Hi paddyb,
The idea that they “invented” the mattress in a box idea is of course ridiculous and other manufacturers have been doing this for many years (and in some cases decades).
While some information can legitimately be considered to be proprietary to a manufacturer … there are many manufacturers that claim that the information you would need to make an informed choice is also somehow “proprietary” but I certainly wouldn’t agree. You can read a little more about “so called” proprietary materials and using this as a justification for not disclosing what I would consider to be essential information here and here and here.
Another manufacturer would need much more information than just knowing the quality/density of the materials in a mattress be able to duplicate it. If all they disclosed is the type and quality/density of the materials in his mattresses that can affect durability they still wouldn’t need to disclose the “comfort specs” or other information that would be the biggest part of how a mattress feels. Any manufacturer that was truly interested in “duplicating” one of his mattresses also would have no trouble buying one if they wanted to and “reverse engineering” it anyway.
I would avoid any manufacturer or retailer that either can’t or won’t provide you with the “quality specs” you need to make an informed choice and confirm the quality and durability of the materials and the mattress “as a whole” because this type of “blind” purchase would be much too risky.
Phoenix