What if I told you that one of the biggest “innovations” in the mattress industry over the last 25 years wasn’t actually designed to benefit you — it was designed to benefit the manufacturer?
That’s the story of the one-sided mattress. And once you understand it, you’ll never look at a mattress purchase the same way again.
For most of mattress-making history, innerspring mattresses were built two-sided. Padding and comfort layers were added to both sides, and customers were expected to flip their mattress periodically to extend its life and maintain even comfort. It wasn’t glamorous, but it worked.
Then in 2000, Simmons launched the first major line of one-sided innerspring mattresses. The timing wasn’t accidental — there was immense pressure from investors to find ways to increase profit margins, and the mattress was an obvious target.
Think about it this way: if you only have to add padding and comfort materials to one side of a mattress instead of two, you’ve just cut your raw material costs dramatically. By 2005 to 2007, nearly every major manufacturer had followed Simmons’ lead, and one-sided innerspring mattresses had become the new normal.
But here’s the brilliant part of the marketing: they didn’t sell it as a cost-cutting move. They sold it as a convenience feature.
No need to flip your mattress anymore.
And honestly? That’s a pretty easy sell. Flipping a mattress is a chore. Nobody loves doing it. It’s a little like when a car maker convinces you that you never need to rotate your tires or change your oil. Of course you’d be interested until you realize what that actually means for the life of your car.
The result was that profits surged for the big manufacturers, but consumers ended up with mattresses that wore out faster, required replacement sooner, and cost just as much (or more) than the two-sided mattresses they replaced. Some manufacturers even had the audacity to raise prices on one-sided mattresses, marketing them as a luxury upgrade.
At Jordan Bedding, we never bought into it. We’ve been handcrafting two-sided innerspring mattresses in Hot Springs since 1958, and we’re not about to stop now.
We get a lot of surprised reactions in our showroom when customers learn that all of our innerspring mattresses are two-sided. That includes our individually wrapped coil models and, yes even our pillowtops.
Most people assume pillowtop mattresses can’t be flipped. And if you’ve ever bought one from a major retailer, that’s probably been your experience. But at Jordan Bedding, we build our pillowtop mattresses to be flippable, so you get the same longevity and even wear that you get from our entire innerspring line.
Every week, we have customers come into our showroom who are frustrated with a worn-out one-sided mattress. And we regularly have customers who are genuinely surprised, sometimes almost disbelieving, that our pillowtop mattresses can be flipped over. Once they understand why it matters, it almost always changes how they think about what they’re looking for.
Having a two-sided mattress only pays off if you actually use both sides. Here’s the simple routine we recommend to customers:
In the first few months: Because everything is still fresh and the materials are at their fullest, you may want to flip sooner — around the three-month mark is a good starting point. This helps the materials begin to compress evenly from the start.
After that: Flip whenever you notice the side you’re sleeping on starting to feel a bit more compressed or less comfortable than it used to. Your body will tell you when it’s time.
The technique: Alternate between two types of turns — flip it once head to foot, and the next time side to side. This gives you the most variety of sleeping surface and ensures the most even wear across the entire mattress.
The rule of thumb: Over time, aim to flip at least once every six months. It’s not a huge commitment, and the payoff in mattress longevity is well worth it.
A great two-sided mattress on a bad foundation is still a bad night’s sleep. Proper support is essential for both comfort and warranty coverage.
Here’s what you need to know:
Cutting corners on the foundation undermines everything you’ve invested in the mattress itself.
The shift to one-sided mattresses was good for manufacturer profits. It was not good for the people sleeping on them.
At Jordan Bedding, we’ve always believed that the right way to make a mattress is the way that works best for the person sleeping on it, not the way that’s cheapest to produce. That’s why we’ve handcrafted two-sided innerspring mattresses across all of our comfort levels for over 65 years, and why we’re proud to offer that construction all the way through our pillowtop line.
If you’re sleeping on a one-sided mattress that’s starting to show its age, or if you’ve simply never experienced the difference a quality two-sided innerspring can make, we’d love to show you what you’ve been missing.
Come visit us at 4735 Malvern Rd. in Hot Springs, or browse our innerspring mattress collection online. We’re here to help you find a mattress you’ll still be happy with for many years to come.
The trend: “material honesty” If you’ve shopped for bedroom furniture in the last few years, you’ve probably noticed a shift.
Walk into any bedding aisle, or scroll any home store’s website, and you’ll see “duvet,” “comforter,” and “quilt” used almost
