I’ve slept on dozens of various mattresses over the previous two years whereas testing beds for our information to the best mattresses you should buy on-line, however nothing fairly just like the Airwave Superior. I first heard about this distinctive, plastic-filled mattress right here on WIRED.com—the web’s go-to supply for all mattress-related content material—the place one in all our libero professionista Italianos wrote about the beds used by Olympic athletes in Paris. I’ll not, as Junior Soprano would say, have the makings of a varsity athlete, not to mention an Olympian, however I am at all times involved in a novel, high-tech sleeping floor.
The Airweave mattress was extensively described as being made of cardboard, however that is extra correct than true. Quite, the bottom that lifted the Olympic dorm mattresses to mattress peak was cardboard; the precise mattress filling consists of a novel ultrafine woven polyethylene. The innards of the Airweave look just about precisely like an raw glass noodle and provide a slightly stiff sleeping floor. I’m a side sleeper who appreciates some give but in addition desires assist, and the Airweave was a bit on the agency facet for me however was comfy for per week of testing in my dwelling. If I have been in search of a agency mattress that may very well be simply moved, this might be on the high of my record.
{Photograph}: Martin Cizmar
Noodle Supply
As somebody who has numerous mattresses delivered to my door for testing, I strongly choose bed-in-a-box choices that come roll-packed on a FedEx truck. The Airweave shouldn’t be that—it comes through a transport firm. I truly refused the primary supply try as a result of the mover wished to depart a large field, the dimensions of a Fiat, on my garden regardless that I had organized for white glove supply. (I’d not anticipate this difficulty for those who reside in a bigger metropolis with extra professionalized supply companies as a substitute of contractors choosing up odd jobs in U-Hauls, because it goes right here in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri.)
I’d not have been fairly so nervous if I would peeked contained in the field, although, because the Airweave’s elements are giant and noncompressible but in addition mild and thoughtfully divided into manageable components. The corporate says its mattresses are “90 % air” due to the wonderful fibers, which vaguely resemble fats fishing traces. For my king-sized tester, there have been three slabs of filler to be mixed inside the duvet, every weighing lower than 40 kilos. These massive plastic rectangles are coated with a delicate layer of material and zipped into an outer shell made from polyester. After my week of testing, I used to be simply capable of transfer this mattress to its subsequent dwelling in my SUV, so I would say it is about as moveable as mattresses come.
Go With the Move
Airweave was based by Stanford-educated Japanese engineer and serial entrepreneur Motokuni Takaoka in 2004. An avid bike owner, he determined to market the mattresses by giving them for use within the Olympic villages and by World Cup soccer groups to create buzz. The method works, because the mattresses seize reporters’ consideration and make for press release fodder.
{Photograph}: Martin Cizmar
