8 ms·
Hipster Mattresses: Why?
- k33n 11y ago> Is there anything more annoying than a mattress company that thinks it’s clever? And that's where I stopped reading. Yes, there are many things more annoying than people starting businesses and trying to do well for themselves.
- nmeofthestate 11y agoNo, foam mattresses you buy on the internet aren't "hipster". If asked to picture a hipster mattress, I'd see in my mind's eye something artisanal, hand-made by traditional methods. Hessian. Hand-wound springs (are those a thing?). Hipster here seems to be a cliched way of saying "annoying to me".
- draw_down 11y agoThat's all it ever means now. Maybe all it ever meant.
- n0us 11y agoYes, we actually did a unit on these types of people in one of my political science classes a while back. They're known as Bourgeoisie Bohemians or "bobos" for short in academia but I recognized them as hipsters. They are a group of people who spend very little on things that used to be expensive but quite a lot on things that would traditionally be perceived as cheap. For example they would never buy a crystal chandelier or a new car, but instead would buy something like a 1980s Volvo. On the mattress end, they would do something like sleep on the ground or buy a very high end "hand wound" mattress. https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/brooks-bobos.html https://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/brooks-bobos.html This book takes a relatively comical approach to the subject but there is a real way to categorize these people other than "annoying to me"
- earlz 11y agoI understand that argument and what a hipster "is", but how does shipping memory foam from an internet site resemble this in any way?
- hnbroseph 11y agoi guess it's cool to describe things reductively so that there's no real direct response.
- vanderZwan 11y agoI think gp was agreeing with the assessment that it doesn't.
- NetStrikeForce 11y agoFunny. "Bobo" means "stupid" in Spanish, although it comes from the Latin "Balbus" (stammering, stuttering, lisping).
- mapleoin 11y agoWhat's Hessian?
- anon1385 11y agoI think in North America it's called 'burlap' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hessian_fabric https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hessian_fabric
- someone7x 11y agoCan't help but agree. And even if my definition of the hipster stereotype is outdated and wrong, what's the value in using it other than as pejorative here. Which is to say, even if it is truly a hipster mattress, the term is still being used derisively.
- djsumdog 11y agoHipsters don't exist: http://catandgirl.com/?p=2061 http://catandgirl.com/?p=2061
- flycaliguy 11y agoThe hipster in your mind is a fairly recent invention and is the result of sales people carving a lucrative demographic out for themselves. Hipster in this article is a different usage. It's based on the hipster type prominent 5-7 years ago (before they gave up on new tech and discovered their local farmers market [merging in with the folk punks and much less fashion interested community social worker types]). These were people who needed to know that the mattress industry is interesting and kind of a rip off before the rest of their social group did. Both types are annoying in different ways. The older nerd type is ultimately superior because although they are projecting superiority at least it's with novel factoids and saving money instead of a status play born out of morally superior consumption.
- larrywright 11y agoYeah, this is not even remotely hipster. Hipster is organic mustache wax and artisanal vegan mayo. For what it's worth, I bought a Tuft and Needle mattress and have been very happy with it. It's 1/2 the price of what I'd pay in the store, I didn't have to leave the house, and it's basically risk-free, as they've got a pretty fantastic return policy.
- hapless 11y agoI wonder less about the product and more about the investment in this field. You can found your own drop-shipped mattress company with less startup capital than a Subway franchise. So why does Casper have $70MM in funding? What does that $70MM buy for investors?
- amk_ 11y agoThey are competing with mattress manufacturers, not furniture stores.
- exelius 11y ago> What does that $70MM buy for investors? A brand. They're building a brand that is synonymous with "mattresses by mail".
- c17r 11y agoLiterally as I was reading this a commercial for Casper's mattresses came on TV. Marketing effort would seem to be the bulk of it.
- colanderman 11y agoWhen you’re moving from one location to another, your mattress is generally either the largest thing you’re taking with you, or the second-largest thing. Um, what? Not the couch, or the bureau, or the dining room table? Maybe this is true of furnished apartments, but for me, even the boxspring beats the mattress in terms of "this is so large how the heck am I going to get it from point A to point B". Mattress is pretty far down that list. Not that this matters much for foam mattresses, since, once unrolled, a foam mattress is nearly impossible to roll back up and is just as difficult to move. That said, the author's point about the initial ship of foam mattresses is a good one. Going with a foam mattress was the only reason I was able to drive it home in the back of my 2-seater to a very dense part of Boston and fit it into the lofted bed of a tiny studio apartment. But when it came time to move? I sold it to the next tenant. No way that was making the journey out as easily.
- pavel_lishin 11y agoI would say, though, that the mattress is by far the most annoying. It's a floppy object with handles - if it even has handles - that are placed in arguably the word possible location: _____ | | [| |] | | [| |] |_____| This is fine if you're carrying your mattress pallbearer style down a wide open hallway, with it orientated the same way as it would be laying on your bed. But in reality, most people move to places with hallways, or stairwells, where it would make the most sense to rotate it 90 degrees about the longest axis - and the best way to carry it then would be with handles here: _ _|_|_ | | | | | | | | |_____| |_|
- colanderman 11y agoAgreed, but you can often move a mattress in such situations by simply pushing it along the floor, even down stairs. Not true of most other furniture.
- squid_ca 11y agoI don't disagree with you that handles would be useful on the ends, but I think that the ones on the sides are for when you are flipping it.
- jlas 11y agoIt's also about direct sales. Similar to what Tesla is doing with cars. Traditionally consumers have bought mattresses from suppliers (Sleepys, Mattress Discounters, etc), but Casper et al are marketing and selling directly to the consumer.
- ones_and_zeros 11y agoWhat exactly is a hipster mattress? It wasn't obvious from the article...
- s_dev 11y agoIt certainly wasn't -- he could have included a couple of pictures and some some key words to Google, even some examples of brands quite easily. It really takes from the article because I feel frustrate having read it hoping it would be explained to me or would be revealed.
- blakesterz 11y agoI've found once I hit about 40 I started calling everything new 'Hipster'. Something new in bedding? Well that's totally 'Hipster Mattress'. New song from Skrillex? 'Hipster Noise'. Those beards that all the kids have now? 'Hipster Beards'. Node.js? 'Hispter Twaddle' Ghost? 'Hipster Blogging Platform'. Uber? 'Hipster Taxi' If you're lucky to live long enough it'll happen to you too :-)
- dikaiosune 11y agoThis makes me sad - the same happened to me, but at 26.
- amsheehan 11y agoI'm picturing a piece of plywood—but made of Walnut, or Teak, or something equally delightful.
- nilkn 11y agoI feel like the first third or fourth of this article was just completely missing or something. So much of the context and intention of the article was just never explained or introduced at all. In particular, it starts talking about Casper as if the reader is sure to know who or what that is, but I had to Google it. I still don't know why the article chose to fixate on Casper in particular.
- dmcginty 11y agoI don't see why this applies to mattresses specifically. The author seems jaded that companies are able to buy products cheaply and resell them like it's a new concept.
- nathanvanfleet 11y agoHonestly I hate mattress and furniture buying because it's one of those haggle for the real price, price is different everywhere kinds of businesses. Even the big companies make it impossible to comparison shop because they have different "models" in every store but it's just a different name on the same product so you can't tell the prices. I just frankly want to buy it at the lowest price possible etc and I don't want to put a month of research into a mattress.
- sjg007 11y agoCostco is pretty good. Includes shipping and you can return it basically anytime.
- ep103 11y ago150 to make, 90 to ship, total costs < $300. Sells for $850. Main marketing advantage is portability, but apparently only on delivery (compressed into a large box). I thought by hipster, they were implying that for once someone was selling a good, cheap, portable mattress. Turns out this isn't any of the three.
- Cthulhu_ 11y agoPlus some extra costs in website hosting and maintenance, marketing, rent of office / packaging plant, and of course personnel (management, support, fulfillment). I don't know how much those cost per item though.
- pc86 11y agoWholesale would be half that, so about 425 give or take. 43% margin is good for a physical product but not great or hugely out of line. You'll want 2-3x costs for wholesale and about ~2x wholesale for retail.
- TylerE 11y agoAlso COST. A queen size T&N is $600, including shipping. Go to your local mattress store and see what $600 buys you.
- dpark 11y agoIt'll buy you a queen size mattress easily. Mattresses really aren't that expensive. Now, if you want a tempurpedic, you probably need to triple that, but you can buy a nice inner coil queen mattress for $600 if you buy on sale.
- at-fates-hands 11y ago>> but apparently only on delivery (compressed into a large box). I recently read an article on these and the reviewer said it came compressed and wound up in a hexagon tube, like a giant sleeping bag and weighed 70lbs. The Helix arrives on your doorstep in a hexagonal tube. While the tightly-packed tube makes maneuvering the box into your door and across your home fairly easy, it weighs a hefty 70 pounds—which feels even heavier when making your way along three flights of stairs. Good luck to anyone in an apartment walk-up. http://www.popsci.com/helix-sleep-review http://www.popsci.com/helix-sleep-review
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- joezydeco 11y agoI work near a large urethane foam processing plant. Judging from the trucks parked outside, they make the same foam mattresses for a lot of the large brands.
- sc00ty 11y agoAbout two years ago a post on HN came up about Tuft & Needle. I was in the market for a new mattress at the time so I scouted the site for a while before eventually purchasing a King sized mattress for $499. One of their selling points at the time was that it was a quality mattress without the high prices, and at $500 I could definitely agree with that. The mattress itself has been great, but at the time they only sold 5" thick mattresses. I eventually found that 5" was too thin for me and finding a mattress frame I liked was quite difficult. Being so low to the ground just felt more uncomfortable than anything when I woke up in the morning. About a month after I got my mattress, T&N came out with a 10" version (Which they exclusively sell now), which was only $100 more at the time for a King. It seems they now sell for about $750 (compared to $600 before) I'm still using my 5" Tuft & Needle but I'm going to be purchasing a new mattress in the near future and will most likely try out Leesa, though I'm not totally committed to it yet. It's been interesting watching all these mattress companies enter the market but with more options I'm finding it difficult to make a choice.
- toomuchtodo 11y agoI too bought a Tuft & Need mattress (just a few months ago, actually) and found that it was much too firm for me. I'm trying out a Casper next. https://casper.com/mattresses https://casper.com/mattresses
- xahrepap 11y agoI was so skeptical, but buying my Leesa was one of my best purchases. My back and hips thank me every day. Also, I sleep so much deeper now. It's been great!
- sjg007 11y agoDid the mattress hold up? Is the only reason you are changing because it is too thin and low to the ground but is it otherwise comfortable?
- sc00ty 11y agoThe mattress has held up great. I've had no problems with the mattress itself other than it being too thin for me (which isn't really an issue for new buyers). As a 6'3" 200lb male, I can feel whatever is below the mattress and it's not the most pleasant thing.
- dates 11y agotl;dr: omg i saw something for $800 on amazon and it was only $40 on alibaba. And in the pictures it LOOKED THE SAME. I could buy it and resell it, so easy. Running a business is sooooooo easy, i haven't done it but i just know its easy.
- theklub 11y agoI buy my mattresses off ebay, them are delivered rolled up like a burrito. Cheap, easy, memory foam. I don't feel bad when I spill something on them. I can replacement every 5 years and not give a shit.
- runin2k1 11y agoHe says this: "But buying mattresses shouldn’t be fun. It should be work, something you do once or twice in your life and forget about after you’ve gotten over the frustration of getting the mattress into your bedroom." But ignores the one of the key features all these new-fangled mattresses have which is 100 nights to try it free. If you're in the market for a mattress right now, there is zero reason not to take one of the offers to test out the bed. Keep shopping around and trying beds locally, but between Casper, T&N, Leesa, Noomi, etc... you can effectively have brand new mattresses for the next year and pick the one you like best or revert back to a traditional mattress if they don't suit you.
- tamana 11y agomattresses are too much hassle to return. Sellers know that.
- ap3 11y agoThat is why you don't ship it back - you put it outside and a local hauling company picks it up for recycling / donating / trashing
- anotherevan 11y agoThe "once or twice in your life" thing caught my eye. Google "mattress lifetime" and the general consensus is around ten years or less.
- IgorPartola 11y ago(OT warning) So I have a somewhat unique situation in that I want a "mega mattress". I am one third of a three-person relationship and we all sleep together. It would be really nice to not have to share a king size bed, yet our current setup, king and queen size beds side by side, does not work so well because of the joint between the mattresses. I know there are lots of solutions to the "join two mattresses together" problem, but they are all suck in their own ways. Enter internet mattress companies. I called a few, and none are able to make a mattress that's larger than a king, even though so far as I can tell there shouldn't be a problem with the process. Anyone have experience with this?
- Coding_Cat 11y agoI have (unfortunately) no experience with this. But have you tried getting 2 larger mattresses (or 3 regular sized ones) and placing them down at a 90-degree angle (crease perpendicular to your body)? Further, using a bed with tight-fitting raised edges will keep the mattresses together better than most beds. This would most likely have to be custom crafted given the size though.
- IgorPartola 11y agoThe problem is that a twin extra long is 80 inches long, and a king is 76 inches wide. Basically doing the perpendicular thing I would only gain 4 inches of width. Ideally I'd like for that to be closer to 24 inches. Thanks for the suggestion.
- tamana 11y agoHow large are you? My regular bed fits 2 adults and 2 kids and a cat
- IgorPartola 11y agoAll slim to average, but we like to sprawl out.
- anonbanker 11y ago
- dbot 11y agoWe buy almost everything for the house online, but I can't imagine buying a mattress online. Is it annoying to buy in-store? Yes. But a mattress is an expensive, once-every-8-year purchase that you will use almost every day and is critical to your health. I don't think the solution is a mystery-box-by-mail foam slab. Many internet companies find success just by helping young-ish customers avoid the awkward interactions associated with traditional commerce. That's fine, but you are still paying for that "experience." Rarely do you get a better product.
- larrywright 11y agoIn the case of Tuft and Needle, it's basically risk-free. Buy it and if you don't like it in the first 100 days, they'll give you your money back and have a local charity pick up the mattress and donate it to someone who needs it. I believe Casper offers something similar. With an offer like that, there was really no downside to trying it out, especially at 1/2 the price you'd pay in a store. As for a better product, I'd argue yes. It's very well made, and very comfortable.
- anonbanker 11y agoITT: Hipsters getting mad and attempting to desconstruct something that uses the word "Hipster" in a derogatory fashion.