What about chemicals?

Our mattresses, foundations, toppers and pillows are handmade right here in California with certified healthy, durable components imported from Europe.

Our stretchy cotton knit is made with 100% organic cotton in a GOTS certified factory in Germany.

All the Plein-Air wool fill for our pillows and mattresses is made from 100% pure Plein Air wool.
Our natural Talalay latex is Cradle to Cradle GOLD certified. In addition all components are tested and certified by the independent Oeko-Tex 100 standard to ensure a clean and chemically safe sleep environment.

Oeko-Tex substance testing includes:

- Substances which are prohibited by law, such as carcinogenic dyestuffs
- Substances which are regulated by law, such as formaldehyde, softeners, heavy metals or pentachlorphenol
- Substances which according to current knowledge are harmful to health but which are not yet regulated or prohibited by law, such as pesticides, allergy-inducing dyestuffs or tin-organic compounds
- Parameters such as colorfastness and a skin-friendly pH-value, which are precautionary measures to safeguard a consumers' health

How do you make your mattresses flame retardant?

We use pure natural sheep wool as a natural flame barrier in our mattress cover design to meet the standard. Wool (like any natural hair) burns cool, self extinguishes after a very short period and leaves a char layer that works as a very efficient heat insulator to protect the core from ignition.
We do NOT use any chemical sprays or artificial flame barriers in any of our materials for mattresses or foundations.

Wool is very expensive and while this is not the most cost-effective, it is the most natural and healthiest way to meet the flammability standard. Our mattresses and mattress sets have been tested by the relevant government approved laboratories and passed the open flame test with a comfortable margin. The relevant information can be found on the law label and Certification of Compliance that is available to our dealers upon request.

How about side-to-side bounce?

Not on a mattress from Berkeley Ergonomics. Due to the significantly higher number of compressed coils, the resiliency of the latex, the individual flexible slat suspension system, and the special quilting on the top pad, our mattresses have virtually no motion transfer.

How do I know this will be right for me?

You don't really. Buying a mattress can be very difficult. The problem is that because people only test a mattress briefly in the store, they don't realize the mattress is poorly designed or made with poor quality materials.
Berkeley Ergonomics mattresses not only have superior components and design, but a huge advantage over other mattresses in that you can adjust and readjust them after your purchase.

Will this fix my back/shoulder/hip problem?

That's a hard one to answer. Physical problems can have many sources. A bad mattress and bad support can certainly aggravate a condition. And if you sleep on the right mattress, you may find the problem goes away or lessens. No mattress can be guaranteed as a "cure" for anything. But we do know that our mattresses provide excellent support and comfort.

Are the quilted mattress and pad covers machine washable?

Please do not wash or dry clean your mattress cover. It will shrink and not fit back onto the mattress.
You can take the top panel off to air out seasonally. You can also put it in the dryer for a half an hour on a cool setting if outdoor airing is inconvenient. If necessary you can spot clean the cover with a gentle detergent. Place a towel underneath while you spot clean from above. Make sure you allow to dry well before zipping back on.
Also please, keep your latex inside and out of the sun.

What about allergies to the latex or the wool?

A very small percentage of people are allergic to latex. Usually they work around latex and directly handle it, such as health workers who developed an allergy to latex surgical gloves.
The number of latex proteins found in foam latex is infinitesimal compared to latex gloves. If you don't have a diagnosed allergy to latex, you shouldn't worry about it. In fact, latex rubber usually eases a lot of other more common allergy problems which are due to mold, mildew and house dust mites. As for the light-weight wool in the mattress, note that it is quilted to a sumputuos layer of organic stretch cotton and will never directly contact the skin.

Will this bed sleep "hot"?

No. Synthetics and polyesters do because they don't allow moisture to evaporate but lock humidity in. Our mattresses have several elements that guard against that. There is a wool layer and wool is one of the best dissipaters of humidity, keeping sleeping temperatures comfortable. The organic cotton in the mattress covering allows moisture to permeate and evaporate instead of trapping it. Our natural Talalay latex has an interconnected open cell structure allowing air circulation resulting in a drier and more hygienic sleep environment.

Do you make custom sizes?

Yes – if you have European size furniture, an antique heirloom bedframe or an uncomfortable RV mattress, we can make special size mattresses and topper pads for you. We can pretty much make any size in our All Latex mattress models. With coil mattresses there are certain limits as we can only reduce / enlarge in increments of the coil diameter but we still get within +/- 1 inch of your desired size.

What are the mattress and foundation size standards?

Size Finished mattress ± ½”    Finished Foundation + ½”, -0

Twin 38 x 74 ½ 37 ½ x 74
TXL 38 x 79 ½ 37 ½ x 79
Full  53 x 74 ½ 52 ½ x 74
Queen  60 x 79 ½ 59 ½ x 79
Eastern King  76 x 79 ½ 37 ½ x 79 (2 required)
California King  72 x 83 ½ 35 ½ x 83 (2 required)

Is your latex organic?

Our natural Talalay latex is Cradle to Cradle GOLD certified. This is the most comprehensive standard currently available in the industry.
In comparison GOLS (Global Organic Latex Standard) is very limited in its scope and doesn't even test offgassing of the finished product. The GOLS certification allows up to 5% of the formulation to be "non-organic" materials excl. synthetic rubber. It is impossible to make latex foam without additives (soap, sulphur, gelling agents etc.) so a lot can happen on the way from making the organic raw material into latex foam. We only use natural Talalay latex because it is superior to latex blends and Dunlop latex with regards to performance and durability.

Organic is safe?

Many consumers ask for organic mattresses assuming that this is their best and safest choice. However, an organic certification has little to nothing to do with the quality or performance of a product.
It's virtually identical to the same material that does not have an organic certification even though it adds to the cost of a product. The GOLS - Global Organic Latex Standard for example doesn't test the final product for harmful substances or VOC's so additional tests after processing are required to prove that it is safe.

Why don't you test your finished product for harmful substances?

Because this would just increase cost and the price of our beds without providing any additional benefit to the consumer. Our components are certified by the European standard Oeko-Tex 100 to be chemically safe. Our latex is Cradle to Cradle GOLD certified and in addition, our cotton fabric is made with 100% organic fiber in a GOTS certified factory in Germany. During manufacturing we are not adding anything that changes the chemical composition of the components in any way.

Why is the material of your pocketed coils not natural?

The prime focus in our mattress design is function and performance not organic certification. While all our materials are certified chemically safe, mostly natural and some are made with 100% organic fiber in GOTS certified factories, we use polypropylene for our pocketed coil material because, inside a mattress, it performs better than materials with natural.

PP is quick drying which is important to prevent the growth of mold and bacteria inside your mattress. It is very quiet and does not make crunchy noises when you move in bed. It is famous for its fatigue resistance and allows the hot-melt (solvent free) glue to bond tightly to it to prevent separation of the rows of coils guaranteeing exceptional durability.

As with everything else in life the right balance has to be struck between natural and functional and we believe that the earth is better served by a bed that has a long and well-performing life span compared to a 100% natural design where some components are of a lesser functionality and the bed has to be replaced in a much shorter time-span.

Our nonwoven polypropylene pocket coil material is a chemically safe material with an excellent track record that was developed in the late 1950’s and has since been widely used for all kinds of everyday applications (food packaging, water bottles, performance clothing etc.) It is also used in the medical field for sutures, artificial vascular grafts, catheters and disposable syringes.
Polypropylene has been used for pocketed coils for decades and proven to work extremely well.

What about the bad reviews?

We appreciate all consumer reviews as important feedback on how best to meet our customers' needs. Honest postings of positive or negative experiences are a welcome and important part of doing business. Fake reviews paid for by the competition trying to change the focus of our marketing message are unwarranted and do a disservice to consumers.

In late 2014 a person pretending to be a consumer sent us anonymous letters, reported us to the FTC for misleading marketing claims and harassed our dealers with fake phone calls and emails. After the FTC inspector got suspicious and asked for proof that they were indeed a consumer, they went away until starting a new campaign in 2017. Since then we’ve had confirmation that it was a competitor trying to force us into stopping to supply one of our dealers. Most of the fake reviews have since been removed but they are still out there.