiagnosed illnesses such as Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and others are now being more thoroughly understood as having at least some connection to environmental factors, and consumers want to eliminate any materials in their immediate living spaces, including bedding, that can expose them to substances which may be contributing to symptoms associated with these disorders. 

      I’ve personally spoken with dozens of folks who have been diagnosed suffering from vague syndromes like fibromyalgia or severe allergies, who start from scratch first by adjusting their diets, the air quality in their homes (who do you know that does not have some kind of an air filtration system in their home?), their beds, even the paint on the walls and the carpet on their floors. Bottom line, their is a huge, conscious movement underway motivating humans to cleanse their living environments, all in concert with bigger issues like global warming, and the tendency to move away from products made from oil.  I’m not saying that we’re trying to capitalize on a “tree hugger” image, and we don’t all wear Birkenstocks  here, but the fact of the matter is, there’s not a lot of research about the effects of long term, intimate contact with bedding materials, especially those manufactured using petroleum distillates.

     Especially alarming is the use of VOC based adhesives in the bedding industry, and consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the use of these materials. Customers for years have voiced concerns to me about the ingredients in mattresses, about such things as the “cumulative effect” of exposure to noxious materials, what with our seemingly endless need to create ever more sophisticated beds with all kinds of layers, all of which have to be glued together, in attempt to create the most innovative, high tech mattress in the marketplace. I’m surprised that some manufacturers don’t include a stepladder with their mattress, to be honest with you.

      Other problems with synthetic, oil based foams, including synthetic latex, is longevity. Natural latex, for example, does not depress, form body impressions, or rut over time, because of its high elasticity quality, its open celled stucture, and its stability. Urethane or oil based foams eventually turn yellow, become brittle, and begin to bucket or rut, even very early on. I have received many calls from customers who have become highly frustrated after purchasing a mattress and within months, body impressions have caused them to literally roll into the center of their mattress, where they become “trapped”!

When searching for true, 100% natural latex, you have to dig pretty deep, as the “latex scam” we talk about on our site, really does hold water. Many retailers pass off “100% Latex” as Natural, when in fact it’s nothing more than 100% synthetic urethane, and it has no botanical component to it at all. Others provide blended product, a mixture of some natural botanical material mixed with synthetic urethane foam, and call it “All Natural”. You have to ask a lot of questions…like, exactly where does your natural latex come from? There are few sources for botanical latex, most of it produced in Asia on large plantations, the cores, or layers of raw mattress components shipped to the U.S., and then final assembly and customized lamination and packaging done here, in various production facilities.

       So, what is it about 100% Natural Latex, the botanical version that makes it…so green? It just so happens that natural latex, while being as pristine as a spring day to humans, is a completely undesirable environment for dust mites, bacteria, mold, mildew, fungi, even certain viruses and other microbes. This is largely due to the dry environment within the “open celled” structure of natural latex, and without moisture, these organisms cannot colonize. Also, there is some suggestion that the pH, or acidity, of natural latex, may also be a natural inhibitor. Natural latex has no odor, and since it is a botanical product, does not leach out vapors or fumes over long periods of time. More specifically, when you purchase a latex mattress made using the Dunlop method, the rinsing process used after  the vulcanization process is complete (vulcanization is the “slow cooking” process which turns the raw liquid latex into a solid) utilizes pure, drinkable quality water, which removes proteins and other dusty residuals which eliminate allergens. Therefore, people who have latex allergies can safely enjoy the comfort of a natural latex mattress.

We source our latex from a private company which obtains our product from Sri Lanka, and an overview of the production process can be seen here, at the Latex Green web site. If you’re looking for all natural latex, remember that it’s really been around for a long time, and when you think about it, to have access to a time tested method of production (the Dunlop method, not the Talalay process, more on that in other blog entries found here) is pretty amazing. Botanical latex has been used in bedding and other industries in the U.S. for almost 60 years..more than almost any other bedding component in existence. Now that’s some serious field testing!

     Being in the retail side of the bedding business for almost fifteen years exposes you to some pretty amazing things. I started out in the futon business, at a time when futons had become more mainstream, and when Americans began to embrace the futon sofabed as comfortable, stylish, affordable, and even nostalgic..many folks who thought of their futon as something you threw into the dumpster behind your dorm after college, remembered it as being their sanctuary, a place where you could sleep for fourteen hours after being awake for four days. You could eat on it, hang out with friends on it, and you threw it into the back of your car and travelled with it, your futon, your cinderblock bookshelves, and your Hefty bags filled with all of your earthly possessions. I quickly developed two very busy stores, and then ultimately a web based store, to sell the softgoods and accessories that went along with the futon sofabeds we sold.

      As time went on, customers who had become friends began to ask about other bedding alternatives, and since I was keenly interested in finding out what the next bed dujour might be, and, worrying that futons would sort of drift into history, I paid attention. Soon we were outfitting our stores with Tempur-Pedic beds, and when we expanded to New Orleans, we quickly grew to become one of the largest distributors of Tempur-Pedic memory foam beds in the nation. Out of 6,500 dealers, we were number 35, and for two solid years our phones rang off the hook, trucks were rolling, with everyone wanting to take a ride on this “space-age” super high tech bed that molds around your body. Problem was, we had a fairly high rate of return, and people often complained about off-gassing “chemical” odors, since the beds are manufactured using petroleum derived, synthetic urethane foam. Other complaints included the mattresses becoming very hot while sleeping on them, the foam becoming rock hard during cold times of the year (memory foam is often temperature sensitive and responds by either getting extremely firm, or so soft it feels like you’re swimming in it).

       Customers who returned their memory foam mattresses felt strongly connected to us because of our closely knit customer service mindset, and our desire to develop relationships with our customers, so they’d often ask, still enthusiastically, ”What else do you have?”…  Around this time, we in fact had been seeing Natural Latex popping up more and more at industry shows, and several reps and manufacturers had told us that Europeans were already buying Natural Latex as mainstream bedding and had been for years, so we started researching in earnest.

     We felt the strong sense that our customers, who were becoming more and more green, some of them true treehuggers, wanted to move away from petroleum based bedding materials, and with more and more global emphasis on the shift away from making every single household item from oil, we also felt very strongly about this. But, we were skeptical that a mattress manufactured strictly from a botanical product could really be comfortable.

         So astonished were we at the sheer comfort level of Natural Latex when we received our first custom designed prototype Latex bed, that we called our production facility to ask them how fast we could get it into a working model, and onto our website, which had by now shifted away from futons to our current concept, Habitat Furnishings, which focuses primarily on our Natural Latex mattress line, as we lost interest in or simply phased out our futon products. Once we knew we wanted to offer a Natural Latex mattress line, we began researching the current marketplace to see what existing retailers and manufacturers were already doing. What we found was pretty much what we expected.

    First off, it was almost impossible to find an all natural latex bed that wasn’t either made of synthetic, petroleum based urethane foam, a blend of some natural latex and urethane foam (which some retailers still claimed was “all natural”), or a complex, laminated and layered mattress so confusing that you needed a technical manual for a starship just to figure out what was really in it. Also, every time something was laminated and glued together, we knew that a cumulative effect of exposure to formaldehyde based VOC glues was being created. Different densities, varying degrees of firmness and softness, also added to the myriad of confusion created when a customer tried to find a latex mattress. Our solution: find a source of 100% all Natural Latex, and we did, our natural material is 100% Sri Lankan white latex rubber (you can read more about our source by visiting Latex Green, the cooperative company where our latex cores, or layers, are sourced. We also wanted to offer only two very simplistically designed models, eliminate all the “myticism” and psychobabblish nonsense from the selection process. and make choosing a Natural Latex mattress simple, and even “fun”.

    Our site today features two unique models, our 6″ Natural Latex bed which features one continuous “block” of Sri Lankan white latex rubber made using the Dunlop method, and our 8″ Natural Latex bed, which offers a wonderfully cushy  built-in pillowtop section, a 2″ slightly softer layer laminated using water based adhesive, to our slightly firmer 6″ base layer. Both models are encased in an organic cotton cover, and contain NO synthetic materials. Totally green, but astonishingly comfortable. You can see both of our models on our Habitat Furnishings Latex  page.