MATTRESS MATERIALS PREFERRED BY CONSUMERS
In earlier times, cotton, horse hair and hay were used as mattress materials to make mattresses by different civilizations. The word materials eventually became mattress and the oldest known mattress dates to around 77,000 years ago.
Early mattresses contained a variety of natural materials including straw, feathers or horse hair. In the first half of the 20th century, a typical mattress sold had an innerspring core and cotton batting or fiberfill.
Modern mattresses usually contain either an inner spring core or materials such as Latex, Memory Foam or other Flexible Polyurethane Foam. Other fill components include insulator pads over the coils that prevent the bed’s upholstery layers from cupping down into the innerspring, as well as polyester fiberfill in the bed’s top upholstery layers. In North America, the typical mattress sold today is innerspring; in Europe, polyurethane foam cores and latex cores have long been popular.
Early mattresses contained a variety of natural materials including straw, feathers or horse hair. In the first half of the 20th century, a typical mattress sold had an innerspring core and cotton batting or fiberfill. Modern mattresses usually contain either an inner spring core or materials such as Latex, Memory Foam or other Flexible Polyurethane Foams.
What is More Popular and Preferred in India?
So, we went around armed with this question and came back with eye-opening answers from the field.
In a survey we ran among mattress users and potential buyers across several cities in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi NCR, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, we met with some interesting findings. People in the tier 3 and 4 towns in India preferred Cotton filled mattresses while those in Tier 1 and 2 preferred modern mattresses made of various foams.
Cotton stood its ground primarily because of its familiarity and availability. The unorganized sector mostly works with cotton. Some modern mattresses use cotton as supplementary material with other fillings. It acts as a good filler in innerspring mattresses.
“We get a lot of people walking in, mostly 40 plus, who prefer cotton and they would ask us if we could use their existing bed’s cotton filling,” says Adisesulu from Coimbatore.
What Does the Average Indian Mattress Buyer Prefer?
Stitched, customized cotton mattress or the branded modern material one. Buying the right mattress is no more an art but it is simply science thanks to the studies and techniques adopted by mattress manufacturers. Everything is verifiable.
In a country like India where the unorganized mattress sector still has a footprint larger than the branded ones, this is still more of an art. From a millennial point of view, mattress buying is simply an online search away but for the majority, it is natural to walk across to their neighbourhood mattress maker and customize a mattress.
In Tier 3 and 4 cities and towns, cotton mattress is a traditional staple in the majority of Indian households. An old mattress often is not thrown but refurbished into a new mattress with new cotton. Often these mattresses are made in front of your own eyes in your home or at the roadside shop where you can drop in to see them transforming into a mattress.
The lure of cotton notwithstanding, consumers in Tier 1 and 2 cities prefer modern mattresses. They seem to have made up their mind on which material to choose and come into the store to take a final look. Many are taken aback to discover the variety of mattress types.
“We did not know foam is of so many types. I got to understand the virtues of modern mattresses while reading reviews online. I went to the store to get a feel for it and buy,” says Rakshita, a homemaker from Nagpur. So obviously, the message and the visuals have to go right for modern mattress materials.
The question is how do consumers make the choice about the material. “If you move away from the metros and into the Tier-3 and Tier-4 towns in India, even today the local cotton ginner is the first choice to call upon for making a new mattress,” says Belgaum-based Vasant Patwardhan, a consumer who bought a new mattress from a local ginner custom made.
“We did not know foam is of so many types. I got to understand the virtues of modern mattresses while reading reviews online. I went to the store to get a feel for it and buy.” RAKSHITA
Home Maker, Nagpur
BUYING THE RIGHT MATTRESS IS NO MORE AN ART BUT IT IS SIMPLY SCIENCE.
Cotton and stitched bedding have a deep-rooted tradition in Indian households.
We still need to educate the public about the virtues of modern material. There is an unstated myth among a growingly lesser population which says modern is bad and that needs to be busted. Modern materials are subjected to stringent tests in the laboratories and the manufacturer provides a warranty for the product. There is no such guarantee for a cotton-filled mattress made by our friendly local bedmaker.
What is the Main Purpose People Buy from Local Bedmakers?
The bulk of the respondents gave a tame reason that it is easier to customize if they go to a local bed maker but not the material itself. The filling inside could either be cotton or foam as long as it is customized to their needs.
“Many modern mattress offer customization but not in the same way a local ginner does,” says Apoorva. “Though personally buy mattresses for my resort I know that customization in a mattress is not the end game, I buy only modern mattresses because I can be assured of quality, make, and material benefits.”
“If you move away from the metros and into the Tier-3 and Tier-4 towns in India, even today the local cotton ginner is the first choice to call upon for making a new mattress” VASANT PATWARDHAN
Consumer, Belgaum