5 Ways to Find Your Most Luxurious Mattress

If you want your new mattress purchase to be your most luxurious one yet, you may be wondering where to start. Many people assume the most expensive mattress is the best, and as a general rule they are probably right, but mattress buying is a personal thing.

So what is a luxury mattress, and what makes it higher quality? Learn how to identify the most luxurious mattress so you don’t have to assume that a high price means a high end mattress - you can check for yourself.


 

1. Find Out The Best Luxury Mattress Types

There are three main types of mattresses available, coil sprung, pocket sprung and memory foam.

Traditional mattresses are made out of open coil springs. These are seen to be a cheaper alternative to the others, which is why you might find that many high quality luxury mattress brands don’t even stock them.

Luxury mattress brands tend to opt instead for pocket sprung mattresses. Springs within this type of mattress move independently to support your body’s natural position and to prevent you and your partner from disturbing each other with your movements. These high end luxury mattresses are also designed to last a long time. As a rule of thumb, you will find that the more springs there are in a pocket sprung mattress, the more supportive and comfortable it is.

Memory foam mattresses can be expensive. They are said to be good for those who suffer from chronic pain conditions, but the nature of the synthetic materials used mean that if you tend to be a warm sleeper, your overheating problems may be exacerbated by memory foam.
 

2. Identify What the Mattress is Made From

There are numerous different materials used in the making of luxury mattresses. The type of filling affects not only the comfort of the mattress, but how long it will last. You’ll find that a high end luxury mattress will be pleasingly heavy due to the quality and volume of fillings within it, as well as its construction. This will make it more robust and less likely to slip.

Filling:
Luxury pocket sprung mattresses contain layers of different materials that act as fillings. They work to fill contour gaps and provide support. The most luxurious mattresses will be filled with high quality, all natural materials, such as wool, hair, cashmere, and silk. These provide a breathable surface to help your body to regulate its temperature overnight. They are also resilient, meaning they maintain their shape and comfort for longer.

Like memory foam, cheaper synthetic fibres can trap your body heat, causing you restless nights through overheating. They will also quickly lose their ability to spring back into shape, meaning that your mattress will need replacing regularly, unlike a more expensive mattress.

Ticking:
The ticking is the fabric that holds the mattress together. This has several roles to fulfil, and they’re not just about the way your mattress looks. The ticking will need to be tightly woven to prevent fibres getting through, as well as flame-retardant.

Cheaper mattress brands can use polyester or polypropylene for their ticking. These synthetic materials can interfere with sleep by making it difficult for you to stay cool.

The most luxurious mattresses use a high-quality cotton or wool blend for their ticking, to increase breathability and comfort. In our entire mattress range, the use of wool in the outer fabric means we don’t need to spray with any chemical flame retardants, too!
 

3. Identify a Luxury Mattress by its Stitching

If you look at the sides of a mattress you can sometimes see rows of stitching. These tend to indicate a more expensive mattress that will retain its quality and last for years. This stitching is called hand stitching or side stitching and it is used to join the perimeter of the springs together with the fillings and the fabric border. This extends the sleeping surface by providing a firm edge that won’t droop or sag.

The most luxurious mattresses will have more rows of stitches to help keep the mattress in shape for the long term. Be warned though – mock side stitching can be added to some cheaper mattresses to make them look as if they are hand stitched. This shouldn’t be a problem with luxury mattress brands though.
 

4. Check the Tufting

Tufting makes sure the numerous layers of the mattress are held together securely. Without tufts, the contents of your mattress would shift as you move around overnight, and you’d wake up with sparse patches in the morning. Think about how the filling of a duck or goose down duvet behaves, for example.

For the best luxury mattresses, packed full of high quality natural materials, tufting is particularly important. Occasionally people say they’re aware of the tufting in a mattress when they sleep. A luxury mattress will minimise this problem with carefully selected tufts. These should be well covered by felt or wool pompoms for complete comfort.
 

The Best Luxury Mattresses Don’t Contain Chemicals

Did you know that many mattresses contain nasty chemicals? Health and safety regulations in the UK and USA mean that mattresses have to be flame retardant. In the majority of cases bed manufacturers choose to meet this standard by treating their materials or mattresses with harsh chemicals. This may make them safer in case of a fire, but the side effects of sleeping in such close proximity to these are not fully understood.

Wool is naturally flame retardant to British standards, meaning that a wool mattress with wool-blend ticking and a soft 100% wool surface layer underneath will need no extra fire-proofing.

When you’re looking for the most luxurious mattresses or designer beds, it pays to understand a little about what makes a luxury mattress stand out. But remember, mattresses are a subjective thing; the most expensive mattress is not necessarily the best one for you.

Woolroom offers a wool mattress range including many of our most luxurious mattress styles. Why not see how our mattresses stack up using the tips above?

If you're looking for a particular sized mattress, the links below may help:

• Single Mattresses
• Double Mattresses
• King Mattresses
• SuperKing Mattresses