Hi LullSleepExpert,
Thanks for registering and adding your comments … although I would strongly disagree with your comments about so called “proprietary” materials.
CertiPUR is a “safety” certification that tests to make sure that any harmful substances and VOCs are within the limits of their testing protocols. While a CertiPUR certification for polyfoam or memory foam would confirm that a material would be “safe enough” for most people … it doesn’t say anything meaningful about the relative quality or durability of the materials.
While some information can legitimately be considered to be proprietary to a manufacturer … there are many manufacturers that claim that the information you would need to make an informed choice is also somehow “proprietary” but I certainly wouldn’t agree. You can read a little more about “so called” proprietary materials and using this as a justification for not disclosing what I would consider to be essential information here and here and here.
While I agree that information that has to do with “comfort” or “performance” specs (such as ILD) have little value to a customer because the only way to know whether a mattress is a suitable choice in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP is with careful testing or their own personal experience … information that is directly connected to the quality and durability of a mattress (such as foam type and density) and allows a customer to make meaningful comparisons with other mattresses (see this article) is one of the most important parts of making an informed choice.
Buying a mattress without knowing the type and quality of the materials inside it would be like buying a computer without knowing the capacity of a hard drive, the amount of memory, or the speed of the CPU and would make it impossible to make meaningful comparisons. Unlike most consumers that have no idea about the materials inside a mattress … the members of this site would know that no matter how comfortable a mattress may when it’s new … the quality and durability of a mattress is a key factor in the “value” of a mattress purchase. There would be little value in buying a mattress that didn’t maintain it’s comfort and support for a reasonable period of time and mattress warranties only cover materials defects and not the loss of comfort and support that can happen more rapidly with lower quality and less durable materials.
While much of the mainstream industry and the major brands don’t disclose foam density information … many smaller independent manufacturers do and most of your online competitors in what I call the “simplified choice” category (see post #2 here) are also happy to disclose this information as well so you are one of the exceptions and certainly not the “norm”.
I would consider information that directly relates to the quality and durability of the materials in a mattress to be an essential part of the “value” of a mattress purchase and I would encourage any consumer and the members of this site to avoid any mattress where the manufacturer or retailer either isn’t able or willing to disclose the information that they need to make an informed choice and make meaningful quality/value comparisons with other mattresses. Disclosing foam density certainly isn’t enough information for anyone to be able to “duplicate” your mattress and there is no legitimate reason for it to be proprietary.
Phoenix