Thoughts on Sherwood EvoSleep Retreat Luxury Firm construction?

As mentioned in another thread, my wife and I are seriously considering purchasing a Sherwood EvoSleep Retreat Luxury Firm mattress, and while I was able to find quite a bit of information on the construction of the mattress in posts 6 & 7 of this thread, there were still some unanswered questions.

Well, I just got off a 20 minute phone call with Eric at Sherwood, and he provided me with incredibly detailed construction information for the mattress. Based upon our conversation, the layers of the EvoSleep Retreat Luxury Firm are:

Cover - The panel ticking is woven with outlast
Quilting - 2" thick, combination of “hypersoft” and “supersoft” 1.5# density foam
Eurotop - 1" Celsion, 1.75" polyurethane (Serticure (sp?) certified, no PBDE), mid-20 ILD, 1.5# density
Core - 3" foam encased talalay, mid 40 ILD, two 3.5" convoluted foam layers, 2# density, 32 ILD

I am extremely impressed with the transparency of this company. In fact, they plan to re-design their website with schematics of the construction of their mattresses.

Phoenix, can you provide me with your thoughts on the construction and likely longevity of this mattress? Thanks again for your time and willingness to share your expertise to help with a difficult decision.

Hi Anton Chigurh,

I’d be happy to. As you mentioned it’s great to see this kind of transparency. One step at a time … if consumers demand this type of information and the ability to make meaningful comparisons and assessments of mattresses … the industry will begin to change in the direction of what smaller manufacturers have already been doing for a long time.

Cover - The panel ticking is woven with outlast: Outlast is a cooling material that can help to regulate temperature.

Quilting - 2" thick, combination of “hypersoft” and “supersoft” 1.5# density foam: 1.5 lb foam is a higher density than is often used in quilting layers but it would still have a “risk” of softening faster than higher densities of polyfoam (or more durable foams) in layering that was thicker. This type of polyfoam is generally best used in lower/mid budget mattresses in layers that in total aren’t more than 2-3" thick (comfort layers) and preferably in a two sided mattress so the foam layers have a chance to rest and recover.

Eurotop - 1" Celsion: this is Talalay latex that also has phase change gel embedded in it which aids in temperature regulation. It is a durable material (more durable than polyfoam).

1.75" polyurethane (Serticure (sp?) certified, no PBDE), mid-20 ILD, 1.5# density: My comments here would be similar to the quilting layer which uses the same density of foam. CertiPure is a testing program to make sure that the foam is “safe” and has been tested for harmful ingredients and offgassing and to some degree for durability. This would put the total lower/mid grade polyfoam in the 3.75" range which is a little more than I would normally like to see in a one sided mattress but this layer is a little deeper and under latex so it would be a little more durable than this type of layer used closer to the top of the mattress (depending on the weight of the person on the mattress and how deeply they compress the top layers).

Core - 3" foam encased talalay, mid 40 ILD, two 3.5" convoluted foam layers, 2# density, 32 ILD: The talalay is a good quality material as a core layer and 2 lb density polyfoam is also a good quality material. The convoluted polyfoam is a “transition” layer in between the softer comfort foams on top and the firmer latex below (to “smooth” the transition between them). These would not be the weak link of the mattress because they are deeper in the mattress (not as subject to repeated compression) and are more durable materials. I am also not a great fan of encasing talalay with polyfoam because while it can create a firmer edge which is good for sitting and can even out the “edge effect” of the mattress … it is also a less durable material and will end up wearing out faster than the latex if it is used to sit on.

Overall … the “weak link” of this mattress would be that it has 3.75" of low/mid grade polyfoam in the comfort layers in a one sided construction. This is offset to some degree that the lower layer is somewhat “shielded” by the latex over it and because it is deeper in the mattress.

It would be reasonable to expect that these comfort layers experienced some softening and my choice of this mattress would depend on price and I would also make sure that it was a little firmer than I would otherwise choose so that foam softening has less effect on your long term alignment on this mattress.

If a mattress has a total of 4" of latex in it … my own personal preference would be to put the latex closer to the top of the mattress because of it’s greater durability and use the lower quality polyfoam in the deeper layers where they will last longer and be used for good support.

Hope this helps.

Phoenix

PS: Coincidentally enough … I had a long conversation today with a local manufacturer that I greatly respect and he makes two sided mattresses that uses 1.5 lb polyfoam on each side over innersprings (and a good quality insulator) and his “maximum” layer thickness on each side is 3". He stresses to his customers that they need to flip this mattress on a regular basis to make sure that the foam doesn’t develop more permanent impressions and softened areas under the heavier parts of the body (risking loss of support/alignment). He told me specifically that he wouldn’t be comfortable with using this density of foam in thicker layers than 3" even in a two sided construction, at least not with the expectation of long life.

With his two sided construction, using layers that aren’t too thick, and stressing regular flipping of the mattress … his “reasonable expectation” is that these mattresses will last for about 10 - 12 years although of course this would be different for different people depending on their sleeping habits and body types. One sided mattresses or thicker layers of this foam would significantly reduce the comfort life of this mattress. I’m mentioning this as a durability “reference point”.

Thanks again, Phoenix. At a price point of over $3k I’m thinking I might be able to find better value elsewhere, which is too bad because I really do admire the honesty and transparency that Sherwood showed. I think my wife and I will head to Boulder this weekend to visit Verlo, Foamsource and maybe Haiku.

Have a good weekend!

Hi Anton Chigurh,

I agree with your thoughts completely (in both cases). At this price point (and the price is determined by the wholesale cost in combination with the retailers profit margin), I would be looking for higher quality materials in the most important comfort layers of the mattress (as well as in the deeper layers). This is even higher than you will find many “all latex” mattresses and latex is a much more costly material than 1.5 lb polyfoam.

Phoenix