You've done your research, enough to know you don't want to buy anything other than an organic, natural mattress. You have shopped around and hit all the stores from Berkeley to San Rafael, San Francisco to San Jose. And if you have searched online for organic mattresses, it's possible your head is spinning from all the claims and marketing. One thing is sure though: They are not cheap. What price should you pay for a quality organic mattress?
To know what is the best price to pay when shopping for an organic mattress around the Bay Area, it's smart to first know what you are looking at when considering the mattresses you will find in the mattress stores.
Covers: Almost every truly organic or natural mattress will be covered with organic cotton. Organic cotton can come from many sources, and the least expensive, of course, would be cotton sourced and grown in countries like India and China. A few organic mattresses will be sold with fabrics such as stretch cotton that is mixed with spandex, bamboo rayon fabrics and other naturally derived fabrics. A truly organic mattress will have an organic cotton cover, 100% pure cotton, and that will make the price higher.
Latex: True organic or natural mattresses will have 100% natural latex without any fillers or synthetics. If they purportedly mix it with essential oils, or anything other than pure latex from a rubber tree, it's not real latex. Real latex is not cheap, and everyone pays the same price for it.
Base materials: Mattresses are simply constructed; a comfort layer, a base layer, and a cover. You can make the mattress cheaper by using something other than pure latex as the base material. It can be coils, synthetic foam, coconut coir and other things.
Overhead: This is one of the most interesting and controllable expenses in the factor of the price of the mattresses you are looking at. When you walk into a mattress store, what do you see? Super expensive brochures, a fancy building, frequent mass media marketing? All of those things factor into the bottom line of being in business. And guess who pays for it? You do! It's factored into the price of the mattress. Look for a company that has low overhead, local and streamlined.
How much should you pay for your next organic and natural mattress? That depends on the above factors, but you should be able to find a good quality, American made organic or natural mattress for between $1000 to $2000 for a queen size.