A friend bought a latex/foam mattress at a store called Sleep n Aire in Santa Monica, CA. She was told it had four inches of Dunlop latex and the balance was a soy-based foam, covered in organic cotton. And they said it did not contain harmful chemicals. I wanted to ask if you have any information about this store and the materials they use. It cost a thousand dollars with a foundation, which sounds like a decent price if their claims of “all natural” and chemical-free are true. They have their own factory, so say they are able to use good materials for a reasonable price, but I would like some insight about whether their claims are true. My friend says her bed is comfortable, but does have a rubbery smell. I wanted to check with you before I make a purchase. Thanks!
Hi Jillian,
I’ve seen you say 2 different things in your post:
- “they say the mattress did not contain harmful chemicals”, and
- “their claims of all-natural and chemical free”
I don’t know which they actually said. Statement #1 would be generally true, however statement #2 is false (and indeed is a different claim than made in #1). Some people, especially those very sensitive to chemicals, might disagree with #1 also, however (assuming the material certified by CertiPUR or Oekotex-100) most would consider it safe of harmful chemicals.
The mattress is not all natural, though may be considered safe and free of harmful chemicals. This is easily identifiable because of the soy-based foam. Soy-based foam is poly-foam, or memory foam, where they replace a small percentage of the normal chemical mixture with soy. Phoenix has written a good article here:
https://forum.mattressunderground.com/t/thoughts-on-eco-foam-beds
Additionally, the Dunlop latex may or may not be all natural. Dunlop can be made with natural rubber (NR), or styrene butadiene (SBR), or a blend of the two. Only 100% NR Dunlop is natural, while both would likely pass the test of not having harmful chemicals.
Phoenix has a couple posts he normally makes about chemical safety. One recent one is here:
https://forum.mattressunderground.com/t/new-foam-mattress-shopping
That all said, this doent necessarily make any comment on the quality of their product.
Hi Jillian,
dn provided all the basic information about “all natural” and “chemical free” I would have provided as well 
You can see my thoughts about Sleep N Aire in post #8 here based on a conversation I had with them and they appeared to be open and transparent about the materials they use in their mattresses.
As dn mentioned … the latex could be 100% natural Dunlop (which means that they don’t use any synthetic latex in the material) but polyfoam (“soy based” or otherwise) is made mostly with petrochemicals that are not natural. The quality/durability of polyfoam is based primarily on its density. They should be able to tell you both the blend of the latex and the density of the polyfoam.
I don’t know the size your friend purchased or the specifics of the materials (again … they could tell you) but the odds are good that they made a good quality/value purchase.
Phoenix