Going Green, One Mattress at a Time

By Coeli Carr TIME, January 22, 2007

After Cecile Langelier started experiencing sleep-depriving aches from her new gardening ventures at home in Corning, Calif., last year, she and her partner Dennis Nelson decided the best balm might be a better mattress. Little did they know it would be made out of natural latex. “There was a support and softness that can only be described as being in my mother’s arms,” says Langelier, a former organizational-development consultant. “It was like lying down on a cloud.”

The cost of this piece of paradise was just less than $2,160, including the wood-slated foundation. But in addition to sticker shock was an even bigger eye opener. “I didn’t know latex was a natural material,” said Langelier.

Sleep, of all things, is going natural. According to the International Sleep Products Association, sales of mattresses and foundations shipped by the U.S. mattress industry are increasing more than 10% annually, and totaled $6.396 billion at wholesale in 2005. The non-innerspring mattress segment is showing even more strength, and grew 28% between 2004 and 2005. It’s clear that natural-latex mattresses (the terms natural latex and natural rubber are often used interchangeably) are coming into their own. “The latex category, including synthetic blends, is creating a strong buzz in the industry,” says Dave Perry, executive editor of trade publication Furniture/Today. “When you lie down, you can feel the nice, cushy resilience to the latex.”

Despite its better-known identification with gloves and condoms, latex starts it life cycle as a substance from Havea brasiliensis, better known as the rubber tree…

Sales of natural mattresses have not been resting. Several years ago … prices range from $2,000 to $9,000, excluding the foundation—-represented less than 5% of mattress revenues.
Jean Corriveau, the companys founder and owner, says the product has gone beyond early adapters and “green” retailers. “Now we go head to head against mainstream brands and specialty mattresses like Tempur-Pedic and into traditional bedding stores which, three years ago, would have been unthinkable,” he says. “That’s where the growth is now, in mainstream stores that want something more unique,” …

Plunging into natural latex many not only feel good but may also be good for you. “I like natural latex because of its breathability, and by its very nature, latex is a supportive material,” says Michael Breus, a clinical psychologist specializing in sleep disorders and the author of Good Night: The Sleep Doctor’s 4-Week Program to Better Sleep and Better Health. Too pricey? One third of our lives is spent lying in bed, says Carlos H. Schenck, a staff psychiatrist at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center and the author of Sleep: The Mysteries, the Problems and the Solutions. “How important is your sleep?” he asks. “If you like the comfort and quality of natural latex, it may be a very cost-effective investment.”