Dear Mattress Buyer,

I owe everything to a humble beginning by a hard-working man who cared deeply about quality and craftsmanship. Walter Knorr immigrated to the United States in 1911. A custom tailor by trade, he designed, measured, cut, and hand-sewed suits in a modest shop in Philadelphia. His commitment to the best quality materials and careful craftsmanship were brought here through teachings from “the old country”. He melted into the fabric of American society, fully adopting his new home. He paused his pursuit of custom-tailored suits only for a few years to make uniforms for the United States Army during World War II. He toiled for years over a large wooden cutting table working his magic with the fabrics. The table was illuminated by a single hanging light bulb hanging directly above his head as he spent hours stooping over yards of materials with his huge cutting shears. Later in life he jokingly blamed his baldness on that light.

In the late 1950’s he retired from making fine custom clothing and moved to Florida. As a tailor, he believed in using only the finest materials for his craft. In those days there was not a designation for “organic” as everything was farmed sustainably. He hated waste. He carefully selected and hand-cut the fabrics to achieve as little waste as possible. He believed in using only the finest wool and cotton selected by hand, then crafted by hand to create the suits that Teddy Roosevelt once told him were “too fine for him to wear.” He taught me that everything was a gift from God and that we must use all those gifts to their fullest. Waste nothing, reuse everything, and preserve what you have, even sharpening sewing needles instead of throwing them away.

Fast Forward three generations, and the commitment to high-quality, sustainable materials, detailed and meticulous craftsmanship, and a world in which nothing should go to waste continues today with Solapedic.

Solapedic worked with world-leading sleep experts and sustainability consultants to design and engineer an organic mattress product made from the best sustainable materials carefully crafted and designed to waste as little as possible. We combined these old-world ways with a commitment to preserve our planet for future generations and went a huge step further, creating The Petroleum Foam Free Mattress ™.

The American Chemistry Council estimates that the U.S. produces three hundred million pounds of petroleum-based polyurethane foam per year for mattresses alone. This year, hundreds of thousands of tons of oil-based memory foam will be discarded in landfills. Nearly all of the memory foam mattresses made today will be added to our landfills in the next 15 years. It will take hundreds of years (some estimate as many as 450) for these mattresses to decompose, leaving in their wake toxic chemicals that can leech into our water systems. This simply is not something I want for my children or my grandchildren. This is not something we want for their children and grandchildren either.

Something must change. We must change the way in which we treat our planet. God made us stewards and charged us with the care of the place in which we all live. This is not political, this is the goal of providing a better life for our children. It fits squarely within the American Dream. Imagine for a moment with me, if only one percent of mattress buyers chose The Petroleum Foam Free Mattress, what that would mean. It would prevent nearly 3 million pounds (fifteen hundred tons) of oil-based memory foam from reaching our landfills. Would ten percent of buyers choose this option if they, had it? Twenty percent? Fifty percent? Everyone?

Today, you have a choice. Join us in our continued pursuit of the American dream, with a commitment to old-world values of quality, craftsmanship, and resourcefulness, combined with a desire to leave our world a better place for all generations to come.

Lead the way by example: buy a SolaPedic Mattress, buy The Petroleum Foam Free Mattress.

God Bless,

Ken Knorr

Cofounder/CEO

SolaPedic Mattresses