The history of the mattress industry timeline

During the Neolithic period, mattresses are invented.  These beds are raised off the ground to avoid pests and dirt.  These mattresses are made of all natural items (a truly organic mattress), such as leaves, straw, or grass covered in animal skin.  Certainly beats your favorite rock!

Mattresses continue to evolve in Persia where we find the first water bed.  These are made of goatskin and filled with water, surely a very comfortable sleep.  These mattresses were not for the common man; rather, it is thought that they were created either for royalty or for the elderly.

Thousands of years later, the mattress evolves again by the hand of the Romans.  These mattresses are made of cloth and stuffed with hay and wool.  The rich would stuff their mattresses with softer items like feathers. 

During the renaissance, mattresses were made of pea shucks, straw, or feathers.  These materials were covered with brocades, velvets, and silks.

Mattresses are made by stuffing them with materials like cotton, wool, straw, or feathers.

Box springs are invented to act as a shock absorber and distribute weight better.

Dunlop introduces the first latex foam mattress.

Innerspring mattresses become wildly popular.

Airbeds are first introduced.

Simmons becomes the first company to introduce the King and Queen mattress sizes.

Water beds are first introduced.

Nasa develops memory foam, initially to improve the safety of aircraft cushions.

Fagerdala World Foams produces the first memory foam mattress in Sweden.

Simmons introduces the first "no-flip" mattress, which is quickly copied by most manufacturers.

Sealy and Tempurpedic merge.  Now the top two mattress companies manufacture more than 60% of all mattresses sold.