Foam sweet foam
Consumers rise and shine to a new trend in mattresses
Diane Eisenberg was just looking to buy a new headboard for her bed a few weeks ago when she strolled into a store near her home in Avon, Conn. She was there with her husband and kids, she says, and they started trying out the mattresses just for the fun of it. ''My husband lay down on one of them, and he just said to the saleswoman, 'I want this bed.''' she recalls, laughing. ''When I lay on it, I couldn't get up. It was so nice, like lying on a cloud.'' They bought it that day. They didn't know it, but they'd joined one of the hottest trends in the home: foam.
Just a few years ago, almost all the mattresses sold in the United States were made the same way: with a framework of metal innersprings, surrounded by a layer of foam to cushion the body. But that is rapidly changing. More premium mattresses are made entirely of foam, including natural latex foam and viscoelastic ''memory foam.'' The Natural Response latex bed the Eisenbergs bought, made by King Koil, is one of them.
Such mattresses are not cheap. Almost all of them cost more than $1,000 in stores, and retailers are happy to sell you a luxurious queen-size set for $3,000 or more. But a growing number of people believe the kind of sleep they get on them is worth springing for, so to speak.
And here's something those retailers don't particularly want you to know: By putting together the components, you can create your own premium latex or memory foam mattress for hundreds of dollars less.
If you want to learn the biggest reason for the retail foam bounce, turn on your television some Saturday afternoon. There it is, the Tempur-pedic infomercial. The one featuring an athletic-looking woman on a "Swedish mattress" made of "space-age" foam that keeps a handprint visible for several moments. The one with a glass of red wine that stays miraculously upright on the mattress while someone jumps up and down on the other side. With such marketing, Tempur-pedic is getting Americans to think beyond the innerspring.
The new foam mattresses typically have a layer of firmer latex or polyurethane foam that provides support under a plush, softer top layer that provides a comfortable sleeping surface. What do they feel like? It largely depends on that top layer. Tempur-pedic mattresses are topped by viscoelastic foam, a pressure-relieving material developed in the 1970s by NASA that is heat-sensitive and gradually adjusts to the body's weight. When you lie on it, it's like floating in something solid: You feel the surface slowly conform beneath you; it's very still and quiet. The body feels balanced and at rest. With a top layer of soft latex foam, it's more like lying on that puffy cloud. Because latex is rubber, it is also much springier.
Manufacturers claim several benefits for foam mattresses: Foam molds to every shape, they say, supporting the body in a way that keeps the neck and spine in alignment. It alleviates pressure points, helping people sleep soundly and providing relief from muscle aches, arthritis, and fibromyalgia. Naturally resilient latex foam is said to resist body impressions; it's also recommended for allergy sufferers, as it's resistant to dust mites, mold, mildew, and bacteria. High-end foam mattresses typically never need flipping and can come with warrantees of 20 years or more.
The bedding world is traditionally, well, a little sleepy. But with the foam boom, it has awakened with a start. According to David Perry, executive editor of Furniture Today magazine, Tempur-pedic's wholesale US sales increased 88 percent from 2002 to 2003. "That is by far the greatest growth rate of any of the top 12 bedding producers. It is absolutely phenomenal," he says over the phone. "I've never seen anything like it in the bedding industry." And, he adds, "nothing breeds success like success, which is why there are numerous Tempur-pedic competitors out there."
Companies are also jumping on the latex bandwagon. Latex Foam International, North America's only supplier of Talalay latex (which many consider the best), has seen a 107 percent rise in sales since 2001. "It's not just for infomercials anymore," says marketing director Kevin Stein. "You're starting to see it in every major retailer." Simmons, Sealy, and King Koil now offer all-latex foam mattresses. Other brands to look for include Nature's Rest, Prana, Natura, Jamison, PureTouch, FloBeds, and Englander.
How many people are sleeping on foam mattresses? According to the industry journal BedTimes, the figures are much higher in Europe than in the United States; in France, 72 percent do. Industry sources can cite no hard US figures, but estimates for the "specialty sleep" segment of the market, which includes foam mattresses, airbeds, and waterbeds, range from 10 percent to 20 percent.
If you ask who is buying foam mattresses, though, you may get a clear answer.
"It's the baby boomer," says Tom Wholley, vice president of the Better Bedding chain in Western Massachusetts and Connecticut. "The baby boomer is getting older and getting aches and pains in joints, and they're more affluent. They just appreciate a good sleep surface."
That description certainly fits Eisenberg, 47, who says she had hip and shoulder pain before she replaced her pillowtop innerspring mattress with a latex foam mattress from Better Bedding. "I feel better being on the foam, where you don't have as many pressure points," she says. "If it holds up I'll be the greatest advocate, because everybody likes to wake up feeling good. And so far, every day I've woken up feeling good."
Then there's her husband. "He really loves it," she says, laughing. "He's been in bed so much, it's like he can't wait to have dinner and then do a couple of things and then run up and get into that bed."
Eisenberg estimates that they spent nearly $4,000 on their new set, including accessories.
"If it's something you're spending a third of your life on," she says, "it's worth it. Your health is most important."
Younger people are buying foam mattresses as well. Ben Chakuas, 22, of Worcester says that chronic back pain from sleeping on a lumpy futon spurred him to get a Tempur-pedic. "It's really expensive; it cost me $2,000," says Chakuas, who financed the bed with a no-interest deal. "But my back feels so much better now."
If you decide to make your own latex or memory foam mattress, the cost will be considerably less than $1,000. You'll need three components: a support layer of firmer foam under a comfort layer of softer foam, enclosed in a form-fitting zip-up cover made of cotton, stretch knit, or stretch terrycloth (available from foam-supply sources). The total mattress thickness will be around 6 inches to 10 inches.
One factor to consider is the mattress's firmness. Contrary to popular wisdom, ultra-firm mattresses are not best for everyone. According to a study published last year in the British medical journal the Lancet, medium-firm mattresses proved better than firm mattresses for people suffering from lower-back pain.
Another factor is the way you sleep -- whether mostly on your back, side, or stomach. According to Mark D. Reigle, who runs an impressive foam retail site and online sleep forum at memoryfoam.com, back sleepers are usually comfortable on almost any mattress, as long as it is supportive enough to prevent a hammock effect. Side sleepers often prefer a thick, softer mattress that accommodates pressure points in the hips and shoulders. And stomach sleepers need firmer foam that prevents the back from swaying down into the mattress, ultimately causing lower-back pain.
When shopping for memory foam, beware of copycat versions that have proliferated on the Web. Make sure you know the foam's manufacturer.
Some of the best foam prices anywhere are at Reigle's website, which offers technical information on everything it sells and is affiliated with a store called Mark's 1/2 Price Bedding in Orlando, Fla. At this website, you can buy components as well as mattress kits that range from $492 to $849 for a queen-size mattress. To get these prices in perspective, note that a queen-size Tempur-pedic memory-foam mattress pad costs $888, compared with $220 for a similar Sensus memory-foam pad (without cover) from memoryfoam.com. Returns are allowed within 60 days. No wonder the site now gets more than 2 million hits a month.
"In the future, mattress-component buying is going to be more and more popular as people educate themselves about how mattresses are made," Reigle said.
Want to put together your mattress in person? Two places where you can do that are in Allston: the Foam Rubber Discount Center on Brighton Avenue (foamrubber.com) and Bonnie Foam Rubber & Products on Western Avenue.
Inside the little Brighton Avenue storefront, Richard and Sybil Michelson make custom mattresses to anyone's specifications, from tiny ones for infants to extra-long ones for Celtics players. "What you're standing in is an itsy bitsy mattress factory," Richard Michelson says. One combination you could get here, a 9 1/2-inch-thick mattress with a high-quality polyurethane base and 1 1/2 inches of memory foam on top, costs $750. But the array of possible combinations is dizzying. When people call him on the phone, Michelson says, "I tell them, `Don't worry, come down, we'll figure it out.' "
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
