Hello
Im probably going to try a topper from mattresstopper.com and i have a question about a claim they make regarding the ILD of their medium (28 ILD) firmness blended latex topper. The topper comes from latex international which is global talalay now i believe, but they claim that the topper is 28 ILD exactly. Usually these toppers range in ILD, sometimes quite tightly, from say 27-30. Is it possible that the topper could be 28 ILD exactly?
Hi Mike77,
This is a good questions that arises from time to time, so your posts give me a chance to address it again. Thank you!
Fist, some “bookkeeping”. You are correct that Latex International changed their name to Talalay Global a little over a year ago. And mattresstopper.com doesn’t state that the Medium Talalay is “exactly” a 28 ILD. The ILD is listed as a representation of what a “Medium” ILD is defined as by the manufacturer, which in this case is Talalay Global. Let me expand upon this.
ILDs are always ranges – you won’t find manufacturers saying that something is an “exact” number, but they will provide a number which is usually somewhat of an average to represent a range of comfort. Using Talalay Global as an example, you can see here from their ILD scale that they provide names to their particular comfort designations, along with a representative ILD for that range. They will test their cores at nine different locations and if those measurements come within a certain range (usually around +/- 2 for Talalay), that core will be designated for that particular category with the representative ILD for that range.
Some foam companies choose to use word or other designations for the plushness of their latex (like N1-N5 for Talalay Global natural Talalay, or S2-S9orN3-N9forVitaTalalayproducts,orhttps://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/0https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/1https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/2https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/3https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/4https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/5https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/6https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/7https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/8https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/966/NewRadiumILD1_2014-04-17.gif]S2-S90"word"designationsonly–suchas"plush"https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/0https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/1https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/2https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/3https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/4https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/5https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/6https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/7https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/8https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/9welltonumbers,sotheywilloftenhttps://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/0https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/1https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/2https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/3https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/4https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/5https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/6https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/7https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/8offered,andsometimesalongwitha"word"https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/0https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/1https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/2https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/3https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/4https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/5https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/6https://uploads.mattressunderground.com/outside/7mattresstopper.com).
Small ILD variations, such as the difference between 26-28 ILD, would be imperceptible to almost anything except for advanced ILD testing equipment, so that is why foam manufacturers will divide their lines into “ranges” where they feel the transition from one comfort level to another begins to be perceptible. That opinion of delineation can change between foam companies, hence the accompaniment of an ILD number along with whatever “word” designation is used. And this also makes it a bit easier for consumers to relate one level of comfort to another.
So in the end, realize that ILDs are not “exact” numbers, but representations of a level of comfort that are useful for comparison and construction of a mattress.
I hope that helps make it a bit clearer.
Phoenix