:: OUR PRODUCTS ::

We have searched the globe to find the purest materials with which to manufacture our natural mattresses and bedding: organically grown cotton from Peru woven expertly in Germany and Switzerland; wool from the island of Texel in the Netherlands, shorn only once a year from a small flock of organically raised sheep; raw silk and natural latex rubber from a plantation in Malaysia where they harvest the rubber in the morning and mold it in the afternoon. Manufactured in Canada and distributed via Suite Sleep.

The Story Opened in 1985
in Ontario Canada by Jean Corriveau, Sleeptek Ltd. manufactures mattresses, comforters, and pillows. Personalized service and pride in workmanship has enabled the company to grow. Sleeptek Ltd. has established a solid reputation for producing high quality products manufactured using the finest ingredients available.

A New Direction
After 10 years of manufacturing traditional bedding and high quality down-filled duvets and pillows, it became apparent that ther was a growing segment of our society with dibilitating allergies and sensitivities to chemicals, toxins, molds, dust and other irritants. On a small scale, Sleeptek began to cater to this new market of special needs customers and developed a collection of all natural and organic mattresses, duvets, and pillows. The collection is intended as a viable alternative for people who can not live with mass produced, commercial products and for those who seek a healthy, environmentally friendly alternative to bedding products.

The Concept
Our staff is very aware that our customers must have choices. Growing sensitivities to the variety and abundance of chemicals used in the manufacture of everyday items prevent more and more people from functioning in the chemical soup that surrounds us daily. Conventionally grown cotton used in most bedding relies heavily upon chemicals that leave toxins in the soil, water, and air, as well as toxic residue on the cotton fibers.

In an effort to preserve our own health, the health of our families, and the environmental health of the planet, many people are choosing a simpler more natural way of life. The Collection is designed for those who wish to live in a cleaner, safer environment, while enjoying a top quality hand-made product. The materials we use are the finest nature can provide - certified organic hand-picked cotton, organic wool and natural rubber.

The Collection
As a tribute to the pristine environment and vast natural resources of our land, we have chosen to name our organic Collection products after the many beautiful national and provincial parks across Canada. These parks are truly a haven of safety for our dwindling wildlife as well as an oasis of peace and serenity in our turbulent world.

Why Organic

While cotton occupies only 3 percent of the world's farmland, it uses 25 percent of the world's chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

Conventional cotton textile manufacturing involves the use of detergents, bleaches, dyes, silicone spinning resins, fabric finishes including formaldehyde, crease resistant finishes that are bonded to fibers so as to make them unable to wash out.

As consumers, we can keep the organic fields growing and expanding by looking for, asking for, and purchasing products made from organic cotton.
from "Organic Cotton" by Dorian Yates

How Our Products Are Made
All of our products are made from the finest 100% organic cotton and wool fibers, natural rubber, and untreated woods like spruce or poplar. We use no polyester or plastics.

A New Direction
The Collection is unique. Made in a controlled, clean environment from all pure ingredients, our collection is guaranteed to have no chemical elements. The essential ingredient in a mattress is pure organic cotton batting. The mattress filling is made by surrounding the organic cotton batting with soft wool or cotton. We then cover the filling with organic cotton fabric.

When you stretch out on our mattress, this combination of ingredients will conform to your body, allow your skin to breathe and give you a deeper more restful night's sleep. As it has been traditionally cultivated for centuries in the high valleys of the Peruvian Andes, our organic cotton is grown without the use of synthetic chemicals to fertilize the crop, control plant growth or fight pests. No synthetic chemicals are used to strip the leaves in preparation for the harvest or during the manufacturing process. All the elements in our products (batting, filling, and fabric) that require cotton use this clean, safe, certified organic cotton.

The pure wool we use is shorn from sheep that have only grazed in pastures free from pesticides and herbicides. The wool is washed without using detergents, chemicals, chlorine or bleach - just hot water and soap. It is processed without the use of oils or bonding agents. It just doesn't get any purer than that.

There are several components to a bed. Some terminology varies depending on your origin. Above is a diagram of all the possible components of a sleep system. The bed starts with a frame which can be made of wood or metal and is the support for the box spring or foundation. The Foundation can be a box with wood slats or a box with spring support. The mattress can goes either on a foundation or on a platform bed frame. The barrier cloth is a tightly woven cotton that zips around the whole mattress and protects against dust mites. The mattress pad is like a fitted sheet which is made with layers of cotton to protect the pad from spills and body oils. The linens are the sheets and blankets on the bed. Acomforter can also be called a duvet can be filled with wool, polyester, or down. Pillows can be made with wool fill, cotton fill, down fill, or rubber fill.

Organic Cotton

In creating everything from our bed accessories--such as pillows, comforters, mattress protectors, and overlays--to our carefully constructed Green sleep mattresses, we start with organically grown and harvested pure cotton. Absolutely no green cotton is used in our mattresses. Chemical-free and certified to the highest standards available today, our products allow you to sleep and to breathe naturally.

Incomparable purity
Cotton grown in industrialized countries is commonly saturated with pesticides and herbicides. The plant also absorbs all the chemicals that modern fertilizers deposit in the soil. In addition, machine-picked cotton is often full of impurities, oil, leaves, and dirt.

If all the cotton in the world were grown organically, the use of insecticides would be reduced by 25 percent. Working toward that end, we buy only hand-picked and chemical-free cotton. The crop is cultivated in a centuries-old traditional cooperative manner in the Cañete and Chincha valleys high in the Peruvian Andes. No defoliants, herbicides, pesticides, or synthetic fertilizers are used to control plant growth, fight pests, or fertilize the crop. No synthetic chemicals are used to strip the leaves in preparation for the harvest or during the manufacturing process. Hand-picking ensures that the resulting cotton fiber is the cleanest, purest, most resilient available. The fiber is then woven in Germany and Switzerland (again, to the highest standards) into the fine, soft fabrics that we used in all our products.

KRAV Stamp of Approval
Europe's oldest and most prestigious certification agency, KRAV of Sweden (www.krav.se/sprak/english.htm), has certified the organic cotton. Their stamp of approval is not only a guarantee of organic standards, but also that the social rights of cotton producers are respected.

Benefits of Organic
Cotton All of the cotton used in Green sleep mattress batting, filling, and fabric is the cleanest, most pure organic product available today.

• Void of toxic chemicals that might be inhaled during sleep
• Comfortable and soft, so that skin is never irritated
• Absorbent and breathable, maximizing air circulation and minimizing perspiration
• Machine-washable to accommodate a busy lifestyle
• Strong and resilient in shape, color, and texture--a must for aesthetics, functionality, and excellent return on investment

Organic Wool Lends Warmth and Dryness

All organic wool batting and fill is 100 percent pure. Our wool is processed without chemicals, dyes, or oils, meaning that it contains no residues from the processing--just time-honored warmth and absorbency.

Incomparable Care
The wool comes from a small island in Texel, Netherlands, where a family-run business takes exceptional pride in its organic production methods. The sheep are carefully bred and live a stress-free life. During the summer months, the animals graze on land that has never been used for agriculture, guaranteeing that it is free from contaminants such as pesticides, herbicides, and synthetic fertilizers. In winter, a well-ventilated, climate-controlled barn with clean floors is stocked daily with fresh bedding and a non-rationed organic food supply. The animals are also checked daily for continued health. The resulting fleeces--shorn from live animals, carefully sorted, and washed with only hot water and vegetable-based soaps (no detergents, chemicals, or chlorine bleach)--contain wool fibers that are strong and springy. The fleeces are then processed without the use of oils or bonding agents into wool that retains between 4percent and 6percent lanolin, a natural dust-mite repellent.

OKO-TEX 100-certified
We want to offer you a fresh-air sleep experience. Neither you nor your loved ones should be breathing any harsh chemicals during sleep. Therefore, all the wool used in our batting is certified to the Oko-Tex 100 standard (www.seamegypt.com/Manuals/ecolabell/App1-3.PDF) through the Öko-Tex GmbH certification organization in Germany. Moreover, we do not permit the use of plastic, baling twine, or mothballs during shipment of our wool.

Benefits
The quality organic product achieved by treatment with only vegetable-based agents for washing, lubrication, and static control is just the start.

• Naturally flame-retardant
• Absorbent (it can absorb 30 percent moisture and remain dry--excellent in cases of "night sweats")
• esilient in form and shape, for comfort and for aesthetics
• Cool in summer, warm in winter (as light as a duvet, and easier to clean)
• Naturally repellent to dust mites

Natural Rubber Provides Flexibility and Resilience

We use only the finest grade A natural rubber for the support core at the center of our mattresses and overlays. Natural rubber is an ideal choice: it is flexible, yet stable, for superior comfort. And, like our organic cotton and wool, the rubber is absorbent and resilient, contributing to excellent heat and moisture regulation.

Where It Comes From
Rubber is harvested by tapping the milk (sap) of Hevea brasiliensis (the common rubber tree). The trees grow in North Malaysian plantations especially selected for their high-quality product. No herbicides are used in these operations, because sheep graze the plantations and control growth.

We also arrange for the Hevea milk to be processed close to the plantations, because the raw product destabilizes when kept too long. Other manufacturers avoid the problem by adding chemicals. Our pledge to bring you the purest products possible means that the rubber milk harvested in the morning is molded into sheets by mid-afternoon and is soon shipped to our Canadian mattress plant. By having our rubber manufactured where the trees' milk is harvested, we also help to sustain the local economy. Jobs are created without depleting the natural resources of the country--a kindness to ourselves and the planet.

Our Rubber - Natural methods only
An injection system produces the purest natural product--for mattress cores that will keep their shape. Only air, natural soap, and natural vulcanization agents are used. At the end of the mattress life cycle, the rubber breaks down, because it is a natural, biodegradable substance.

Benefits of Natural Rubber
It's a little known fact that Hevea milk contains an antibacterial substance that is a natural dust-mite repellent.

• Superior durability and elasticity (for mattress longevity)
• Retention of shape and firmness (for even support)
• Flexibility combined with stability (for continuous sleep comfort)
• Excellent heat and moisture regulation
• Superior air circulation (for preventing the growth of molds and mildew)

Organic Silk

For more than 4,000 years silk thread has been woven into the most luxurious fabrics, treasured for their beauty, softness and strength. More than ten million farmers in China, India and other Asian countries raise silkworms to spin the cocoons that provide the lustrous, long fibers that are reeled into silk fibers.

Cultivated silkworms (actually caterpillars, not worms) live for 25-28 days and during that time they increase their body weight 10,000 times by constant eating. During their life cycle they molt four times, each times shrugging off the old skin and beginning the eating process again until the skin becomes too tight once again. After the final molting they scout out a place for cocooning and pupating into moths.

First they throw a safety net, and then toss their heads in a figure eight motion while extruding a semiliquid protein from the two silk glands that run the length of their bodies. This liquid silk, when exposed to air, becomes the fibre that the silkworm uses to create - from the outside in - its own cocoon. Inside the waterproof cocoon, the silkworm pupates for two weeks and then metamorphoses into a moth, the females of which lay eggs to begin the cycle again.

In the majority of silk farming communities, while some cocoons are saved for egg production, most of the crop is not allowed to develop. The pupae are killed by hot air or steam to prevent damage to the cocoon by an emerging moth. The silk threads are reeled by child labour and then bleached and dyed.

Our Silk - The Organic Difference
Our silk is comes from Malaysia, a country that does not permit child labor and has normal social services. Our product is manufactured by an organic process that does not kill the pupae (growing butterflly). You may notice that our silk is not pure white; it has a brown tinge that results from the fact that the cocoons are not boiled or steamed so the silkworm larvae are not harmed in the harvesting process. The cocoons are humanely harvested, once the buttterfly has left the cocoon.

Benefits of Silk
The main purpose of the silk is to absorb moisture, it does so better than the wool. This helps prevent the invasion of dustmites in your bedding. Dustmites can only survive in a moist environment; with the wicking properties of silk, moisture is not retained even in the most humid climates.

Renewable Canadian Hardwood

All of our box springs and foundations are hand-constructed in our plant from seasoned, untreated, carefully selected natural woods such as spruce, poplar, and ash.

Where It Comes From
Incomparable selectivity in harvesting and manufacture The wood used in all Green sleep beds is obtained by the sustainable harvesting method (called jardinage in Quebec). This method is a selective process in which a governmenttrained forestry specialist inspects trees in designated areas. The age and number of trees per acre that can be harvested are specified. Once approval for cutting has been given, other forestry personnel inspect the cutting operation to protect the forest from intrusive damage. If damage is found, it must be rectified immediately to restore balance.

Our Wood - Superior Construction
The foundations are made exclusively of kiln-dried spruce. The slats are strong, yet flexible, providing perfect support and unmatched comfort. These superior wood-framing techniques are then united with steel for further comfort and support. High-gauge steel support coils in mattresses are covered with a thickly quilted organic fabric pad. Extra-strong border wire is then used to reinforce the coils, holding them in place, so that the sides of the mattress are prevented from sagging.

Foundations can be set on legs or bed frames. The foundations are constructed of selected hardwoods, each piece individually crafted and fitted by a skilled cabinetmaker following a traditional European design. At the finishing stage, only the finest natural waxes and non-toxic oils are used on the wood.

Benefits of Untreated Wood
Green sleep wood is never treated with synthetic glues, dyes, or finishing sprays at any stage of production. Your home environment is therefore protected from the toxic "off-gassing" that accompanies the use of these harsh chemicals.

• Eliminate cracking noises through the use of extra-strong wood slats
• Eliminate creaking noises owing to sound, fitted, supportive box-style frames

Please do not hesitate to call or email with any questions you may have.

telephone (866) SLE-EEEP
info@suitesleep.com