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Why does a natural latex mattress cost 35,000 baht?
A "latex" mattress online can cost 3,000 baht; a 100% natural latex mattress starts at about 34,000. What you pay for: how much latex, how it is made, how long it lasts, and the cost per night.
Natural Living Concept ·
The short answer: most mattresses sold online in Thailand as “latex” for a few thousand baht contain a thin layer of latex, often blended or compressed, over foam or springs. A 100% natural latex mattress is one block of latex from the rubber tree, all the way through. You are comparing two different products that share a word.
At Natural Living Concept, a Queen mattress (150 x 200 cm) starts at about 34,000 baht. Here is what that money pays for, and when a cheaper mattress is honestly the better choice. Prices quoted here can change at any time.
What you are really comparing
The word “latex” on a product title tells you very little. These are the questions that separate the two kinds of mattress.
| Typical low-price “latex” mattress | 100% natural latex mattress (NLC) | |
|---|---|---|
| How much is latex | A top layer, a few centimetres | The whole core, 15 to 30 cm |
| Kind of latex | Often blended with synthetic rubber, or compressed | 100% natural, from the sap of the rubber tree |
| What is underneath | Foam, or springs | Nothing else: latex only |
| Structure | Layers glued together | One moulded block, in one or two layers |
| Support | Depends on the foam or springs | Seven comfort zones in the block |
| Air flow | Depends on the foam | Perforated through, so air moves |
| Warranty | Varies: check whether it covers the latex itself | 10 years on the latex |
| Where it is made | Not always stated | By hand, in one Bangkok workshop |
Not every cheap mattress fits the left column, and some are honest about what they are. But if a listing does not say how many centimetres of latex there are, and what percentage is natural, assume it is a thin layer.
Where the money goes
The raw material
Natural latex is the sap of the rubber tree, and Thailand is the world’s largest producer of it. Our latex comes from a supplier about two hours from Bangkok. The trees are tapped at night, between midnight and four in the morning, when the latex flows best. A tree gives latex for more than thirty years, without being cut down.
Natural latex costs more than synthetic rubber or polyurethane foam, and a mattress made only of it uses a lot of it: a 20 cm Queen is a block of 150 x 200 x 20 cm.
The making
The latex is whipped with air, one volume of latex to seven of air, the way egg whites are beaten. It is poured into a mould of long pins, which leave the holes that let the mattress breathe, then steamed for forty-five minutes. Out of the mould, each block is washed three times in clean water and dried with hot air. Then it comes straight to our workshop, with no one in between.
The cover and the hands
The quilted cover has organic cotton on the sleeping side, with lyocell in the fabric, woven in Thailand. It is fixed and does not come off. Every mattress is cut, fitted and sewn by hand in our Bangkok workshop, and carries the name of its maker, Dominique Bienfait, on the foot end.
What comes with it
A 10-year warranty on the latex, free delivery anywhere in Thailand, free installation, and your old mattress taken away and given to charity.
The cost per night
A price only means something next to how long the mattress lasts.
Take a Queen, 20 cm deep, at about 47,000 baht. Over the 10 years of the warranty alone, that is 3,650 nights, or about 13 baht a night. Natural latex usually lasts longer than its warranty: a customer wrote that the King and Queen he bought from us more than twelve years ago are still in perfect condition, and a hotel in Bang Saphan still has guests sleeping on mattresses we supplied sixteen years ago.
A cheaper mattress has to be compared on the same basis. If it needs replacing after a few years, its real cost per night is closer than the price tags suggest, and you buy, deliver and dispose of a mattress several times instead of once.
When a cheaper mattress is the right choice
We would rather say it than sell the wrong thing.
- You are staying a year or less. For a short contract in Bangkok, a good inexpensive mattress, or a topper on the condo’s mattress, makes more sense.
- It is for a guest room used a few nights a year.
- It is for a growing child who will move to a bigger bed in two or three years.
- The mattress is fine, only too hard. A natural latex topper (5 or 7.5 cm) changes how it feels for a fraction of the price of a new mattress.
If you are settling for several years, sleep badly on what you have, or are furnishing a hotel or villa room that will be slept in every night, that is where a natural latex mattress earns its price.
How to compare before you buy
Ask any seller, including us, these five questions:
- How many centimetres of latex are in the mattress, and what is underneath?
- What percentage of that latex is natural?
- Is the core one moulded block, or layers glued together?
- How long is the warranty, and does it cover the latex itself?
- Can I lie on it before I buy?
A seller who answers all five clearly is selling you something they understand.
Questions we are often asked
How much is a natural latex mattress in Thailand?
At Natural Living Concept, from about 21,000 baht for a Single (90 x 200 cm) to about 109,000 baht for a California King 30 cm deep. Every size and Prices are subject to change: please check the current price on our mattress page, or ask us, before you order. depth is priced on the site, VAT included.
Why are some “latex” mattresses so cheap?
They usually contain a thin layer of latex, often blended with synthetic rubber or compressed, over foam or springs. The word latex in the title does not mean the mattress is made of latex.
How long does a natural latex mattress last?
Our latex carries a 10-year warranty. In practice, customers and hotels still use mattresses we made twelve and sixteen years ago.
Is natural latex good in Bangkok’s heat?
Our latex is perforated through, so air moves inside the mattress, and the cover has organic cotton and lyocell on the sleeping side. Keep it out of direct sun, which damages latex.
Can I try the mattress before buying?
Yes. The showroom is inside our workshop in Prawet, Bangkok, by appointment, Monday to Saturday. You can lie on all four depths.
Come and lie on one. The showroom is inside the workshop at 322 Soi 16, Pattanakarn 61, Prawet, Bangkok. Arrange a visit or see every size and price.
Written by Dominique Bienfait. French, in Thailand since 1997, he has made natural latex bedding for more than twenty years in his Bangkok workshop.