I'm new here. I've spent a few hours poking around but haven't found any information on the mattress I'm considering: the Classic 8 by a company called Essentia (www.myessentia.com). They are a Canadian company that makes what is billed as the world's only natural memory foam. Has anyone heard of them? Thanks for taking the time to answer. -Michelle

yes I realize that we only know the final residuals, but if there was any styrene butadiene used in the making of it, it would show up on the testing of the final product, it is the content of the final product that I am interested in the most anyway as a salesperson myself.   and no, I am not talking about tire manufacturers and latex glove makers, if we throw those into the mix the number jumps much much higher.  There are atleast 15 or 20 certified latex foam makers in SE Asia alone, and quite a few others that make some very questionable product.  I am sorry but I really don't see how they could be posing as manufacturers simply 're-selling' the product , if you have ever been to India and tried to buy a latex mattress you would realize how dirt cheap they are over there, no way that they are buying them from the US or a European maker and selling them for what they are worth in that marketplace, granted they also don't use nice coverings over there, but still, very cheap).  Why would anyone buy from a re-seller located in China that would have to re-sell the product for more than the original manfucturer would have to charge in order to make a product when they can purchase it direct?  It's cheaper to buy it from China because they are probably in most cases cutting corners on the product, and also saving on the labour costs, especially if they are located a lot closer to the plantations, they are probably saving a lot on shipping costs as well. 

There are about a handful of makers that are currently making latex foam in North America as well.  Foamex, Carpenter, LatexCo, Latex International, Sealy also makes their own latex (100% synthetic though to my knowledge), and apparently you guys, this is just the ones that I know of personally. 

I think I should take the time to say something positive here though, because I feel like I might be being a little too hard on you guys.  I think you make a really interesting product.  I actually watched one of the owners on Dragon's Den a while back, I know you guys are definitely hoping to open a bunch of Essentia only stores (not sure if this is still the plan), because you were thinking maybe normal retailers wouldn't want to carry the product because you are saying it is a healthy alternative to some of the potentially dangerous chemicals found in standard mattresses.  I personally think if the product stands on its own merits that it could do just fine.  This is actually precisely what I do, I carry a range of 'normal' cookie cutter types of mattresses, as well as a very large selection of healthier alternatives.  I flat out tell people about the off-gasing issues with standard mattresses, sometimes I think it hurts our sales temporarily, but our integrity remains intact and in the process we will probably convince a fair number of people to spend a little more money on a much better mattress.  And at the risk of giving away what makes us successful I know that us actually carrying the standard well known brands only reinforces the truth in what I tell peoeple about the product.  If I was a natural beds only store, and didn't carry any of the major brands I would most certainly come across as being biased.  I simply provide truth and options, most of the smarter people that come in can see this.

I do think it is somewhat misleading to say the product is all natural if you are using styrene butadiene, however you do have a completely unique breed of memory foam so for all I know maybe it was a necessary step to get to those properties.  I don't consider it a bad thing, I think its a great thing because you are probably making the cleanest memory foam type of material around, and you are giving people an option in that type of feel that is genuinely healthier.  Plus its really great to see a Canadian company doing something like this.  But as we can see here even from the first couple of pages (outside of my own responses) that there is a lot of confusion and skepticism when people first see this product, and this is from the kind of customers that clearly do more research than the average mattress buyer.  I personally think that if the product was even just called the "cleanest" or "most natural" or "naturally derived" memory foam would just sound a lot more accurate and you might have some stores interested in carrying your product based on that info. 

Essentia .... I was sincerely looking forward to buying your mattress, and was greatly disappointed when I sat on it as it just didn't support me well. My wife loved it ... just not me. Doesn't mean it isn't a good product. If I remember, you were offering it at a GREAT price.

great price?  Where?  looksa like almost $3,000 USD for Classic 8 including box spring......US dollar...where is the price great?

There are lots of claims being made in the marketplace, most unsubstantiated. One of the biggest laughable claims is Essentia's claim of having a natural memory foam.

They make a latex mattress. Latex is rubber. There is no such thing as natural memory foam. It is just a marketing term. There is memory foam, which is a process of mixing chemicals

and petroleum based oils. The chemicals react and rise up into a foam. Then there is latex rubber, taken from a rubber tree. There are a minimum of chemicals used in the making of

latex. Essentia is an overpriced marketing machine in Canada where US laws on truth in advertising do not apply to them. Stick to companies based here in the US.

lol, your laws in the US are no more protective of false advertising and/or exxagerated claims.  what Essentia is selling is a slow response latex foam that mimicks the feeling of normal memory foams.  kind of what Latex International (US company) called NuForm.  I agree that their product shouldn't be advertised as natural, heck I even see they are now calling it 'organic' which is a joke....but still....there are Essentia stores in the US using this language...it would be nice if there was a more strict standard on what you can legally call natural or organic.  3rd party certification is still the biggie there...

budgy wrote:

Budgy: Let me first of all thank you for being an "honest broker." What I mean by that is, your are about the only person actually in the business who has come here and given honest answers without trying to peddle something. There may have been others in the past, who have ceased to respond here and I'm not aware of them. But your efforts have been recognized and appreciated by many.

I could not agree more that what is desperately needed is for the Congress of the United States to write a very clear law stating that all manufacturers of latex must label there product in accordance with a strict set of disclosures that really tell the buying public everything about there product, in very plain language. So that there could be no more of this, "you guessum" approach to selling mattresses.

Mattresses are just too big of a purchase. Many people, many many people, have a very difficult time scraping together $2000, let alone $3000 or more. And given the fact that 4 huge banks in the US control, I believe my figures are correct, two thirds of all credit cards issued therefore having almost no competition, and charging between 25 and 30% interest is absolutely scandalous. So needless to say a mattress can be a very large purchase indeed.

So thank you again for your valuable assistance.

Don

I wanted to resurrect this thread because I was curious if anyone (other than the one poster in this thread) had tried this mattress.

I am still very skeptical that they manufacture their own "latex memory foam" as in all my research I haven't seen them mentioned as a manufacturer.

Nuform from Latex International was mentioned in this thread but it didn't seem like anyone connected it with Essentia. I would guess that Essentia is using Nuform and calling it their own. Either that or they may be some kind of hidden subsidiary of LI ... but I doubt that.

In any case, in spite of the fact that their mattresses are horrendously expensive, I am thinking that it would feel like nuform and there are some mattresses out there that are using Nuform that are significantly less.

So has anyone actually experienced either an Essentia mattress or a mattress with a few inches of Nuform on the top and if so how did it compare with both latex and with decent memory foam?

Thanks

Phoenix

Hi-- I bought an essentia classic 8 on Feb 1. I tried this mattress at their store in Toronto and I really liked it. So far is taking forever to arrive, they told me to expect it delivered at the end of this week.

I’ll come back to this forum for updates once I get to sleep on it :)

I got the mattress 5 days ago (a week later than promised), opened it up and put it together. It smells like rubber which it doesn't bother me. Unfortunatelly this bed is VERY hot for me. Furthermore, I'm waking up every morning with a backache. Essentia has another bed with more support (ca$3763+tax) but I can not afford it :( and still it would be too hot to sleep on.

 

The positive thing is that I can return it and I'll have to pay only a 2% recycling fee, arround $200. 

BUT I'm still dissapointed..

 

AnnaLucia wrote: