I previously bought a couple of latex toppers from AbsoluteComfortOnSale.com for myself and my mother. I knew nothing about latex toppers. We have not been UNhappy with the toppers, but I have nothing to compare them to other than the memory foam topper I had also previously bought from Absolute Comfort (too hot and too squishy!), I am now in the market of replacing my horribly hard Sleep Number Bed (wish I had known about your mattress forum years ago and I would never have bought one!) with a build-your-own latex mattress utilizing my existing latex topper while adding on one or two new ones in a zippered case. I initially gravitated back to Absolute Comfort. BUT I have now been soaking up all the information on your mattress forum and my plans and choices have now gotten infinitely more complicated! I have had numerous back-and-forth emails with Absolute during which I have gotten seemingly conflicting information. In the meantime, I have emailed SleepEZ also, but they are slow to answer emails and I have just discovered some of the same confusing information on their site. Help!
Here are some of the confusing/conflicting statements I received from Absolute Comfort:
[i][color=#0000ff]- Our Talalay toppers are located on another web site! https://ultimatesleep.com/ …These toppers are all 100% botanical. …100% natural does not always mean 100% botanical.
- Talalay Global is the updated name for a very old company named Latex Intn’l. They are the only company that produces the true Talalay in single pour method. They also carry synthetic mixed with botanical, which is called blended. They are the only company making 100% botanical Talalay
- Latexco is also a latex manufacturer that makes the blended. But not as high a quality. (MY NOTE: I’m not sure if the person was referring to Talalay with this statement, or Dunlop.)
- Many companies, including ours, use the word “natural” because the product is no longer manufactured using petroleum based synthetic material, but instead uses other plant based synthetic materials.[/color][/i]
My response back was:
"Okay, then I guess the better way to put my questions is this: Can you tell me, of the different toppers on both your sites, what percentage of each topper is actually latex from latex rubber trees and what percentage is plant based synthetic materials? It may be “ok” to have toppers that are not 100% latex from rubber trees, but I do like to know exactly what I am buying. And to me, and based on what it says on your site, “100% natural latex” should mean that “all the latex” is coming from “the latex tree” and not from some other plant based synthetic material. It just needs to be clearly stated exactly what the source and composition is (which is what ALL the companies should clearly state).
The only answer I received was:
- The only synthetic latex topper we sell is the Tallyo Topper.
Huh?! What is the actual difference between “100% Natural Latex” and “100% Natural Botanical Latex” if “100% natural does not always mean 100% botanical” and the word “natural” can be used to mean that it contains plant based “synthetics” vs. petroleum “synthetics”??? I thought I KNEW what 100% Natural Latex meant! If the two “names” mean the same thing, then why have both monikers for different toppers on the same site? And if the two “names” do NOT mean the same thing, then what on earth is the actual meaning of the two terms? And how am I supposed to REALLY know what any of the mattress toppers really are made of??
So, I had all but decided to drop my “brand loyalty” and start over with SleepEZ, when lo and behold today I find a sale mattress listed (https://www.sleepez.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/111) that also uses these two conflicting and confusing descriptive terms for the same mattress: “Experience the Sleep EZ 100% natural latex mattress” & “Natural “Botanical” Pure Latex Mattress”!!!
I need help unraveling all of this before my head explodes!