who in usa makes 100 percent natural dunlop mattress with thailand sourced dunlop
thanks
Hi richardb,
I know that Southbay uses latex made in Thailand.
I believe that Rocky Mountain Mattress may also source their latex from Thailand but I’m not certain of this so I would ask them.
Phoenix
rocky mountain web site says it only has talalay latex, no mention of dunlop latex. thanks
I did after I posted this and pm you. Strange he told me he had 9 inch dunlop mattress but i don’t see it on site
Hi Richardb,
Many manufacturers can either custom build or have options that aren’t in their site information.
He may also have been referring to this one which has a Dunlop core and a Talalay comfort layer.
I personally wouldn’t focus so much on the source of the latex (which would be at best a relatively minor difference between otherwise similar Dunlop layers) as the type, quality, and firmness levels of the latex layers.
There are many variables involved in trying to replicate another mattress that can make it very difficult to get closer than a reasonably close approximation anyway
Phoenix
how can you guide me to help replicate that sbay latex mattress? what should i do? how can you help. thanks
Hi richardb,
If you truly believe that this is the only mattress (or layering arrangement) that wil work for you … I think the closest you could come would be to first identify all the layers in the Southbay mattress you are trying to replicate. You would need the layer thicknesses (which you have) and the density of the Dunlop latex in each layer. Density would probably be more accurate than going by “word ratings” such as soft, medium, or firm which may be different from manufacturer to manufacturer or supplier to supplier.
Assuming you can get accurate information about this and you trust the information you are given … the next step would be to locate suppliers that can supply you with Dunlop layers that are the same thickness and density. I would focus on the density more than the manufacturer of the Dunlop (and you may not be able to find the same layers made by the same manufacturer anyway).
Assuming that the information you are receiving about the replacement layers is also accurate … then the final step would be to locate a cover that you believed would be similar and order this as well.
This wouldn’t take into account the fire barrier in the Southbay but this would probably have little effect on the feel and performance of the mattress.
It also wouldn’t take into account the fact that there could be some differences between different Dunlop manufacturers or even that the same density layers from the same manufacturer would likely have a range of ILD’s (ILD in Dunlop is not exact but has a range over the surface of the mattress, varies from core to core, and also depends on where in the core from top to bottom the layer is cut from) but it would be as close as you could get and for most people would be close enough.
Phoenix
what is density?
who made that south bay mattress? may be they can send me one? who made latex for it?
it seems impossible to replicate this
Hi Richardb,
This is the weight of a certain volume of material. It is usually expressed as lbs/cubic foot or as kilograms/cubic meter. With latex density is closely connected to firmness.
Southbay makes the mattress. I believe that the latex manufacturer they use is called Latex Systems Co from Thailand.
You could probably come fairly close if you knew the layering of the mattress and you took the time and did the research to locate similar layers but it could take some time and effort to get there.
Phoenix
Well. That was what I was needing help with. I mean the more I ask the more I need to find and this keeps on going. If i could get those layers from latex Systems Co then it would help greatly.
But I read that Rocky mountain mattress dunlop latex is from latex green and that is not in thailand.
Hi richardb,
I just don’t know how to help you with the specificity of what you are looking for. You will need to call sleep Science to find out the details of their layers (if you don’t know them) and then you will need to source the latex layers to replace it. If you believe (which I don’t) that latex from Thailand is the only latex you would be happy with then you may need to call them in Thailand and find out who carries and sells their latex over here. The better latex sources I’m aware of are listed in post #4 here but if what you want isn’t available through them you would need to research further to find other sources.
I’m just not sure how else I can help you. If I was in your shoes I wouldn’t be going in the direction you are going in the first place (or in the direction you have already been that didn’t work out) and would either buy something locally that I had tested and worked well or would choose a manufacturer and build a latex mattress that had the best odds of being suitable and had exchange possibilities if you made a mistake.
Phoenix
even if i could substitute a different manufacturers latex mattress to approximate this, would having different covers affect the feel? in what ways?thanks
Hi richardb,
Yes it would. While this can be a complex subject and there are whole companies that make many different mattress tickings that are designed to change the way a mattress feels and performs … in basic terms a thinner more elastic cover (stretch knit) will allow you to feel more of the layers below it while thicker less elastic or quilted covers will add their own characteristics and feel to the layers below them and reduce the amount you would sink in to the foam layers. This can be a more desirable or less desirable options depending on whether you want some of the benefits of certain cover or quilting materials (such as the breathability of wool quilting or the hand feel or lower resiliency of a thin layer of soft polyfoam) or whether you want the “feel” of the layers below the cover to come through as much as possible.
So each different type of cover can certainly affect both the performance and the price of the mattress but particularly the comfort layers on the top. In the most basic and predictable terms … then a thin stretch knit cover can allow the feel of latex layers to “come through” more than thicker or quilted covers.
Phoenix
how would a cover, made of natural wool and organic cotton affect the feel of the dunlop mattress then the south bay covers - the inner one was made of ?? and outer one made of ??. ? is because I don’t know.
Also How do you define:
- soft
- medium soft
- medium
- medium firm
5 firm
in a natural dunlop.
Now that mattress gave no densities of its dunlop latex layers. can you find out for me what they were. thanks in advance for this.
In brief what questions should I put to the mattress manufacturer that should clearify to them that I need the same specs as that mattress. So there is no room for confusion.
Hi richardb,
I’m not familiar with the specifics of either the inner (fire barrier) or outer Southbay cover so I can’t compare it but in general terms a mattress cover that has quilted wool will tend to feel a little firmer and slightly reduce the amount you sink into soft latex than an unquilted stretch knit cover.
I think each person has their own definitions and perceptions of “word” ratings and there are many cases of where one manufacturers rating will be different than another. I would tend to make comparisons more on density or on ILD rather than contribute more to the confusion of all the different “ratings” that are used or perceived differently by different people. I don’t think that any rating system that uses words will seem accurate to all people anyway but having said that … this article has my contribution to the “word rating game” … for better or for worse 
Bear in mind too that ILD is never exact and what feels firm or soft depends on both the person and on some of the other specs of the material besides just ILD (such as compression modulus, layer thickness, and temperature sensitivity).
I would call the manufacturer to see if they will provide you with this information. If they won’t provide it to you (accurately) then they wouldn’t to me either. I have not found Southbay particularly helpful or even polite when I have talked with them on the phone and I’m not sure they would even be happy to provide this information.
You would first need to get the accurate specs from Southbay (and would need to trust the information they gave you) that another manufacturer could “match” and these would need to be the same specs (type of latex, layer thicknesses, and ILD or density) that a manufacturer of a mattress had available to put in a mattress. There would be some variation between them at the best of times because of the inaccuracy of softness or ILD information in general and because of the variances in the material. If you have this … I would then ask the manufacturer you were working with if they believed they could exactly duplicate the mattress you are looking to duplicate to the degree of accuracy that you are looking for. I think their answer would be no (I doubt they would want to eve take the risk of “guaranteeing” or even implying that their mattress wold match your memory of the Southbay to the level of detail you are looking for).
I think that you may be putting too fine a point on duplicating something down to the last detail and while I understand why you want to … I don’t think this is possible. I don’t think that most manufacturers who understand the variances between even the same materials would even want to try to be this “exact”.
Phoenix
Not getting much help with densities then.
as for ILDS the mattress had
19 ILD
24 ILD
32 ILD
but that is impossible since natural dunlop has a range of ILD not a specific ILD
can you explain this?
Hi richardb,
Mattress manufacturers will often use a certain number which is an “average” across the surface of the layer rather than a range in their descriptions. the idea is to give a sense of the relative firmness of a layer rather than an exact specification (which isn’t really possible).
It also appears to me that these ILD’s don’t seem to match the experience of people who have tried the mattress who seem to think it’s firmer than the ILD’s would indicate so I don’t know how accurate they are. They seem more like Talalay ILD’s to me than Dunlop ILD’s.
Phoenix
running in circles. No real practical help. the more questions I ask and more answers I get the more questions pop up. This is not going to end ever. Mattress buying whether latex or anything should not be this confusing unless it is deliberately made so. I may as well just buy a regular spring mattress from a retail store. just like millions of people are doing in this country.
Hi richardb,
I completely agree with this … and if I was in your shoes I would not be trying to do something (match another mattress exactly) that may not be possible and I would start at the beginning and work with a manufacturer or retailer that can build or sell you a mattress that may have have differences in design from the mattress you are trying to match but will do as well or better in terms of PPP (Pressure relief, Posture and alignment, and Personal preferences).
IMO … you are taking an approach that is very unlikely to be successful to the degree of specificity you are looking for and I would start all over again with a different, easier, and more effective approach to finding your “perfect” mattress. There are many roads to Rome (your perfect mattress) and I would take one of the "other’ ones rather than trying to re-create a mattress where you are very unlikely to get the information you need to duplicate it and even if you did the exact same materials may not even be available to you.
My most “practical” advice is to start at the beginning with post #1 here and go one step at a time.
Phoenix