Sleep on Latex Removed from Trusted Manufacturers?

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

I was on the verge of purchasing a Sleep on Latex Pure Green mattress based on thoughtful and credible recommendations both on this webpage and Consumer Reports. However, I came back to the website for some final information and noticed that SoL is no longer in your directory of Trusted Manufacturers. Is this in error or is it reflective of new information that has caused the administrators of this webpage to withdraw their endorsement of that brand?

As an aside, I had intended to purchase two Twin XL’s for our king bed, with a medium firmness for the Mrs.'s twin and a firm firmness for my twin. She is a ~135# combination sleeper and I’m a ~255# combination sleeper, who also sleeps very warmly and am hoping that the combination of wool and latex will resolve that issue. (We currently have a Sealy West Salem foam hybrid that we purchased from Costco.) If TMU still endorses this brand, have I screwed up anywhere with those choices? We were also considering Birch and Avocado.

2

Hi belil.

Welcome to our Mattress Forum! :slight_smile:

Thank you for your question… When I removed SOL from TMU membership directory on August 11, I was thinking that it won’t be long before a subscriber would notice and enquire about it. Prompted by this thought I started looking into a way to make such changes a bit more visible so that visitors don’t waste time or start making assumptions but instead have a way of getting right to the facts. Our website dev team is in the process of testing and implementing a solution.

To tackle your question heads on when it comes to a business no longer being part of our community, the short answer is:

At the time of a business being delisted from Trusted Member ~ Directory if TMU would become aware that a consumer doing business with the former TMU member would cause harm to the consumer, TMU would not hesitate to caution and publicly bring this to consumers’ attention.

This is NOT the case with Sleep On Latex. While rare, there may be a time in the relationship between two businesses when their needs, vision, values, or philosophy are no longer in alignment. When that occurs, businesses typically mutually agree to cease the relationship.

The main reason many subscribers like you are following The Mattress Underground (TMU) is that we are an unbiased, transparent, and ethical mattress community that supports consumers in their search for a good quality/value product and connects them with knowledgeable and experienced mattress manufacturers and retailers that we came to trust both in terms of having consumer’s interests at heart and their business practices. You can read more about this in the our values, ideals, and goals. We apply these principles indiscriminately to our Trusted Members, consumers, and TMU internally. While transparency is more about products, services, and consumer-related practices, it would not be ethical and appropriate to address business-to-business (B2B) matters on a public forum.

With the beginning of the (B2B)/ Trusted Members relationships in mind, the standards and criteria for bringing a company in the Trusted Member community are first and foremost consumer-oriented as stated in the Recommended by The Mattress Underground article. There are also a few other B2B criteria and standards to be met in order to welcome a business within the TMU community. Fast-forwarding to a possible ceasing the B2B relationship, if the reason is strictly a B2B related such as certain needs, values, or criteria not being aligned, either company may choose to withdraw their support and part ways. TMU does not make these matters public and removes the company from its directory without a caution attached to the Directory delisting.

Consumer-related criteria not being met are approached differently and would result in TMU reviewing and reaching out to the member to address any concerns. If addressing is not possible TMU would be initiating termination of membership along with cautioning consumers about any cause of concern that we became aware of which resulted in termination and delisting the company from our Trusted Member ~ Directory at that particular moment in time. Some examples include: former member having a pattern of not honoring return/exchange/warranty policies; former member no longer being transparent about what a consumer would need to know to make an informed mattress purchase; former member product(s) being misrepresented, etc. I’d also note that this does not mean that the former member will not correct those particular issues at a later time. This is why we make a point to encourage consumers to do their due diligence to determine if the caution still applies to the former member or non-member.

I am hoping that this removes any concerns about proceeding with the purchase as planned.

Phoenix

3

Thank you very much, Phoenix. Your explanation that the controversy is philosophical (or something of that more-meta nature) and doesn’t concern the end-consumer (at least directly) has assuaged my concerns about proceeding.

However, my plans have changed slightly from my discussion with SOL’s staff: I’ll be ordering a king-sized mattress in medium.

Per SOL’s team, the medium mattress is made with a 4" Firm 46 ILD (5.9 lbs/ft^3) base layer and a 4" Medium 34 ILD (5.2 lbs/ft^3) top comfort layer. The firm mattress is made with a 6" Firm 46 ILD (5.9 lbs/ft^3) base layer and a 2" Medium-Firm 40 ILD (5.6 lbs/ft^3). The density of the wool layer in the mattress cover for either mattress is 250 GSM.

These seem like stellar and highly durable specifications, as I’ve read — typically in the context of traditional or memory foam — that any foam denser than 4 lbs/ft^3 is high-resilience and more comfortable, especially over time. Because the updated comfort layer in the medium is now twice as thick as what I had read on this forum (and elsewhere on the web), it also seems like it would address some complaints that I had come across. Those gripes principally concerned the mattress being too firm or heavier sleepers (like myself) fully compressing the comfort layer and feeling like they were hitting a wall when they reached the base layer.

Indeed, my only concern going into the transaction now is whether the retooled medium mattress is going to be soft enough for the much lighter Mrs., given that SOL asserts that the mattress is a true medium but other seemingly reputable sources report that ILD 34 foam is rather firm.