Buying a new mattress is one of those things we have to do so rarely that we never really get used to it, and don’t necessarily get good at it. Indeed, it actually feels kind of weird to go into a mattress or department store and start laying down to see what feels the best, what with all those other people there, and the sales staff loitering around. Of course, once you get to a certain age, you tend to know what you like – soft, medium, or firm. Traditional mattresses, or maybe the newer ones with memory foam. So, maybe buying a new mattress doesn’t have to be all that hard. Try Some Augmented Reality With Your Kids Or last mattress was a relatively early memory-foam type that we picked up for a good deal at Costco. It came literally smashed down into a box, and upon unpacking it at home, it needed a few hours to expand… and off-gas, which was odd. But it ended up becoming our then-favorite mattress ever. We called it our “artifact” – we were fans of the show Warehouse 13, and liked to think our mattress was a magical artifact imbued with the ability to give us a good night’s sleep.
But over the years, the shortcomings of those early memory-foam mattresses became more evident, especially the way they trap heat. Yes, in the winter it could be a good thing, but for us in California, the real cold season lasts maybe two months (and ‘cold’ is a relative term in this context). The rest of the time, our mattress was perhaps a bit too warm for comfort. Also, it developed contours that eventually made it a bit strange to sleep in; I eventually needed a body pillow on the outer side so I didn’t have a tendency to roll out of bed. All that being a preamble to the fact that the folks at Loom & Leaf contacted me with the offer to review a new mattress. Loom & Leaf is an online-only mattress company, selling what they bill as luxury memory-foam mattresses at a very good price. The mattresses are all made in the US out of very high-grade, organic materials, and the company sells itself on great customer service. My experience with the customer service was excellent.
Once the order had been made, a customer service representative called me to confirm all aspects of the order, including making sure we had picked the right firmness and size, and explained the timeframe for delivery. The indication they give is that the mattresses are only made once they’ve been ordered and confirmed, which I suppose allows for much tighter inventory control, and therefore helps keep the prices down. This is something to consider: there is no instant gratification. You can’t just go down to the store and bring a mattress home. A little over a week later, I received another call letting me know the mattress was ready, and to schedule the delivery. On the day of delivery, the truck arrived at the very early end of the quoted times, which is always nice. The delivery team quickly and efficiently removed our old mattress (an additional feature you can request), and installed the new one; the whole process took less than ten minutes. My first impressions were very positive.
There was no memory-foam smell, which I’ve come to understand is common with other mattresses. This is due to the type of memory foam L&L uses (plant-based), and because they mattresses aren’t delivered compressed. The cover was, really, luxurious. The quilted heavy cotton fells delicious, and I could easily imagine just sleeping on top of it, without a fitted sheet. The mattress itself feels splendid. We opted for their slightly softer “relaxed-firm,” which is about a 6 on a 1-10 scale, since we were coming off of another all memory-foam mattress. It’s definitely a bit firmer than our previous mattress, but you can still feel the gently sumptuous sensation of the memory foam. But the support is excellent – I’ve been able to sleep for longer stretches on my back, where doing such would cause strain previously. And perhaps more importantly, it sleeps “cool.” There is no build-up of heat to make us feel uncomfortable. It turns out this is by design – L&L wanted to develop their mattress to give all the benefits of memory foam, but get rid of the negatives.
If you look at the image above, it’s the combination of the type of memory foam they use, and an added layer of actual medical-grade cooling gel. It all does the job, and makes sure we get the comfort without the heat. So yes, I’m really happy with this mattress. But sometimes reviewing something in a vaccuum is a little strange. I’ve had fewer than 8 mattresses in my life, so I don’t have a lot of comparisons to make. So I went to the Internet, and low-and-behold, yes there are sites that are specifically focused on reviewing mattresses. Here are a couple of samples of their reviews: From Sleepopolis: The Loom & Leaf mattress is a great option for most sleepers. It has a balanced feel, there are multiple firmness levels, great support, good body contouring, incredibly high quality materials (including green / organic), and the best cooling features I have yet to test in any mattress. (4.6 out of 5) From Slumbersage: The value really is fantastic and the company spared no expense in making the mattress as high-quality as possible.
From MattressClarity: Loom and Leaf provides great value, and is priced well for a mattress competing at the luxury level. The price tag is steep for some buyers, but a steal if you compare it to the major mattress brands. From ApartmentTherepy: Where [Loom & Leaf] really excels is on price, and they do a good job of getting this claim out front. For the money you are definitely getting a lot of mattress and you really would have to spend a lot more to beat this offering. The bottom line is that the Loom & Leaf mattresses are a great competitor to the medium/high-end of the Tempur-Pedic line, for less than half the price, and none of the negatives that often come with memory foam. If you’re nervous about buying a mattress without ever actually touching it, they offer a 75-day trial period within which you can return it (something that’s becoming quite common). The purchasing experience is simple, the customer service is top-notch, and the product is very high quality at a very reasonable price.