Brentwood Memory Foam

Hello, I have been searching and searching for months now for a new mattress. I have been reading and thinking over everything. The bed I have now is only a few years old but the springs are poking through it already. I’m pretty sure now that I want to move on to a nice memory foam mattress. However, I really need to spend as little as possible at this point. I was considering Ultimate Dreams Crazy Quilt PillowTop Mattress even though it isn’t memory foam, but then I found Brentwood 13" Gel Infused HD Memory Foam Mattress and was very interested in that. It looks like a real good deal, but I did a forum search and a google search, and there isn’t a whole lot of information about this brand or type of mattresses anywhere. So for now I was just wondering if anyone had any extra information about either mattress, or information about the brentwood brand.

Hi KingSpore,

The first place I would start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which has all the basic information, steps, and guidelines you will need to make the best possible choices … and know how and why to avoid the worst ones.

The most important part of a mattress purchase is your confidence in how well it matches your unique needs and preferences in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences).

Outside of PPP … I would also make sure you have all the information mentioned in this article about any mattress you are considering because the quality/durability of the materials relative to the price you are paying is the next most important part of the “value” of a mattress purchase (you can see the quality/density guidelines here).

Finally the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you (including the price and any return or exchange options) would also be an important part of the “value” of a mattress purchase.

I would also confirm that the manufacturer of your mattress is listed on the CertiPur list here* (some retailers use the CertiPur logo but aren’t on the list). I believe that the Brentwood Well-Being mattresses are made by SilverRest which also isn’t on the CertiPur list.

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I would also be uncomfortable dealing with a retailer or manufacturer where I didn’t know who made the mattresses they are selling or the country of origin of their foam (regardless of where the mattress was made or assembled). You can see some comments about Asian imports in post #6 here.

In the case of Sleep Shop which sells the Brentwood Well-Being mattresses … their contact email is @thecompletesleepshop.com and thecompleteslepshop.com forwards to www.meritmart.com

Merit Mart in turn is related to Silver Rest and BRK Group in Pico Rivera including BRK Imports which in turn imports (or at least was importing) from China.

All of this leads to more questions than answers and I would personally be a little cautious in dealing with them and at a very minimum I would make sure you know the specifics of every layer in the mattress and that you can confirm that they are CertiPur certified and that they are using the logo legitimately.

Dreamfoam is much easier because they are a member of this site, are CertiPur certified, are sourced and made in the US, are transparent about the materials in their mattress, and compete well with the best in the industry so I would have no hesitations about purchasing a mattress from them that was likely to be a good match for you in terms of PPP and that used the type and quality/density of materials that you are comfortable with in your budget range. They also make some lower budget memory foam mattresses if you are committed to or prefer memory foam.

Phoenix

Thank you so much for the info! I will admit, I did read most of the info, probably quicker than I should have, but I will for sure go back and go over everything before I buy anything. I have been so tempted to just buy one because I am tired of springs poking me in bed! But I know it will be worth it to wait and make sure I get a good mattress.

I’m for sure not a fan of the suspicious manufacturer not being in the CertiPur list and the very strange name, brand, and website trail. I guess that’s a no go on that mattress. I did some more looking and thinking, and I decided that I want a memory foam for under 300, ideally with some gel top layers and I would very much like to be able to find a similar mattress locally to try in store first. I may end up just going with the 10 inch dreamfoam, even without the gel. I did some searching on the forums and found some local mattress manufacturer locations, (I’m in the Syracuse/Rochester area) so I will be checking them out in the near future before I get anything for sure and to compare prices.

Oh and one thing I did want to ask, and I don’t know if this can be answered without having a specific mattress in mind, but right now my bed is custom built, and it just has a flat sheet of plywood as the base. Would it be fine to put a memory foam mattress on that or should I purchase some type of special foundation or something else.

Hi KingSpore,

I’m not sure what size you are looking at but I would be aware that realistically your budget is too low for a reasonable quality memory foam mattress.

If you mean this one … it has 3" of 4 lb gel memory foam.

You can see my thoughts and comments on a solid surface support surface in post #10 here. It would be supportive enough but you could be increasing the risk of moisture retention in your mattress and the possibility of developing mold or mildew under your mattress.

Phoenix

Well thankfully I only need a twin size. The mattress I had in mind was Dreamfoam 10 Inch, but I did look at the one you linked with the gel top, and I have been strongly considering that, even if it is a little over budget. I need to start linking and getting organized with all my mattress selections and considerations!

I’ve been browsing some more options online, and the only problem is I find more that I like and the price keeps going up and up, but of course if that goal isn’t possible, I know in the long run the extra money paid will be worth it. I am fairly worried about mold or mildew growing, and that might be an issue depending on how much it costs to help prevent that.

Also, thanks again for all the help now and in the future! It really really helps to be able to write and bounce ideas and information off of someone, and it helps even more when that someone knows what they’re talking about!

I still am planning on making the trip out to some local mattress stores to compare options and prices. I think I’m ready to start some work on step 3!

Hi KingSpore,

The mattress you linked would be good value compared to other similar mattresses but I would want to know the density of the foam layers and it’s likely that they would be in a lower density range than the guidelines I would suggest for a memory foam mattress (see post #4 here). I would choose a mattress with memory foam that was 4 lbs or higher unless you have no other options or unless durability isn’t as important a consideration.

Phoenix

Okay, I’ve read more and went to a few stores and realized a few things. I first went to lay on mattresses and didn’t really pay attention to names or anything, just to see what I liked best. I ended up liking basically all of the memory foam beds, but I strongly prefer the softer feeling ones. Of course, I ended up liking the most expensive tempurpedic one there the best, but it turns out that it was the cloud luxe, which is supposed to feel like the dreamfoam 13 inch ultimate dreams. So based on that, and of course the recommendations, research, and advice here, I think that is the mattress I’m going to go with. Is it a mistake to compare it like that? I’m pretty sure that even if it doesn’t feel exactly the same I will be happy as long as it is fairly soft.

Hi KingSpore,

That’s certainly the first step involved in comparing an online mattress to one you have tested in person. The first part of comparing mattresses is PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) which is about what you feel on a mattress. The rest of the comparison would be based on the quality of the materials. If you are confident that the Tempurpedic Cloud is a good “match” for you in terms of PPP then it certainly makes sense to compare online mattresses that are similar in terms of PPP and the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you. There is more about “matching” one mattress to another in post #9 here that you can also use as a reference.

Most of the feedback about the Dreamfoam 13" memory foam mattress indicates that it has a very similar “feel” to the Tempurpedic Cloud Luxe except perhaps just a little bit firmer although of course different people may have different thoughts and opinions about how two mattresses compare.

Phoenix

Hey Phoenix. I going to dig this up because I recently purchased a king size model of the very same 13" Brentwood Gel Foam the OP was asking about, and ultimately, after being a bit disappointed with the overall construction and comfort level, spent the past few hours (before ironically running across this thread) following the very same whois trail you obviously did, and also came back with pretty much all of the same information (and screenshots of it) that you did in regards to their importing practices. That said, here are my primary concerns…

  1. They are advertising that this particular line of Brentwood mattresses are “Made In The USA”, which, given their importing practices, if they are indeed not “all of virtually all” made of US-sourced foam, this stands to be a decent FTC violation. I did, however, see a horizontal and vertical foam cutting machine on one of those bills of lading, so that throws another variable into the mix.

  2. None of the companies you noted (SleepShop, BRK Group, or SilverRest) are on that CertiPUR-US list, which coincidentally, would make perfect sense if they are indeed importing their foam. Additionally, if that’s the case… more false advertising practices.

  3. While I’m usually a research fanatic (to a fault at times), I pulled the trigger based on price and overall Amazon reviews and price (which was $479 OTD at the time I bought it). I also, however, do not like being misled or lied to, and with the circumstantial evidence I’ve now seen regarding their potential manufacturing processes, I’m wondering if that’s not the case. If so, God help them. :wink:

Anyway - any additional insight you might have or be able to provide would be appreciated, and feel free to read my detailed (and lengthy) review on the 13" model on Amazon, under the same alias as my user name here. Thanks in advance!

Hi dzignr_tastz, i took a look again through registered trademarks and some things have changed. BRK Group used to be the owner of SilveRest but is no longer. Apparently they let the trademark expire and SilverRest Sleep Innovations is the owner of the Brentwood brand. Not knowing the details, maybe the company consolidated, maybe they split partnership from BRK Group etc. I’m not sure of the details of ‘made in the usa’ qualifications, but seems like many materials can be imported with very little final fitting done here in the usa and qualify as ‘made in the usa’. For all I know, that could mean they import the foam, cut it to size here and wrap a mattress ticking around it here. Not being on the certipur-us list doesn’t instantly mean they’re imported, there’s many certipur-us foams that come from overseas. They could be using a certipur certified supplier for the foam, if the company is going through changes (such as breaking away or dissolving the BRK Group ownership of SilverRest). I would think if a company for instance decided to use FoamByMail (much as they’re disliked, they’re certified), construct a mattress and it would be certipur-us certified. (Unless the details stipulate it has to be certified as a complete mattress assembly and individual foams used in construction doesn’t count).

Things like mattresses and foams are big business and a quick look around a place like alibaba (where items can be imported by the hundreds if you’re in a position to import and order in large quantity) - you’ll see a LOT of familiar looking products. From velour zippered covers all over ebay/amazon to more popular 4 way stretch knit zip covers, typically selling for $60+ and come to find out they’re $12 a piece with a min order of 200-2000 pieces. Of course there’s also shipping fees, duties etc I’m sure.

I’m wondering if they never were on the certipur-us listings, or if they’ve been dropped due to branding change and are resubmitting. It wasn’t that long ago, maybe a few months when I was doing research that the SilverRest brand was an active trademark belonging to BRK Group and now no longer does.

Another quirk I noticed when searching, maybe they’ve since combined but there seems to be a ‘certipur-us’ and a ‘certipur’ (european) label. When attempting to go to one of the certipur websites, it was broken. Certipur-us works and europur works, but not plain certipur (without the -us). In some places I noticed the Amazon ad said “certipur”, in other places it said “certipur-us” so who knows. Amazon ads aren’t known to be the most accurate, subject to mistakes and typos. Maybe the seller wasn’t even sure (sad, but it happens) which one it was.

Unfortunately a lot of advertising is hype and spinning things. That Brentwood mattress also says it uses natural bamboo for the cover. Bamboo has become a huge rage in mattress and topper covers, and I’m sure some of it may be from natural bamboo. A lot of it is rayon made from bamboo fibers and there have been mentions of companies like amazon, sears, kmart, macy’s etc paying fines for selling mislabeled products. Passing off rayon as ‘bamboo’, since apparently the rayon process is such an intensive one (and not very ‘green’) that little to no benefit exists from the bamboo any longer in rayon form. Maybe mattress tickings are part of the exception, but the national resources defense council states natural bamboo linen is ‘green’ but it’s seldom seen due to its’ labor and cost. If this applies to mattress ticking, then it would be hard to imagine a budget mattress using materials that are costly and labor intensive.

Everything has become confusing with word play - 100% latex, 100% natural latex, natural latex, organic, natural, certified organic, manufactured in the u.s. vs made in the u.s., you name it. Used to be everything meant what it said, it was either organic or it wasn’t. If it was made in the u.s., it either was or it wasn’t. Not so much now days.

Hopefully Phoenix can clear up any issues with my generalizations if I made errors, it’s so deep it could be a career all of its’ own. I’m by no means a trademark expert or expert on corporations, licensing, certifications or anything else. Just a casual lay person trying to make sense of it without falling all the way down the rabbit hole. I didn’t bring a long enough rope :stuck_out_tongue:

Hi dzignr_tastz,

One of the challenges of some “made in the USA” claims is that the mattress may be assembled in the USA but the materials are imported from elsewhere. It’s certainly possible that foam buns are being imported from China that are being slit and assembled into a mattress in the US. SilverRest is also a licensee for King Koil which is a top 15 manufacturer so it wouldn’t be unusual that they would be importing a foam slitting machine. It would be interesting to look at the law tag on your mattress to see what it says.

There are a few Chinese foam manufacturers that are on the CertiPur list and your post led me to take a look today and the company that was listed in the import record (Shanghai Gaoyu Foam Products) is now listed on the CertiPur list under Glory Home Furnishings* (they weren’t listed the last time I checked a few months ago). Having said that they are listed for viscoelastic memory foam not gel memory foam or polyfoam which are separate categories.

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Of course this says nothing about the quality/density of the foam and I would want to know the density of all the layers in any mattress I purchased.

I think that one of the biggest difficulties with this type of research that leads to Chinese sources is that there are so many uncertainties involved and so many dots to connect together that it can be very difficult to find out accurate information that you can verify. In these cases the approach that I generally take is that I treat the high level of uncertainty itself and the lack of transparency as a risk factor which means that finding out reliable and trustworthy information (such as foam density) would become even more important.

Sometimes a member here will connect some dots that leads to a new trail (such as in this topic about a foam supplier that I was never able to find out where they sourced their polyfoam or memory foam) so if you do find out any additional information it would be great if you could post it here.

Phoenix

Thanks for the replies, as they did shed some additional light on the situation.

For a quick update (primarily on the “Made In The USA” topic… direct from the FTC website:

Introduction

“The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is charged with preventing deception and unfairness in the marketplace. The FTC Act gives the Commission the power to bring law enforcement actions against false or misleading claims that a product is of U.S. origin. Traditionally, the Commission has required that a product advertised as Made in USA be “all or virtually all” made in the U.S. After a comprehensive review of Made in USA and other U.S. origin claims in product advertising and labeling, the Commission announced in December 1997 that it would retain the “all or virtually all” standard. The Commission also issued an Enforcement Policy Statement on U.S. Origin Claims to provide guidance to marketers who want to make an unqualified Made in USA claim under the “all or virtually all” standard and those who want to make a qualified Made in USA claim.”

Thus why I quoted “all of virtually all” in my OP.

What is the standard for a product to be called Made in USA without qualification?

For a product to be called Made in USA, or claimed to be of domestic origin without qualifications or limits on the claim, the product must be “all or virtually all” made in the U.S. The term “United States,” as referred to in the Enforcement Policy Statement, includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories and possessions.

What does “all or virtually all” mean?

“All or virtually all” means that all significant parts and processing that go into the product must be of U.S. origin. That is, the product should contain no — or negligible — foreign content.

What factors does the Commission consider to determine whether a product is “all or virtually all” made in the U.S.?

The product’s final assembly or processing must take place in the U.S. The Commission then considers other factors, including how much of the product’s total manufacturing costs can be assigned to U.S. parts and processing, and how far removed any foreign content is from the finished product. In some instances, only a small portion of the total manufacturing costs are attributable to foreign processing, but that processing represents a significant amount of the product’s overall processing. The same could be true for some foreign parts. In these cases, the foreign content (processing or parts) is more than negligible, and, as a result, unqualified claims are inappropriate.

Example: A company produces propane barbecue grills at a plant in Nevada. The product’s major components include the gas valve, burner and aluminum housing, each of which is made in the U.S. The grill’s knobs and tubing are imported from Mexico. An unqualified Made in USA claim is not likely to be deceptive because the knobs and tubing make up a negligible portion of the product’s total manufacturing costs and are insignificant parts of the final product.

Example: A table lamp is assembled in the U.S. from American-made brass, an American-made Tiffany-style lampshade, and an imported base. The base accounts for a small percent of the total cost of making the lamp. An unqualified Made in USA claim is deceptive for two reasons: The base is not far enough removed in the manufacturing process from the finished product to be of little consequence and it is a significant part of the final product.

Now given those further excerpts (and specifically, the second example in the last section), I can only assume since foam undeniably makes up 95% of the final product in a mattress, if said foam (and probably the cover, to make up the last 5% - LOL) is indeed imported from China, then regardless of the fact that it may be cut and the layers combined in the US, it in no way qualifies as a “Made In The US” product when all is said and done.

Opinions?

Hi dzignr_tastz,

I think that the “made in USA” definitions are fairly clear with only a few slightly “fuzzy edges” so it would really be a matter of confirming with a good degree of confidence where all the foams inside their mattresses were sourced. It’s even possible that some of the foams are sourced in different countries.

Did you happen to look at your law label to see what it says?

Phoenix

One better. I took pics while rotating it for the first time… :wink:

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I’ll let them speak for themselves pending comments.

Hi dzignr_tastz,

Thanks for the pictures … I appreciate it :slight_smile:

The production date on the law tag indicates that the mattress was manufactured on July 15th. 2014 so at least you know that the mattress was likely assembled in the US and wasn’t compressed during a shipment from China or in storage for a longer period of time which can affect foam durability.

The law tag also says “Made in USA” so that’s promising as well.

All that’s left (at least that I would want to know before buying any mattress) is to confirm that the foam materials are in fact manufactured in the USA or if they aren’t that they are CertiPur certified and more importantly to find out the quality/density of all the foam layers to be able to assess whether the mattress has any weak links in terms of durability and so you can make more meaningful comparisons to other mattresses.

Phoenix

OK… here’s one of my concerns with the whole thing (besides the obvious tear in the ‘cheesecloth’ surround, which was not of my doing although I did take the opportunity to take a peek at the layers as you can see). The tag also says it is a “Brentwood” mattress that was manufactured by Springfield Mattress, which is associated with SilverRest, both of which are associated with BRK Group, and SleepShop is a ‘company’ with no website but just an Amazon presence that sells multiple brands from the ‘group’ (pun intended), and ALL the company websites (or those have have them) are all administrated by the same company (and person in most cases), BRK .

So my question is… why exactly do you need 7 different corporate identities to produce and sell a single line of mattresses if there’s nothing ‘odd’ going on?

That aside, what are your personal opinions on the quality of the mattress (and I know you can only tell so much from pictures). The top layer obviously had a few blue gel beads throughout it, but it was still white (not blue) viscoelastic foam as a base, and was nowhere near similar (in my opinion) to the mattress toppers or gel foam samples I played with in a store or two, nor do I think it has the compression or comfort levels of the other samples (which could have been lower densities or just well broken-in). There is definitely a ‘memory’ characteristic to it, but considering the bed is excessively firm in both my and my partners opinions (which was my primary reason for going on this current journey before deciding how to handle my displeasure), especially below the top layer, I’m just curious to hear others, more educated opinions on the overall composition of the thing… you know, aside from the noticeably sloped sides as you go from bottom to top and torn surround which is too tight (despite being stretchable fabric) and compresses the corners slightly (this much worse on some customers’ final product).

I mean - I know it’s an “affordable” memory foam mattress, and I figured they would ‘cut corners’ (again… pun intended) somewhere, as the cliche “you get what you pay for” usually applies across the board, but at this point I’m undecided as to what is ‘acceptable’, what constitutes manufacturing defects, and how much of a fight I’m willing to put up for he price I paid.

Thanks for all the help!

Hi dzignr_tastz,

This in and of itself wouldn’t be a concern for me and there are many manufacturers that have multiple brands that are sold through different channels. It’s a fairly normal marketing practice that is designed to attract different target markets.

The only way to assess the quality and potential durability of a mattress relative to any particular person would be by knowing the specific type and quality of all the materials and components inside it (see this article). Without this information there is no way to make any meaningful comments about a mattress or make meaningful comparisons with other mattresses because you can’t “feel” or “see” the quality/durability of the materials. I personally wouldn’t buy a mattress where reliable information that a consumer would need to make an informed choice wasn’t available and I would consider it to be a “high risk” purchase with a much higher chance of buyers remorse.

For me I would treat “unknown quality” and “low quality” in the same way (high risk). IMO … there are too many reliable, knowledgeable, and experienced manufacturers and retailers that are completely transparent about the mattresses they make or sell and that sell good quality/value mattresses relative to their price range for a consumer to spend much time trying to “pull teeth” to find out information that should be easily available.

Phoenix

Hi dzignr_tastz, as far as multiple companies belonging to one another it is very common. From Zinus, parent company to Spa Sensations, Vivon, Night Therapy, BestPriceMattress etc to something people may be more familiar with like Unilever brand who heads up numerous large companies like Suave bath products, Axe brand bath products, Degree, Lipton, Ben & Jerry’s, Klondike… Unilever controls over 1000 huge name brands of everything from tea bags to snack chips, ice cream and health and beauty products. Not only do they target various markets, men vs women vs different age groups, etc, some of their brands also compete and it’s a win/win.

For that matter, Tempurpedic now owns Sealy and Serta/Simmons are owned together. So instead of 4 companies, you really have 2 major corporate ownerships. Also it’s interesting to know (if wikipedia is correct on this), that Serta was founded in 1931 by not one person but 13 mattress manufacturers, became controlled by National Bedding Corporation which in turn was purchased by two private equity groups: Ares Corporate Opportunities Fund and Teachers’ Private Capital (part of the Canadian Teacher’s Pension Plan). As just a normal part of the population where Serta (and other S brands) were a part of bedding brands as a household name, and not being privy to the industry, I would have had no clue Serta was so complicated. I just assumed it was a stand alone company.

Hi brass,

Not that it matters much but Simmons and Serta are now owned by Advent International (see here).

In addition to the TempurSealy International combination (which also owns Stearns & Foster) and Simmons and Serta being under common ownership the largest airbed manufacturer and 5th largest mattress manufacturer Select Comfort (aka Sleep Number) also bought Comfortaire the second largest airbed manufacturer.

There are other examples of multiple brand ownership in the top 15 or 20 mattress manufacturers as well such as Mattress Development Co being a Therapedic licensee and also owning Eastman House and Eclipse (see here) or the Kluft/Aireloom North American partnership with VI Spring.

Phoenix

Yeah… I could see that, given that there actually are “different channels” or “target markets”. In this particular scenario with SleepShop, however, it seems they are trying to simply create the impression of competition where, in reality, there actually is none, and they (directly or indirectly) control and manufacture every different brand sold in their Amazon store.

On that same subject of “marketing”, however… while some companies might be more ‘forthcoming’ with specifics of the materials than others, how does the consumer really know that’s what they’re getting in the end, or if the manufacturer is even being truthful in their specifications (unless it’s simply a big time manufacturer with a good reputation and some sort of regulation)? Someone that purchased this very same mattress said the company quoted the densities as “Gel: 4 lbs, Core: 5.4” (which are only 2 of the 5 layers, so again, and incomplete - and somewhat misleading - answer), but I won’t begin to proclaim to know what different densities of foams feel like. All I know is the one time I emailed them after feeling the initial (and still) firmness of it they replied with “Our 13 inch mattress is the softest feel we currently offer (apparently, across all their models) and is made to have a plush ‘sinking in’ feeling”, yet in my opinion, aside from the top 3 inches of memory foam compressing (which I can feel ‘molding’ to my body), it is extremely firm from there down, with very little give (which might be good for longevity, but not much for comfort). In fact, I had no idea a memory foam product of any sort could be this firm, which I guess was my primary misconception after randomly testing a VERY comfortable gel foam Serta in Big Lots one day while picking up a few things during a 20% off store-wide sale. Had they offered that one in a king-size (but didn’t… queen only, period), I would have bought it on the spot, but that is what gave me the itch and I guess I jumped in too quickly looking for something else in a semi-comparable price range. Lesson learned… :confused:

(My - lengthy, if you hadn’t guessed - Amazon review, under the same name, kind of explains how all this came to be if you have some - more - time to waste - LOL!)

I guess that part of the knowledge equation just comes from actually testing well-known mattresses of different materials in-store (not that I would feel great about wasting someone’s time to ‘edumacate’ me and then turn around and buy from someone else based on comparison)?

Totally understandable. However, since I apparently jumped the gun on this endeavor and didn’t put in the time, in advance, to thoroughly research what I was buying (shame on me), I don’t mind putting in a little after the fact to get to the bottom of what I actually received… and quite frankly, don’t mind ‘pulling a few teeth’ (not mine, mind you) in the process if deemed necessary to get the answers I’m looking for.

Anyway - thanks again, and sorry for taking up so much of your undoubtedly valuable weekend!