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Derived from the hevea brasiliensis, or rubber tree, latex has natural qualities that simply make it the PERFECT MATTRESS MATERIAL.
100% Natural Latex provides the best comfort and support for your individual sleep needs AND consumer peace-of-mind. Good for you...good for our environment!
Natural or Blended?
Choose from 100% Natural or
Blended 30% Natural + 70%
Synthetic Latex,
both processed using the Talalay method.
Which is right for you?
The apperance, touch, feel and performance
are virtually the same, which is
why FloBeds offers a 20 Year Warranty
for BOTH our Blended and Natural Latex
mattresses.
The most recent Latex International
testing demonstrates a modest 2.6% increase in
natural latex softening, and a less
than 1% increase in height loss of natural latex
versus blended over 10 years.
100% Natural Latex is the best choice for those looking for a chemical-free bed, although we have found that offgassing is NOT an issue with Blended Latex.
The Talalay process features natural, biodegradable ingredients that come from renewable resources and water-based raw materials: natural latex, air and water.
Liquid rubber whipped into a foam and poured into a mold.
When closed the mold has rods that go through the foamed rubber.
A vacuum is placed on the mold, which removes air bubbles/pockets and
distributes the liquid rubber evenly through the mold.
CO2 is run through the rods, freezing the foamed rubber and locking in the consistency.
Heat is sent through the rods, providing even temperature and yielding a consistent latex cores without air pockets or uneven firmnesses.
Latex is a milky white liquid composed of rubber particles dispersed in water. This material is whipped with air to form a foam, which is heated to produce foam rubber, or latex. The soft, supple products of a real foam rubber are what make our products superior. Latex is inherently hypo-allergenic, anti-microbial and dust-mite resistant. Latex is not a plastic foam, like polyurethane or furniture foam. It is a denser product made of rubber to last a lifetime. Unlike urethane, latex will feel as good years from now as it does the day it is produced.
Unlike some competing products, our Talalay products contain no fillers or extenders. Only the components needed to convert the material from a liquid to a solid that lasts are added: soap, ammonia, zinc oxide and sulfur. The ammonia evaporates and the soap and zinc oxide are washed out. The sulfur is needed to cure the product so that it bounces back after you sleep on it.
Most recent Latex International test data on our standard and 100% natural mattress products:
To test Softening over time a machine is used that conducts what we call our Impact test: 24,000 cycles over a 24hr period with a 30 lb weight being dropped onto a 17"x17"x6" block of foam. The test is similar to the first 24,000 cycles of the Cornell test where the vast majority of product softening occurs. We believe that our Impact test is more stringent.
To test Height Loss we conduct an ASTM latex foam compression set test of 50% compression at 158 F for 22 hours with height loss measured on a 6" thick block of foam.
| Blended Talalay | 100% Natural | Talalay Difference | |
| SOFTENING | 14.8% impact loss | 17.4% impact loss | 2.6% |
| HEIGHT LOSS | 3.4% | 4.3% | 0.9% |
Originally we could not get our natural latex in Talalay, so we imported natural latex made in the Dunlop process by the container from Sri Lanka. We couldn't help but notice that our Latex International Talalay Latex (blended) kept its shape and resiliency much better than the Dunlop.
As our natural latex mattress sales grew, we kept asking Latex International to consider making a 100% Natural Talalay. Finally in 2005 they did, and FloBeds was first in line. We have never looked back.
In July of 2009, while cleaning out the upper shelves at our Latex Shop, we found some latex cores that had been stored compressed for years. We wondered how dramatic the difference in resiliency would be and wanted to share the study with our customers...even we were surprised at the results.
