Why are topper covers so expensive and are they worth it?

Catatonic · February 2, 2014, 5:04pm

I’m trying to find a good value on a latex topper and it’s difficult to comparison shop for a variety of reasons, one of which is the covers. Some retailers include the cover in the price of the topper and others sell them separately. So I’ve been considering buying a topper from one retailer and a cover from another if it means better value. I don’t understand why they’re so expensive though. I’m talking about basic covers for the purpose of protecting the latex from degradation (mainly), not for providing additional comfort or other benefits via inclusion of wool or other materials.

Is there something that makes a cover for a 2-4" topper worth (in queen) $68, $77 (shipped to my zip code), $80, $95, or a whopping $186 when I can get an encasement that will cover the whole mattress including the topper for less than any of them (e.g. $49)?

The other thing is I’m not sure how thick my comfort layers will end up being. I might start with a 2" topper and need to build up to 3" or 4". If I get a cover that can only accomodate 2" or 3", and end up needing 3" or 4" in my comfort layer, I could have to buy another one of these expensive covers just to accomodate it. On the other hand, the whole mattress encasement may give me more leeway.

That last, most expensive of the examples at $186 was from Sleep Like a Bear. To be fair they also offer a 100% cotton cover that will accomodate up to 4 inches for $55 (by the way, I hate how their site doesn’t update the price when you choose a different option – it just shows +$XX), but that’s still more expensive than the whole mattress encasement.

Would 100% cotton even accomplish the goal of protecting latex from degradation? I don’t really see how that would be much more (if any more) effective than having the topper under a cotton fitted sheet (as long as you always have a sheet on the bed), and especially also under a fitted mattress protector under the sheet. But if it somehow is better, it seems to me that the whole mattress encasement would provide the necessary protection also.

If 100% cotton doesn’t protect the latex, what is it about the other materials, like bamboo, that makes them effective where cotton isn’t?

dndndn · February 2, 2014, 5:36pm

Hi Catatonic,

Better ticking fabrics cost more than less expensive fabrics. As it relates to toppers (and mattress encasements to some extent too), the materials you’re likely to find are:

synthetics, $
blends with synthetics (e.g. cotton / poly blend), $
various rayons, like bamboo from rayon, $$
100% cotton, $$
100% organic cotton, $$$
other specialty fabrics, $$$
wool added to the topper cover, the more wool the more $$$. Wool can be added to mostly any type of topper cover fabric.

The weave and thickness of the fabric will impact price also, and with a topper for latex or memory foam you’d often be looking for a stretch knit or 4-way stretch, which is as the name implies more stretchy to allow the topper to conform better. The better the weave, to some degree, the more $$$.

Note that some vendors will say cotton, but it’s really a cotton + synthetic blend. Similarity, some (less honest) vendors will say organic cotton and it’s also a blend… So if you want cotton you need to say 100% cotton, or 100% organic cotton.

Another trick with topper covers they do is put a ‘no skid’ or ‘base’ material on the bottom. It’s a cheaper material, and for a topper cover prevents you from flipping the topper (unless you open the topper cover and remove the topper from it, flip it, and put the topper cover back on which is a huge pain).

My favorite topper cover that I found for latex is from sleepys.ca, and is a 4-way stretch 100% organic cotton topper cover with all sides covered in the same material (it’s a special order from them). It was about $160 for twinxl, about $320 for king, for 3" topper. There’s a fellow here, diynaturalbeddding.com, and I suspect you could have a good cover made through them too.

Now, which material is better is a whole different topic happy to provide my thoughts if you don’t have a predetermined idea what fabric you’re looking for. They can all work fine to protect the topper, so it’s more about how does the fabric enhance or detract from the feel and use of the topper.

Catatonic · February 2, 2014, 6:38pm

Hi dn,

Thanks for your reply.

Of all the considerations you mentioned, this one (conformability / performance) and protecting the latex from degradation are the most important to me.

Yeah, I’ve noticed that. So it seems that you think any benefit of the non-skid feature is outweighed by the inconvenience? I’ve been skeptical that having a non-skid bottom underneath the latex will be important.

WOW. That is an eye popping price tag.

I don’t have a predetermined idea. At this point I’m not looking for a cover to enhance the feel of the latex, I just don’t want it to detract from it or interfere with the performance of the latex too significantly.

All else being equal I prefer natural, but I’m not trying to build an all natural or organic bedding stack at this point. I just want to protect the latex from degradation with something that won’t ruin its performance by interfering with conformability or something, and that doesn’t have chemicals in it that are too noxious.

So far I’ve been planning to have the topper underneath a mattress protector one way or another. I’m talking about a protector that has a cotton terrycloth surface with a waterproof polyurethane backing. Originally I thought I could just put a latex topper under a fitted sheet style protector, but now I’m considering an encasement made of the same material if that will protect the latex significantly better. How do you think that material would 1) protect the latex and 2) affect its performance?

dndndn · February 2, 2014, 7:35pm

Hi Catatonic,

There’s no way for me to know specifically what you’d feel, or whether you’d be able to tell the difference between one fabric and another.

A stretch knit without wool is least likely to interfere with the feel.

Regarding the non-skid base, I don’t think there’s a benefit to having it except it’s lower cost material so it lowers the cost of the cover. The prime drawback is you cannot flip the topper easily, which may or may not be important to you. I don’t think a topper would move without the non-skid base- I’ve definitely never had problems with mine which doesn’t have that. I think it’s just a marketing spin on a lower cost material. They do it on mattresses too, which is often less of an issue because many/most latex mattresses you don’t flip.

I don’t think I can give any better advice than the theory of the fabrics, since what you feel is something only you can tell. All of the fabrics are pretty popular for different reasons. The best folks to ask about specific covers would be the people that make them. I can help you avoid being surprised by people calling something cotton and then you get it and it’s 60% cotton/40% poly, or if you didn’t know about the non skid base (which isn’t always advertised), you already know to ask about it if you don’t want that.

You end up paying for it somehow. The ‘free’ cover will be a lower cost material with the cost included in the topper price, for example. Each company includes the pricing different.

To some degree, if you don’t have a preference (unlike me, where I did have a very specific preference), then it’s quite likely that any cover that is sold by the company selling you the topper will be fine. But again, only you will be able to tell.

As to the encasement and material you linked to, I don’t know. I own a terry cloth water proof material with this product:
http://www.tmasc.ca/pillow-protection/st-geneve-secco-pillow-protector.html

It’s everything you’ve advertised, terry cotton with waterproof membrane. I have it as a pillow case, not mattress case. I don’t like it’s feel on a pillow. I’d think it’d firm up latex a bit and would have a noticeable feel for me if used to encase a mattress - no idea if it’d change the feel in a way I didn’t like on a mattress. I’d need to try it myself.

I don’t know at a scientific level the differences various materials would have at protecting latex. I do know that it’s pretty easy to tear if you’re not careful, especially the softer latex, and so a cover helps that a lot. Phoenix posted a good link to the chemical interactions between latex and other materials/forces, the link escapes me at this time, but as I recall ozone and uv light, and urine for that matter, were some of the worse things for latex if I recall correctly. The degree to which any of the fabrics are better or worse with respect to those I don’t know for sure. For myself, I used that info to say any fabric would be fine enough, so the choice of fabric is preference (with the exception of urine, if there are kids / pets / problems that cause that to be a possibility, in which case waterproof protectors would be desirable).

phoenix · February 3, 2014, 12:56am

Hi Catatonic,

I think that dn has said everything that I would also say except perhaps in more detail over his several replies.

Any cover will protect the latex better than no cover or a partial cover but it’s the degree that you won’t be able to find out for certain because this isn’t information that you will be able to quantify scientifically which means that “best judgement” will become the best way to make a choice. Thicker fabrics that are more tightly woven will tend to be more protective than thinner fabrics that are less tightly woven but this doesn’t take into account the “feel” of the material and how it affects the feel of the latex.

Part of this is that different fabrics have different properties outside of just their ability to protect the latex (such as the type of fiber, moisture wicking, breathability, thickness, weave, how well they stretch, the quality of their manufacturing, their care instructions etc) and there is a wide range of differences between them that may be more important to some people and less to others.

In many ways … the choice of a cover would be similar to the choice of sheets where there are many products that “seem” to be similar to another and “appear” to be a “deal” but in reality end up being very different in ways that may be more important to some people and less important to others. There is a great article about this here (for sheets) that was posted earlier today by one of the members.

In my own personal experience I have found that sometimes the time you end up spending on the type of detailed more scientific analysis that asks questions that don’t have quantifiable answers to the degree of specificity you may be looking can be subject to the law of diminishing returns and can become more frustrating than helpful when the “finely specific” answers you are looking for just aren’t available. These are the cases where the “best option” would generally be “best judgement” in combination with conversations with the suppliers of each product that can help you assess the pros and cons of what they supply in more basic terms and the level of knowledge and experience they have about what they are selling.

In a few years down the road smaller differences in price will be less important than how the cover you chose feel, performs, and protects in real life.

If you are considering multiple toppers that you want to put inside one zip cover I would probably delay the purchase of a cover until you are clear on the layers that you plan to use on a more permanent basis.

Phoenix