Yes, you read that right - Baltimore!  As in Baltimore, Maryland - home of the such famous names as the Orioles, Ravens and Duff (as in "Ace of Cakes" - actually, I'm a Mary Alice fan myself...)

OK, back on task... 

I'm here at the International Sleep Products Association Expo (ISPA) to see what's new and get caught up with all the material suppliers in the North American mattress business.

Now, this is not an organic show - but you wouldn't know it by all the "green" signs that are floating around!  The line between "green", "natural" and "organic" is getting blurred even as we speak, so let's clear the air on the big issue and that is Natural Latex.

It seems that everyone under the sun is pitching "natural" latex.  Of course, most of the of these "natural" definitions really aren't the same as what you and I would consider "natural", so I'm going to cut to the chase with this one.

Noticably absent are the Malaysians, who do fine and really natural latex.  Don't know if they just decided to bow out or what, but they are not around.

The new kid on the block is Latex Systems Co., Ltd. which comes from Thailand and has Belgian and French connections.  Their product looked good, easily up to the level of the Sri Lankan companies.

Speaking of Sri Lanka, Nippon Nature Foams seems to be down for the count.  It looks like they are either done for as a company or the Japanese investors have decided that a radical change must take place and therefore will be not shipping any latex for awhile until they can get their act together.

The first big star of this show is a Sri Lankan company called Richard Pieris Natural Foams Limited, the reopening of former Sri Lankan natural latex giant Aprico, which closed due to a major fire several years ago. 

Here's the skinny - they have their own plantation, therefore control.  They are now allowed to label their product with the "Eco Institute" label, a prestigious European designation that no other Sri Lankan manufacturer has.  They are also close to having their plantation organic certified.  This would make them the very first - and only - truly organic natural latex on the market today.  Organic Sleep Products made the move here to dump Nippon as a supplier and sign up with Richard Pieris, which means in just a couple of months you are going to see fantastic new beds coming out from OSP!!

The other big star is Dunlopillo.  This jugernaught of latex has been cranking out the stuff since 1929 - longer than anyone currently in the business.  They have finally made official what has long been rumored - that they are locating a facility in Malaysia where they will specifically manufacture the 100% natural latex.  This is huge people.  Since they invented both the Dunlop and Talalay processes, they are actually going to use a modified Talalay process to get that great open cell structure and feel into an even more natural product than they have now. 

This is big for Natura, which uses Dunlopillo almost exclusively.  A company with great beds is going to have even better beds in the long run. 

So, what does this mean for you as a consumer?  Well, for the organic customer who is extremely concerned with the origins of the materials in their mattresses, the things to look for are mattresses made with natural latex made by Richard Pieris and Dunlopillo, which would be the highest quality - with the exception of Green Sleep of course, but you can only get that from them.

Of course, given what I've seen here, you are likely going to be hit with "organic memory foam" in the near future.  Their organic slogan?  "Millions of years ago, dinosaurs died to make the material used in our mattresses..."

Until next time, sleep naturally!