Mattress shopping can be a major pain in the arse. Something that Casper, a newly launched sleep startup, wants to remedy. The supposed solution? One single, painstakingly engineered mattress for the masses.
Instead of focusing on the quantity of its offerings, Casper wants to hone in on quality, offering a single, (supposedly) universally appealing mattress. Because as anyone who’s ever watched a late-night infomercial knows, firmness preferences can vary wildly.
In a conversation with Gizmodo, Casper co-founder Neil Parikh countered that, in reality, the quality of sleep really doesn’t vary that much according to firmness. So in an effort to appeal to both sides of the aisle, Casper’s first and only product combines soft, sinkable memory foam with a layer of firm, bouncy latex on top. According to co-founder and Head of Product Jeff Chapin, “We saw an opportunity to enhance the support and comfort of a premium memory foam bed, while removing the big complaints, like sleeping hot or feeling stuck.”
As you can see in the GIF above, the latex on the left offers considerably more bounce and support than its memory foam counterpart on the right. Latex foam is seven times more breathable than the memory variety, meaning your days of waking up in a pool of sweat should (hopefully) be in the past.
The real trick with Casper is convenience. No matter the size (be it twin or California king), every single mattress comes to you in the same 40-inch by 20-inch box — small enough to fit in virtually any taxi. And while Casper’s beds aren’t quite as cheap as something you’d pick up from IKEA, at $500 for a Twin and $850 for a queen, you’re still looking at less than you’d be spending on most name-brand beds.
After trying out the beds for ourselves, we can report that they certainly are comfortable — there’s no doubt about that. Whether or not Casper’s single-product model will be enough to upend the mattress industry remains to be seen.
But judging by the popularity of other convenience services that cut out human interaction (Amazon, Seamless and Uber, to name a few), Capser’s prospects are looking bright — all thanks to our lazy, antisocial selves.