Mattress tufting material and alternatives to tufts

Hi Martin,

Thanks for your comment on mattress tufing.

All natural and most synthetic fibre mattresses, excluding foams which are usually glued, need tufting to help hold them together. The tufts help compress the mattress to make it a more manageable size and also stop the fibre layers from migrating and moving around in the bed. Without the tufts, the mattress would be easy twice the depth and would suffer fro settlement very quickly.

There are a few exceptions. Like I've mentioned about one sided memory foam mattresses and bed in a box styles ones are not usually tufted. This is because they are glued together holding the layers. The drawback is you can't turn them over so they settle at alarming rates causing impressions to occur where you sleep as all your impact is put on the same spot night after night.

There are a few other exceptions like when latex and quilted covers are used. The quilting can hold the top layer of fibres together along with latex which is much heavier than cheap memory foam.

Tufts are usually made from wool pom poms and then ribbon that helps keep the mattress tightly contained to prevent fibres from moving. I've never seen alternatives used as the wool ribbon combination is the tried and tested heritage method.

If tufts aggravate you the best option is to add a deep topper. Most people can't feel tufts at all as they are recessed in the top comfort layer. But toppers and protectors can help mitigate the feeling of them if you're sensitive to them.

When comparing mattresses bare in mind that untufted ones are nearly always one-sided only. So compare that to like for like one-sided models. Two-sided mattresses will always last significantly longer than one-sided mattress as you can use both sides.

t’s important to compare based on your price point between mattresses. The mattress buying guides below will help you see what you can expect for each price point with some of the best industry mattress models available.

1. What to expect from a £500 Mattress
2. What to expect from a £750 Mattress
3. What to expect from a £1000 Mattress
4. What to expect from a £1250 Mattress
5. What to expect from a £1500 Mattress
6. What to expect from a £2000+ Mattress

We hope that helps and gives you further mattress buying guidance. If you have any more mattress related questions please get back in touch on info@localhost or 0161 437 4419.

Sleep well!
John & Ryan