Memory foam mattresses have become vastly popular among consumers ever since their introduction a few decades ago – they have evolved quite a bit too with a number of big mattress brands leading the innovation of the material from its simple close-celled viscoelastic initial structure to its sophisticated gel-infused open-celled present form.
Unfortunately, virtually all big brands have exploited their market dominance to charge a premium for their memory foam mattresses, keeping them out of range for consumers. More recently though, with the advent of internet-based marketing, a number of smaller mattress brands have sprung up that adopt a radically different online-only shipping sales model to make premium viscoelastic foam mattresses accessible to the average consumer at a markedly reduced price point.
Saatva and Nest Bedding stand out among these new-gen online brands, and both offer quality memory foam mattresses –the Loom and Leaf and Alexander Signature, respectively. Choosing between the two may be difficult given their similar premise, which is why this Loom and Leaf vs Alexander Signature comparison may be worth a read.
Loom and Leaf Breakdown
The Loom and Leaf is Saatva’s answer to exorbitantly priced big-name memory foam mattress – it packs quality materials in a stylish casing and is affordably priced to boot.
— Construction
• Cover
The Loom and Leaf sports a cover made completely from natural cotton that lends it a soft and cool initial feel. The cover stretches tautly across the multiple layers of foam, minimizing the occurrence of loose slivers as a result of movement during sleep.
• First Layer
The mattress’s uppermost layer is constructed from gel swirl memory foam – 2” deep and 4 lbs./cu.ft. dense. Its function is to adapt to your body completely, relieving stress and minimizing the occurrence of back pain due to an awkward posture.
By combining gel crystals into the formula, Saatva ensures that this viscoelastic layer does not suffer from heat retention issues that usually plague the material – in particular, the part which will be in contact with your lower back has a gel panel for enhanced heat dissipation (since the lower back tends to retain a large part of your body’s heat).
Furthermore, the bottom side of this layer has a convoluted construction that allows for the passage of air, which allows for the continuous removal of heat from the mattress.
• Second Layer
The second layer is also made from memory foam, albeit of a greater density and depth (5 lbs./cu.ft. and 2.5” thick) – this makes it more resistive to the impact of your body so that it doesn’t sink inwards as much as the first layer. In other words, it adds to the overall viscoelasticity of the mattress without leading to excessive suffocation for the sleeper.
• Third Layer
A 2” transition foam layer serves as the bridge between the upper layers comprising of relatively softer viscoelastic and the lower support core. It resists the impact of your body even more than the second layer and sets the stage for the base layer to provide you with stiff support.
• Fourth Layer
The mattress base is made from HD polyfoam at 5.5 inches deep. Its purpose is to stop your body from sinking in further completely, thus keeping the spine properly aligned by ensuring that no part of your body is inadequately supported (causing it to sink and contort more than the other parts).
— Firmness and Feel
• Comfort and Support
The Loom and Leaf mattress is offered in two different levels of firmness:
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- Relaxed Firm
This is the firmness level that most buyers prefer since it balances the contouring response of memory foam with enough firmness that your body is amply cushioned but not so much that the mattress keeps on giving under your weight until you find yourself in a hole! Saatva has not mentioned the ILD rating of the mattress but instead given it a 5-7 rating on their own scale from 1 to 10 on which 1 is the softest and 10 is the hardest. Thus, in more recognizable terms, the mattress may be considered ‘medium firm’.
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- Firm
This variant is more biased towards providing a solid level of support than it is towards creating a surface that molds itself to your contours. This isn’t to say that the memory foam feel is completely absent– it’s just that it is considerably less noticeable than in the case of Relaxed Firm. Accordingly, the Firm version of Loom and Leaf has a rating of 8 on Saatva’s 1 to 10 scale.
• Edge Support
The Loom and Leaf is able to yield reasonable edge support for a viscoelastic product – no doubt as a result of the HD polyurethane base it incorporates. However, compared to the Alexander Signature, it is slightly mushy – likely due to the fact that the Alexander has a thicker base that creates a greater resistance to your weight.
• Cooling
The inclusion of gel into the uppermost viscoelastic layer (and the spinal panel that provides targeted heat dissipation for your lumbar region), both counter the heat retention problem admirably – and the free flow of air through the convoluted lower side of the uppermost layer helps too. Even the pure cotton cover ensures that you sleep on a breathable surface throughout the night.
As a consequence, the Loom and Leaf excels at temperature reduction without the use of fancy technology such as the PCM material employed by the Alexander Signature.
• Motion Transfer
The Loom and Leaf is able to prevent motion transfer from the point of impact to the surroundings virtually flawlessly. This can be directly attributed to the impact absorbing qualities of memory foam, which is so extensively used in the mattress.
— Unique Features
• Cotton cover
The Loom and Leaf’s organic cotton cover creates an effortless air of elegance from an aesthetic standpoint. More practically, though, it makes for a luxuriously supple and breathable sleeping surface. Overall, this enables the mattress to exude an aura of elite lavishness that is on par with mattresses that are a lot pricier.
• Superb cooling with a traditional feel
The multiple heat management features described above mean that the Loom and Leaf does not suffer from the irritating heat retention problems that are often seen in these mattresses. As such, it is an excellent candidate for use in hot and humid environments.
However, I should point out here that these features only facilitate cooling – the Alexander, on the other hand, uses a more advanced approach to achieve thermal regulation in both cold and hot environments.
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• Longer base trial period
The Loom and Leaf has a 120-day trial period compared to the 100 day trial period of the Alexander Signature. While the Alexander’s policy is a bit more flexible after the expiry of this trial period (details in the next section), it cannot be ignored that with the Loom and Leaf, you’re getting 20 extra days to try the product out to your heart’s content and get your money back if you’re not satisfied.
Alexander Signature Select Breakdown
The Alexander Signature claims to be an affordable luxury alternative to pricier brands, and it achieves this through the use of high-quality memory foam in liberal amounts.
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— Construction
• Cover
The latest iteration of the Alexander Signature series incorporates thermic phase change cooling fabrics in its 1” cover. This enables the covers to react to your body heat in a way that they absorb it when it becomes excessive and release it back as the temperature goes down.
• First Layer
The topmost layer of the mattress consists of 4 lbs./cu.ft. gel memory foam at a depth of 2.5”. This layer absorbs most of the impact of your body through its soft, contouring, pressure relieving response that is as one would expect from any typical viscoelastic product. The inclusion of gel into the foam’s formula counters some of the heat retention issues that are typical of viscoelastic.
• Second Layer
The next layer is comprised of 1” of 4 lbs./cu.ft visco memory foam. This foam has a somewhat more resistive response than the upper layer, which serves to restrict the degree of sinkage your body experiences when you lay on the bed while still maintaining a respectable amount of conformity to your sleep posture.
• Third Layer
This layer creates an even change between the softer viscoelastic foam layers above and the solid base layer underneath. It consists of 2” of 1.8 lbs./cu.ft. of SmartFlow Foam with special channels built into its structure that allow for the passage of air through it, further enhancing the mattress’s heat dissipation.
• Fourth Layer
This is the sturdy support core of the mattress, made out of 6” of 1.8 lbs./cu.ft. edge support base foam, which not only provides sufficient pushback to hold your frame in correct alignment over the night, but it also lets you sit comfortably at the side of your bed.
It is worth pointing out separately that the densities of the underlying foam materials are quite generous, and it will ensure that the mattress retains its structure for a good many years.
— Firmness and Feel
The Alexander Signature is available in two firmness levels, which are described through a 1 to 10 scale of their own as opposed to explicit ILD values. On this scale, 1 is the firmest and 10 is the softest (this is the opposite of Loom and Leaf’s scale).
• Comfort and Support
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- Medium
This is the firmness level that is best suited to the average sleeper, as it lies almost in the middle of the aforementioned scale (perhaps leaning very slightly towards the firm side). Overall, the memory foam layers combine with the firm support core to create a mattress that yields typical viscoelastic contouring but doesn’t cause your body to sink in too deep (a complaint that is quite common with such mattresses).20
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- Luxury Firm
The Luxury Firm variant is rated at 1.5-2 to on the scale, meaning that it’s significantly firmer than the norm for memory foam products. In other words, it dials down the contouring significantly – instead emphasizing the stiff, unyielding response of the 6” support core. The great thing about the Alexander Signature series is that it comes with a guarantee that lets you exchange your original purchase for a different firmness level as many times as you want if you’re not satisfied with the level of comfort it has to offer.
• Cooling
The thermic phase change materials used in the cover, the gel infusion in the uppermost memory foam layer, and the airflow channels in the SmartFlow foam layer, all collectively promise a viscoelastic product that should stay quite cool compared to the competition – the Alexander Signature happily delivers in this regard – with customers from humid, warm climates praising these features in particular.
This is welcome news considering that the previous iterations of the Alexander Signature suffered from noticeable heat retention issues (again, this is pretty much typical for a memory foam mattress).
• Edge Support
The Alexander Signature is again able to deliver commendably in this regard thanks to the Solid Edge Support Foam base it incorporates into its structure. Indeed, there is minimal sinking when sitting on the edges – which is quite surprising for a memory foam mattress that is designed to sink under your weight!
• Motion Transfer
The fusion of multiple viscoelastic foam layers means that any sudden impacts that you make in bed are muffled almost immediately, so they won’t transfer over to other parts of the bed and disturb your sleeping partner.
— Unique Features
• Memory Foam Response with Enhanced Support
As described above, the Alexander Signature series adds a twist to the viscoelastic formula through its unusually (but not excessively) stiff support core, which is able to counter some of the ‘enveloping’ behavior that is generated by all the memory foam present in the mattress’s structure. It is admirable that Nest Bedding has managed to do this without killing the plush, cushioning response that consumers have come to expect from a high-end viscoelastic bed.
• Excellent Thermal Regulation
Heat retention is a major issue where memory foam is thrown into the mix – and it was a nuisance for Alexander Signature users anyways, until the manufacturer decided to update the series by incorporating phase change materials into the cover, which are able to absorb your body heat thereby keeping the surface cool.
Moreover, the underlying layer has gel beads in its structure that again help to conduct the heat further away, and lastly, the airways in the SmartFlow foam set up ventilation cools the entire mattress down. However, it should also be noted that the phase change cover works in reverse – if during the night, your body starts getting cold – it will release some of its contained heat to warm your right back up.
In other words, the heat regulation of the Alexander Signature is sophisticated and dynamic, something that you don’t often see at this price point.
• Lifetime Comfort Guarantee
Where most competitors in its league offer a simple money back guarantee, the Alexander Signature comes with something better: not only does it have a 100-day trial period during which you can return it and get your money back or exchange it for a different firmness level for free as you see fit, but after this period, you are still eligible for a firmness exchange at 50% of the product’s retail price!
This shows Nest’s wisdom because they recognize that their customers, being human, may experience changes in their sleep needs even after the trial period has ended.
• Lifetime Warranty
• Lifetime WarrantyThe Alexander Signature is covered by a lifetime warranty, which is a lot more generous than the Loom and Leaf’s 15 years. That being said, warranties are often useless after the first decade or so of usage, since by this time, the mattress will have accrued some wear and tear that renders the warranty void anyways.
Which One To Get?
— Loom and Leaf
The Loom and Leaf may be the better choice if:
- You prefer a traditional touch to your mattress: Memory foam is no doubt a product of modern industry, but by packaging it in a cover made from pure organic cotton in the case of the Loom and Leaf, the manufacturer makes it more appealing to people who enjoy sleeping on a natural, chemically inactive surface.If you’re part of this collective, the Loom and Leaf may be more appealing to you compared to the Alexander Signature (which uses phase changing materials in its cover to regulate temperature).
- You want a cool memory foam mattress: Extending the previous point, the Loom and Leaf uses more conventional methods (compared to the Alexander Signature) to minimize the inevitable heat retention introduced by memory foam – and it does so quite successfully.This makes it an attractive choice for those who want a bed that stays cool throughout the night (with the Alexander, there’s a chance that it may release heat back at your body if your body temperature gets lower than the surroundings).
- You want a longer period to try the mattress out risk-free: The significantly longer trial period of the Loom and Leaf makes it a better choice for consumers who aren’t completely certain about the usefulness of the mattress at the time of purchase. You can try the mattress out and see if it suits your needs – if it doesn’t, you can get your money back without a hitch.
— Alexander Signature
On the other hand, here are a few reasons to get the Alexander Signature mattress:
- You’re looking for a memory foam mattress that doesn’t ‘envelope’ you: The combination of multiple layers of memory foam with a solid HD foam core makes the Alexander Signature noticeably less yielding than other viscoelastic products – this isn’t a bad thing: it is still able to contour to your position but won’t wrap itself around your body in the process.If this is something you have trouble with e.g. heavier weight individuals may experience this with most memory foam products, then the Alexander Signature is worth a try.
- You live in a climate that needs thermal regulation: Thanks to the multitude of temperature regulation mechanisms it incorporates, the Alexander Signature is a solid candidate for climatic zones that experience periods of heat and humidity and/or periods of cold. Its thermic phase change materials will store excess heat and return it back as needed, ensuring an optimal temperature irrespective of the prevailing thermal situation.
- You want better future proofing: The Lifetime Comfort Guarantee provides you with the option to exchange the mattress for a different firmness level even after the trial period has ended. Although you still have to pay 50% of the retail cost, this is still a much better deal than paying full price for a new mattress because your sleep needs have changed over the years.
- A longer warranty is important to you: Although this isn’t an especially reliable metric to go by, it can be argued that the lifetime guarantee on the product indicates a certain degree of confidence on part of the manufacturer for their product – possibly stemming from proper design practices that ensure durability.If you feel this way, then the Alexander Hybrid could be preferable over the Loom and Leaf.
If you found this comparison between two prime memory foam mattresses helpful or interesting, please share it with friends and family members who might also benefit from it. If you have some questions or would like to provide feedback, do make use of the comments section.
Comparison
| Loom and Leaf | Alexander Signature | |
|---|---|---|
| Layers Used |
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| Height | 12 inches | 12.5 inches |
| Firmness | Medium-Firm, Firm | Medium, Luxury Firm |
| Motion Transfer | Minimal | Minimal |
| Breathability | Above average | Above average |
| Trial Period | 120-day | 100-day |
| Warranty | 15-year | Lifetime |
| Pricing (Queen) | $1,499 | $1,199 |
| Shipping | Free across the US | Free across the US |