Organic mattress in Canada: Berkeley malmo vs silk and snow organic

Hi, how comparable do you think these two mattresses are and is the premium for the silk and snow mattress worth it? The major difference i see is in the coil count - the Berkeley mattress has twice as many coils as the silk and snow and the latex - the silk and snow uses dunlop, while the berkeley uses Talalay.

Both claim to have the same organic certifications, but not sure how legit they are (would guess the berkeley ones are legit, as it’s a more established company).

Durability is also very important - want to keep it for at least a decade.

The Berkeley is a lot more expensive (1 grand more for the king size)

Thanks.

https://www.silkandsnow.com/en-ca/organic-mattress/

Hi albertmills.

Welcome to The Mattress Underground Forum! :slight_smile:

Dunlop has a different “feel” and performance than Talalay and is less lively or springy. You may want to read a bit more about the differences between Talalay and Dunlop in post #7 here.
but your own experience is really the only way to know which one you prefer with any certainty. Some people would notice more of a difference but you will “feel” more of the upper layers than the deeper layers … at least when you first lie on a mattress.

At a glance, neither of the mattresses would raise a red flag in terms of durability as both use good quality materials that should “last at least a decade” if your BMI is not over 30. S&S is thicker uses Dunlop in the comfort layer, cheaper, but the cover is not removable. Malmo is thinner uses Talalay and the cover is removable for those that might want to exchange or replace layers down the road.

Silk & Snow has diversified their offerings since they started in 2017 and they seem to be holding the line. They now offer 3 mattresses and RV and customized constructions.

(12") S&S Organic Mattress you are looking at the following construction:

[indent]Cotton Cover (Organic GOTS Certified ) not zippered
1" Quilt Jooma Wool
0 3/4" Dunlop Latex (D 65 / 14-19 ILD, soft) Organic (sourced from Arpico Latex in Sri Lanka)
1 3/4" Dunlop Latex (D 65 / 14-19 ILD, soft)
8" Pocket coil zoned with edge support (coil count 800 in Queen & 992 in King size)
Firmness: medium firm
Not customizable, Made in Canada
Less expensive[/indent]

(8") Berkeley’s Malmö Hybrid Mattress

[indent]Cotton cover (Organic) Zippered, removable, quilted with Plain-air French wool
2’ Natural Talalay Latex (18 ILD/soft) (sourced from Radium in the Netherlands)
6" pocket coil unit (15 gauge coil count 1,484 in Queen & 1,908 in Kingsize)
Can open the cover to replace/exchange the upper layer. Made in the USA
Firmness: medium firm
More expensive[/indent]

You can see some past comments about Malmo in Post #13 here . Other threads about the Berkeley Ergonomics Malmo vs Oslo where consumers comment about this particular model and about the company itself.

Hopefully, someone who tested or has experience with both mattresses see your post and chime in with their perspective. I’d look again at the personal value equation and what is important to you to make the final choice. My personal experience is that I spent more time comparing my finalists than narrowing down my options.

I look forward to hearing what are the decisive factors in selecting your winner.
Phoenix

Thanks for the very useful response - I appreciate it!

Do you know if there’s a way to check if the silk and snow certifications are legitimate? They say “OLS certified organic latex, GOTS certified organic cotton” and “The materials in our mattress are 100% OEKO-TEX Standard 100 Certified”

How do I check if their claims regarding certification are really true?

Thanks again.

Hi albertmills.

I don’t know how much down the rabbit hole you want to go with this but while S&S are marketing themselves as having “Transparency at Every Step” I am not seeing any of the component certifications displayed on their site. I agree that displaying these certifications for public scrutiny would be more in line with their “transparency” claim than any wording of reassurance or marketing they offer. They do say that the components used in the mattress are organically certified by their suppliers (in the certification chain of custody schemes they are called Scope Certifications) and they also list their sources. I would contact them and ask them to send or display on their site those particular certifications.

Even so, I’d keep in mind that a Scope Certification is not issued to the mattress company themselves but only confirms that the sourcing manufacturer (in this case for latex ARPICO in Shi Lanka) is allowed to manufacture organic products. This certification by itself does not mean that a certain sourced component used in a mattress is organic. If you want to find out if the mattress is in its entirety is organically certified… to be 100% certain that what the website says is what you get… you would need to get not only the sourcing company scope certification but also additional proof that the layer inside your mattress is indeed Organically certified or to have the mattress company assurance that the mattress itself has an inside label that demonstrates it.

Hopefully one of the subscribers or visitors who bought the bed opened the Silk & Snow’s zippered cover to inspect the layering inside the mattress and confirm seeing labels showing the source’s organic certification displayed inside. A quick search for S&S certification issues did not pull any results but you may wish to dig in a little deeper.

Additionally, the trend in the industry is that companies that sell mattresses using organic componentry are displaying the word “organic” in the name of the mattress for marketing purposes. (There is no law that prevents them from doing so) Placing the word organic may be misleading to the lightly-informed consumers that may think that the entire mattress is organically certified. There are some companies that go through the complicated process and expense of certifying their products in their own name which can also be verified on the specific certification website. Some of our Trusted members like CozyPure i or My Green Mattress have these.

As an example to check if My Green Mattress is a GOTS and GOLS certified organic factory you could go to the Control Union database list of Certified companies and products or search by product name certifications for example for Emily Organic Crib Mattress they offer… you could type only the word “Emily” and get this confirmation result here you can also create a free account with them and have a closer look at their product certification.

Below is a little excerpt from My Green Mattress’s transparency policy about organically certified factories and products (in their entirety) which distinguishes them from other companies that do not display factual data and are using mostly marketing stories to promote their products.

“The GOLS and GOTS Factory Certification proves that we are a transparent company that uses only certified organic materials in our mattresses. The materials we use can be sourced back to the specific farm and lots where the materials were grown. Control Union regularly audits our company to ensure that our company’s transparency, they check to see that we are doing exactly what we say we are doing and selling exactly what we say we sell. Our mattresses, materials and factory meet Control Union’s strict standards proving we are one of the best choices for anyone looking to buy a healthy mattress.”

CozyPure trusted member who sells organic products is also commenting on organic certifications and products here.

I hope that brings a bit more clarity to an otherwise fairly foggy subject.
Phoenix