Hi, I was checking out some PLB matresses today and had a few basic questions. I understand there new mattress products are pretty much 100% latex. I just want to confirm that they are not blended with polyfoam. Also, with respect to their organic line, is the only difference between the organic line and the ultimate collection in the cover, which is organic cotton in the organic line?
Here is a link to their mattresses: http://www.latexbliss.com/shop/mattresses/ultimate-collection
Hi Smytrous,
Their Ultimate collection uses blended Talalay latex which is a blend of 30% natural and 70% synthetic rubber. They are 100% latex from top to bottom and don’t contain any polyfoam. The specs of the Ultimate line are in post #2 here. You can see the specifics of their cover here and their fire barrier here.
The “organic” line uses an organic cotton cover quilted with organic wool (which is also used as the fire barrier) and uses 100% natural Talalay (not organic) instead of blended Talalay and is also 100% latex from top to bottom with no polyfoam. There isn’t any Talalay latex that has an organic certification.
There is more about 100% natural vs blended Talalay in post #2 here.
Phoenix
Phoenix,
The specs you linked to showed the latex in the ultimate line as natural not latex. I just wanted to double check as the store I went to also felt that the latex was natural (not a blend with synthetic) based on conversations with the mfr. This is an important variable for me which is why I’m honing in on it.
Hi Smytrous,
Pure latex bliss calls their blended Talalay “natural” and they call their 100% natural Talalay “all natural”.
As you can see here the Ultimate line uses the blended Talalay which is a mix of synthetic and natural rubber (30% natural and 70% synthetic) and their “organic” line uses 100% natural Talalay which only uses natural rubber.
Many retailers don’t know the difference between them and because of the somewhat misleading descriptions from the manufacturer they believe (or at least tell their customers) that the blended Talalay is actually all natural and has no synthetic rubber in the blend when this isn’t the case.
Phoenix
Thank you again Phoenix. As a follow up question, have there been any reported health issues with synthetic latex similar to what you see with some memory foam (off gassing, respiratory issues, etc)?
Hi Smytrous,
Not that I’m aware of no although if you are one of the very few people that have a type I latex allergy (the type of allergy where you would need to carry an epipen) I would avoid anything that may contain any natural latex of any type in your environment (see post #2 here).
All the latex you are likely to encounter (whether it is Dunlop or Talalay and made with natural or synthetic rubber or a blend of both) would all be tested by either Oeko-Tex or Eco-Institut using the same testing protocol for harmful substances and VOC’s and I would consider all of them to be equally “safe” (see post #2 here).
Phoenix