The Natural Law × Naturepedic
The organic mattress I sleep on, and the conversation that explains why.
I sat down with Arin Schultz, Chief Growth Officer at Naturepedic, to ask what’s actually inside the thing we spend a third of our lives lying on.
Shop Naturepedic · 15% offNaturepedic is a partner of The Natural Law. We earn a commission when you order through our link.
The full interview
Amish Shah in conversation with Arin Schultz
About 49 minutes. Naturepedic’s founder story, the certifications, and why sleep sits alongside diet and lifestyle as a pillar of health in Ayurveda.
From the interview
How to tell a real organic mattress from a label
“Green means nothing. Green is a color.”
Arin’s point about greenwashing: words like eco, green, and natural cost nothing to print. “You could say natural, like a pen is natural.”
“Made with” is the phrase to watch.
“It’ll say ‘Made with 5% organic juice.’ They’re not telling you what the rest of it is.” The same goes for a mattress that says it’s made with organic cotton.
Ask for the certification, then ask what it checks.
Naturepedic makes its mattresses in a GOTS-certified factory. Arin walked us through what that means in practice: three times a year the certifier comes to the factory, pulls a mattress off the shelf, and asks which crop the cotton came from.
Who makes it
Built the way your grandparents slept
Naturepedic started when its founder, an environmental engineer named Barry, went to buy a crib mattress for his first grandchild, read the labels, and refused to put the baby down on it. He built his own instead. That was 23 years ago.
Arin described how they still make them: “85% of our workforce is Amish. They use a lot of hand tools. It’s an old-world way of making mattresses.” Their plan if the company grows five times over is to hire more of the same people, not to automate.
One story from the interview is about a cotton farmer in Texas, fourth or fifth generation, who wasn’t allowed to play in his own family’s fields as a child because his father knew what was being sprayed on them. He grows organic now, and his grandkids run through the same fields.
What I chose
What’s in my home
- EOS King, Firm · MedLatex over FirmCoils
- Serenade Organic Luxury, Full (Firm)
- Serenade Organic Luxury, Full (Cushion-Firm)
- Organic latex pillows · Solid latex with a wool wrap, and adjustable latex
“I sleep on Naturepedic mattresses, and they are absolutely amazing. It’s probably the only brand that I feel is so value driven, just like the way I run my companies.”
Amish Shah, closing the interview
For The Natural Law community
15% off Naturepedic
If you’re already in the market for a new mattress, take a look.
Shop NaturepedicPartner link. The Natural Law earns a commission on orders placed through it.
Questions
Is this a partnership?
Yes. Naturepedic is a partner of The Natural Law. They sent me these mattresses, I sleep on them, and we earn a commission when you order through our link.
Where do the buttons go?
To Naturepedic’s own website, through our partner link. You buy directly from Naturepedic.
I’m not ready for a new mattress. Where do I start?
Arin’s own advice at the end of the interview was not to get overwhelmed: look around your home, find what’s feasible, and take small steps. Pillows and a mattress pad are a smaller place to begin.