Off topic: How to choose your mattress? (+ reviews on Tediber mattresses)

What ? An article that doesn't talk about men's fashion? Mattress on BonneGueule, when the cover is not even Japanese chambray?

Remember, in my review , I expressed my (very) personal desire to (very) sporadically expand the editorial , particularly on companies trying to change the rules of the game in their market. Those that offer a better and cheaper product by eliminating intermediaries or, quite simply, by offering a product that puts a big slap in the face of everything that has been done before . In short, I want to try to find Hast, Everlane or Maison Standards, in areas other than men's fashion.

So, it's true, you could say that I'm not an expert in these other areas but that's precisely what interests me. I want to see how I do with:

• Search for and synthesize information on a completely new subject,

• Offer you an article that is very pleasant to read and which will teach you a whole bunch of very useful tips for the future.

In this case, we are going to pass the test by fire by talking about mattresses, because it is a sector ultimately very conducive to "disruption" : an opaque offer, prices difficult to interpret... but I will come back to that .

Finally, for our most purist readers, rest assured: I have no plans to particularly intensify the publication of an "off-topic" on men's fashion. Above all, we are here to talk to you about clothes. I think we won't publish more than one or two articles of this type per quarter , or even less...

Received ideas and techniques from mattress sellers

Some time ago, I had lunch with Julien, founder of Tediber , a start-up whose ambition is to create the best possible mattresses .

And being the very curious person that I am, I obviously asked him lots of questions about the mattress because paradoxically, while we spend 1/3 of our lives there, we don't know much about it, everyone does their own thing. advice for choosing a mattress: “you have to go to a certain brand, you need shape memory, but no, you actually need latex!”

I only searched the web for reviews on mattress brands and others: nothing complete, accessible or impartial. So, I decided to give you “the article that is missing on the mattress”. And I think that will remove a thorn in my side.

A brief overview of the mattress market

We all need to sleep comfortably.

Otherwise, everyone has experienced many bad nights, and how poor sleep quality can impact our entire daily life.

This is why everyone quickly understands the benefit of not neglecting their bedding!

As older people are more sensitive to sleeping comfort (yes, they do not have the same expectations as a student in YOLO mode who can sleep anywhere), they are also the target of scams. mattress.

Because it is a market with very discouraging aspects for the end customer, namely:

• Opacity in the information , therefore inability to gauge the right price of the mattress , which leaves the door open to a whole bunch of scams targeting the elderly,

• A total impossibility of having a true idea of ​​the intrinsic quality of the mattress , even while lying on it,

• Price differences that are never justified and difficult to understand : you know why a shirt can cost €40 or €150, but how many of you can say what differentiates a mattress at €500 from one at €2,500? ? While we are talking about a fundamental element to your healthy lifestyle! Result: the price no longer reflects much,

• A jungle of prices, manufacturers and technologies . By having too many choices, it becomes incomprehensible and difficult to decide,

• The difficulty of assessing the quality of a mattress, even by “trying it on” in a store (while you know when you try on a piece of clothing whether it fits you well… or not).

When we have a market which generally generates so much anxiety and dissatisfaction, it is the perfect breeding ground to put a big kick in the anthill, to provide a very high quality offer on a large scale. . In short, offering an extraordinary mattress to ordinary people

Faced with all this joyful jumble, Tediber, a start-up specializing in mattresses , decided to shake it all up. But first, let's see how an average mattress breaks down.

Understanding the characteristics of a mattress

Stop preconceived ideas

If you ask a French person what type of mattress they prefer, there is almost a 90% chance that they will say they like firm mattresses . He will therefore move towards wooden board type mattresses.

This Frenchman there is neither right nor wrong. He's just a little lost. In fact, we think that the welcoming feeling of the mattress depends on the support it offers to the spine, and therefore to the back.

For the uninformed French customer, the mattress world is divided into two camps, the good guys and the bad guys:

• firm mattresses = good back support and therefore good sleep,

• Soft mattresses = rotten mattresses and sleep.

Whose fault is it ? To his parents and grandparents who repeatedly told him that he needed a firm mattress to support him well. Except that the world has moved on and, now, we can have soft and firm mattresses at the same time .

Firmness, support and comfort of a mattress: what is it?

• The reception of the mattress: it is the first sensation, the direct contact offered by the mattress. It can be firm or soft, that's what our French associates with support. In reality, everyone prefers a somewhat or very warm welcome . If you wanted to sleep on a firm mattress, it's like choosing a wool blanket over a soft duvet.

• Support (or maintenance): this is what keeps the spine straight, regardless of the sleeping position. And here, it is very important to be firmly held because otherwise, your body spends the night contracting your muscles to hold you. It's actually very tiring, and you wake up more tired than you were before going to bed.

On a poor quality model with equivalent materials, there will be a difference in support depending on the weight and shape of the user. With a bad mattress, you therefore need:

• Be firm if you are heavy,

• Soft if you are light.

However, by using foams with good elasticity and good resilience, the support will be perfect whatever the morphology of the sleeper, since the foam will respond differently depending on the force of pressure exerted .

• Density: that’s something else. The density of the materials in a mattress corresponds to their quality, the higher the density, the better quality and durable the mattress will be . However, for the same density, the firmness may differ from one mattress to another. You gradually understand why choosing a mattress is sometimes a real jungle...

We should not stop at mattress firmness ratings (especially since these are arbitrary and change depending on the brand), which actually mean nothing. They only make sense for poor quality mattresses , to provide correct support even with materials with poor elasticity.

Choose the right materials, the right brands and try your mattress for a few nights.

Promotions and fake networks: how to avoid mattress scams?

On the Internet, promotions are valid almost continuously and we are inundated with -65%, -30%, free box spring, etc. They all seem exceptional and ephemeral but, when you dig deeper, this is rarely the case.

In stores, if we are unlucky enough to fall between mattress week and promo point week, the sellers always give us the right “exceptionally” to a promotion not yet available, to “free delivery”, or even to the free return of the old mattress.

You may also have had the experience of purchasing a “hotel quality” mattress under the radar, from a friend of a friend, at 40% off just because the plastic had been opened, etc. .

Overall, everyone around you will feel like they got a good deal when purchasing their mattress.

The reality about mattress prices

• Mattress prices are calculated so that there is always a margin of x1.5 to x2, even with incredible promotions or delivery and pick-up offers.

• If there was indeed a small drop in margin, it would be financed by the few from whom the seller managed to make them pay full price. Yes, you are the target.

• In short, promotions are quite simply the most archaic but also the most effective sales technique: making you understand that you must not miss this opportunity . I'm not telling you anything about that, it's the same way sales work: creating a feeling of urgency and scarcity with an "exceptionally" low price to prevent you from postponing your purchase. You decide in haste, without really comparing.

• As for parallel networks... let's just say that you don't need to be a genius to understand that the absence of a storefront allows them to sell products of a quality very very different from that advertised. Yes, it’s smart because a mattress can’t be opened to check what’s inside!

Listen to that little voice that tells you to step back and take time to think. Promotions only exist to push consumers to make purchases without careful consideration . They have a significant cost: this hidden cost is integrated into the initial price of the mattress and has an impact on the quality of the product.

Mattress guarantee: see more clearly

What mattress dealers say/do:

• The guarantees only work if the box spring is purchased with the mattress,

• Mattresses are guaranteed for up to 10-15 years.

The reality about guarantees

• Indeed, a box spring in very poor condition can damage a mattress and reduce its lifespan. But a box spring lasts much longer than a mattress and there is therefore a need to change it much less often: it is only a question of increasing the customer's shopping basket,

• In cases where the box spring is not purchased, this also makes it possible to justify the poor quality of the materials, and their too rapid deterioration,

• The guarantees on mattresses are, in all cases, a guarantee on manufacturing defects: they do not take into account what is called in the jargon "normal sagging", that is to say when the materials settle down. This is completely normal, yes, but poor quality materials sag very quickly and the mattress quickly becomes hollow and uncomfortable, whereas very good materials will not settle for 8-10 years.

Conclusion

A mattress is an investment for 12 years (average duration in France). We therefore need to be reassured about the quality of this object, which sellers and manufacturers exploit.

Warranties are often a new marketing argument to make customers believe that their mattress is of good quality... but because of the many closures of these warranties, they no longer represent much and are very rarely usable.

Understanding the Technologies Used in Mattresses

What they say

• The mattresses have summer and winter sides to improve temperature regulation depending on the seasons,

• Good mattresses are those with the most comfort zones (7, 9, 12, etc.).

Reality

• The faces only play a minimal role in regulating the temperature, yet increasing the design and therefore resale price: the only real reason is that the consumer will turn their mattress over regularly, thus the materials deform less quickly and less. more homogeneous.
  Poor quality materials will therefore go more unnoticed.

• For the temperature: choose a latex welcome, a room at 18 degrees and a quality duvet. The most beautiful technology will do the rest.

• Comfort zones only have real meaning for spring mattresses . For others, this only increases design costs, once again allowing the use of lower quality materials: high-end latex or foam are naturally ergonomic point by point. Latex mattresses can also have justified comfort zones but overall, a latex mattress is not the best in terms of support.

Conclusion

The jargon used by sellers allows them to differentiate themselves or segment the market .

The reality is that the use of good quality materials results in a mattress that naturally has these qualities, without having hidden costs: R&D to develop a smoking innovation, more expensive production to create zoning on the fabric or in the core, the storage of many different product references... All this increases costs which must be passed on somewhere (= on you).

Free mattress recovery

What they say 

“We’re nice, we’ll take your old mattress back.”

Reality

You begin to understand, the free recovery means the recovery included!

And a recovery is not cheap, it costs at least €100-150. Even though the majority of cities offer free mattress collection! In France, we even have a gem at the forefront of this very specific type of recycling, Recyc Matelas .

When it comes to mattress recovery, even Ikea offers a free take-back option for your old mattress . Obviously, the goal is to offer a top customer experience in order to make them want to buy Ikea again, there is not only a purely environmental vocation behind this offer... but we are not going to complain about it 😉

I still insist on this point because the recovery of an old mattress is a serious subject: in nature, it takes almost 100 years to degrade, while there are so many possibilities to create value on a throwaway mattress! Do me a favor, before you think about the landfill, try improving your karma with a happier ending for your mattress.

Tips to remember for choosing the right mattress

• First of all, we find out about the density of the materials to have a quality piece. The density is indicated in the product descriptions, here are the minimums necessary in terms of durability:
  • High Resilience Foam (HR): > 25kg/m3
  • Latex: >60kg/m3
  • Memory foam: >40kg/m3

• Pay close attention to sleeping independence (which allows you not to feel your partner moving, which is also the main cause of waking up during the night). I'm not involved in the team but Alex has a tendency to wake up when his sweetheart moves in the night, this is a point to NEVER take lightly.

• This mattress, you will have to try it at one point or another, to know your tastes in terms of reception and to be sure that the support is correct , to go further than "trying on by feeling". Brands are aware of this, which is why they often offer a number of trial days. Find out more about this and pay close attention to the return conditions (if the return is your responsibility, for example).

• As we said above, keep your cool in the face of “the promotion of the day” which is only there to push you into a rash purchase. We are not telling you to pay full price, we simply recommend taking the time and comparing .

• Pay attention to the dimensions : a mattress that is too small will be disturbing, whereas a mattress that is too large could stifle the space in your bedroom.

• Thickness adds little to comfort, but a mattress less than 20 cm cannot really isolate your body from the box spring and its movements. Therefore, choose mattresses larger than 20 cm but below 27-28, so as not to have to change all your mattress covers.

• Finally, finish with the hypoallergenic and anti-mite properties of the mattress : a latex mattress is, for example, naturally so, while a mattress padded with wool should be strictly avoided for people who are sensitive to these points. A washable cover can also be an important asset for maintenance.

Tediber's bet

You begin to understand how the mattress market can sometimes be ruthless and very messy and, as a result, you may have difficulty choosing the ultimate mattress (read the story of Alexis , reader of BonneGueule, you will find yourself recognize).

An opaque market, with crazy margins and a difficult-to-read offer, leaves an enormous opportunity for an entering player to do exactly the opposite , like Uber and taxis. Watch this excellent video from a school friend on this subject, the parallels with the mattress industry are very interesting!

And that's where destiny placed Tediber on my path, created by Julien Sylvain, a serial entrepreneur with a solid CV (good sign: he has no problem talking about his failures , something I really appreciate) . I was delighted to see that they had a very different approach from what we usually see, taking one by one all the frustrations that one can have with a mattress and its purchase.

Well yes, do you remember the tricky tricks of most manufacturers? Tediber decided to make it beneficial for their customers:

• A single product , for maximum readability of the offer,

• No intermediaries to have an attractive price (the other side of the coin is that the margin is so low that there is never a promotion, or rather there is: it lasts all year long!)

• Lots of guarantees to reassure the customer, and the possibility of going back: 100 nights trial and free return of the mattress . The returned mattresses are donated to associations.

• And like many start-ups, a very strong culture of service and customer satisfaction : they deliver to Paris in 1.5 hour slots with the courier who takes the mattress upstairs for you. Elsewhere in France, delivery by UPS within 24 hours is quite rare for a mattress brand. For customer service, like at Captain Train (or like us 🙂) it is internalized (= it is not a call center which has nothing to do with the company which answers customer calls) and it is the headquarters team that responds to customers.

Ultimately, it’s a business model that you know very well when it comes to clothing. For example, Hast has long been a so-called "mono product" brand (which only sold shirts), at a very attractive price thanks to direct sales (they were never distributed through resellers). It's the same thing for Tediber: a single product, no intermediaries to preserve the margin, an attractive price and a customer experience that is intended to be very pleasant .

It seems obvious like that, but in France, it is a pioneering model, which has not escaped the press, notably at Télématin with a report of great clarity and BFM Business , where the team tells the genesis of the project… and its difficulties!

What's special about this mattress?

Tediber made a bold bet: to design ONE mattress in several sizes that would suit all sleepers . I was quite perplexed by this "one size fits all" approach, but as you will see, in practice, it seems to work quite well for those who have tested it. 🙂

Julien actually decided to take the best of three current technologies, namely:

• A first layer of latex , it's the first thing you feel when you lie down on it (we talk about the "welcome" of the mattress) which gives a lot of softness on the surface,

• A thickness of “memory” foam , which provides the necessary support. Casually, there is a bias on Julien's part, since many brands put the memory foam in first contact with the body. However, the problem is that it does not manage heat well, and this is why in a Tediber mattress, it comes after the latex welcome.

• And finally a polyurethane and high resilience foam , which will allow the mattress to last and be comfortable. I just regret that Tediber doesn't detail more about how its foam is unique compared to others.

It is this assembly of three carefully chosen materials that gives Tediber its own comfort. A significant point is that the latex is OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 certified while the shape memory and foam are Certipur certified. The components are therefore non-harmful and have a low impact on the environment.

In this type of project, for a brand starting from scratch, the whole challenge will be on the execution of the idea, and here, on the sourcing of the manufacturer.

Julien managed to find a manufacturer with 40 years of experience to make his idea a reality. After a few prototypes, the big day arrived: the launch of the brand, and the trial by fire among the first customers... But first, let's talk price.

We are on a standard mattress at €650, the price of a suit. For such a vital element (you will still spend a third of your time lying on it, and it guarantees the quality of your nights), which will last several years, I find it a completely reasonable investment.

So, a mattress that costs €650 instead of €1500, where everything is done to exceed the customer's expectations, too good to be true? The time for the in-situ test has come!

The Tediber mattress test: our opinions

Well this time, the test will be a little special, since:

• It wasn't me who tested it,

• And it's not one, but TWO testers like you and me, from the team, who will give you their feelings.

Indeed, by a coincidence of timing, Alexandre (the product manager who you see all the time in the videos) and Jérémy (the designer-editor who we don't often see in the videos), needed a new mattress around the same time, following a move.

They both opted for a Tediber mattress and each wanted to write their feedback:

Test of the Tediber mattress by Jérémy

I personally purchased the Tediber mattress two months ago, moving into a new apartment. Being in a cohabitation, I opted for the Queen format, that is to say the 160 x 200 format.

Initially, it took me a little while to get used to this bedding. Indeed, the bed is relatively hard and thick, which is also the corollary of quite exceptional support. I had been accustomed in the past to beds of lower quality, softer... But little by little, thanks to the shape memory, the bed adapted; or I adapted to it and my back started to feel good.

As far as maintaining it is concerned, it's simple: if you move, the person next to you doesn't feel any vibration, which is a significant advantage when you live as a couple. For example, if you have to go to the bathroom or go to your mistress's house in the middle of the night, your girlfriend won't wake up. #trick

More seriously, unlike soft beds which can be appreciable but whose comfort declines over time, this mattress is the complete opposite for me. The more I sleep in it, the more comfortable I feel.

Note that I have been sleeping without a box spring since the beginning, I plan to buy one very soon . Aesthetically it is always better, and it will also increase flexibility. I'm not a bed expert, but Tediber really has a card to play in a sector that deserves to be changed (the bedding market has not seen any major technological developments in 30 years).

Tediber , the BonneGueule of bedding? 😉

The old mattress take-back service

They have a unique service that will make your life easier : they take your old mattress and give it a second life thanks to a partnership with Eco-mobilier .

The service costs €30 , but it will save you a lot of problems: your old mattress is taken back the day you receive your new mattress, no need to put the mattress in the street or in a recycling center.

There you have the assurance that it will be recycled properly: it will be dismantled and mainly transformed into insulation materials for the building.

Alexandre's opinion on the Tediber mattress

Having recently moved from a small furnished studio to a larger but unfurnished apartment, I had to confront the purchase of a new bed (box spring + mattress).

Having a very complicated sleep pattern, the choice of mattress (in which we spend 1/3 of our life) is an extremely important purchase. I have no room for error. And considering the price of beds, this represents a real investment, even a source of anxiety.

So of course, I had come to terms with the idea of ​​spending a certain amount but I didn't want to get scammed...

This fear is justified because the bedding market is a jungle worse than the textile industry, with an opacity as disconcerting as the prices displayed on the labels. Understanding the offer is almost impossible, and I'm not even talking about the quality of the salespeople in the brands, who are incapable of providing you with correct information.

What I liked about Tediber is the very clear offer: a unique mattress. Impossible to make a mistake, it is THE right mattress, because it has been thought and designed as the ultimate and right mattress.

It was Elie who first told me about it... and I admit I was skeptical at first. I still took the plunge and bought the Queen model (160 cm wide, essential when your girlfriend spreads out over 2/3 of the surface and only leaves you a tiny piece). I finally completed this purchase with the acquisition of a classic box spring.

I was immediately won over, we honestly feel a real difference in terms of comfort. At first glance, it seems "soft" but still offers a lot of support (I hate sinking into a mattress that is too soft). A mix between a “welcoming” mattress and a stricter mattress. A perfect balance!

Friends and family came to Paris and I lent them my apartment, they too were attracted... So I recommend it to anyone who wants to invest in quality bedding.

In fact, it is very complicated to explain the feeling of comfort: it's as if there was the necessary firmness when you sit down to read a book or watch a series, and the right "softness" once you lie down. . This “softness” which makes your body mold into the mattress and is not constrained.

In the morning, you feel completely rested, your batteries charged to tackle a new day (special mention for those late mornings on the weekend, where the Tediber mattress transports you far away). So, I won't go so far as to say that all my sleeping problems have been resolved by this purchase, but it greatly contributes to improving my situation.

On the other hand, there is a negative effect that I had totally underestimated: now, I also have great difficulty returning to a classic mattress when I sleep at my girlfriend's or friends' house... This causes discomfort quite unpleasant morning back pain. You quickly get used to the luxury of enjoying very good bedding, your body thanks you.