LAS VEGAS — Bryan Chaffin loves his Casper mattress.
“I don’t even know where to start,” effused the Mac Observer executive vice president. “It’s the most comfortable mattress I’ve ever slept on. It was dead-easy to set up. It’s just incredibly comfortable.”
Chaffin is a satisfied customer of Casper, a New York startup shaking up the tired old mattress industry. Casper is doing everything differently, from the design of its all-foam mattress to the way it sells and ships direct to customers.
Founded last year, the company is already off to a big start. The five co-founders worked in e-commerce, and a roommate was looking for a mattress. His experience was so wretched, the co-founders decided to shake up an industry that hasn’t changed in decades.
“We just saw a huge opportunity to create a much better experience and create a brand that really resonates with people,” said co-founder and CTO Gabriel Flateman here at International CES. (The company was named after the mattress-hunting roommate.)
Casper sells directly to customers rather than through big-box stores. Direct sales make the mattresses cheaper by cutting out the middleman, and there’s none of the hassle of dealing with a mattress sales rep.
Instead, the mattress is sold through a well-designed website. The company sponsors a lot of tech podcasts (including Chaffin’s Mac Observer podcasts, but he paid for the mattress himself). Casper has cleverly targeted the tech community: They’re young, monied and probably haven’t bought a mattress before.
The all-foam mattress arrives in the mail in a big box, which is much easier to get into the house than a traditional mattress. A machine in the company’s factories (all in the USA) folds the mattress down into the box. Even the largest Cal King size fits into the same 42-inch by 21-inch by 22-inch box, which is shipped worldwide for free.
“The biggest problem is getting rid of the old mattress,” said Chaffin.
The construction is a mix of memory foam and latex foam. “Just the right amount of sink, just the right amount of bounce,” said Flateman. Curiously, the memory foam isn’t the top layer, like a mattress topper. Memory foam tends to sink too much and retains heat, which makes the mattress hot, so it’s sandwiched a layer down.
Casper’s mattresses start at $500 for a twin, $850 for a queen and $950 for a King or Cal King. Casper offers a 100-percent risk-free trial with a no-questions-asked return policy. They just ask customers to give the mattress two weeks before returning it.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
14 responses to “Casper is the friendly mattress that arrives in a box”
What about boxspring?
You don’t need one as long as you bed has adequate support. The Casper FAQ says you could just put it on the floor if you wanted to.
I love my Casper! I had to talk my wife into trying it out. She didn’t like the idea of not being able to lay on it before we bought it, but we are both happy with our decision. We sleep much deeper now. You can save $50 here: http://refer.casper.com/v2/share/6094393552281937290
$500 for a twin is still 3x as much as a traditional mattress. Since the mattress doesn’t require construction, the price could be much lower.
Sounds a lot like https://www.tuftandneedle.com
Here’s a comparison of the two mattress startups:
http://sleepopolis-mattress-reviews.com/tuft-and-needle-vs-casper-mattress-reviews/
Afaik their in-home trial is actually 100 days, not 2 weeks.
I’ve got one and I love it. It does take about two weeks for your body to adjust but damn is it worth it.
1) Every memory foam mattress I’ve seen (8 to 10) come in a box this general size and shape.
2) @bdkennedy:disqus memory foam mattresses are generally much more expensive than traditional coil/spring mattresses. Assuming this mattress is a quality one, their prices are on par with other memory foams I’ve looked at.
I wish it shipped worldwide for free. I would have got one in a heartbeat!!! It would cost me the price of another Casper to ship it to Europe. Which is bananas…
The article actually says “it ships worldwide for free.”
I know. if worldwide means US+Canada, then that’s perfectly correct. this is not how I see the world though…
The article seems to focus on the fact that it comes in a box. Most memory foam mattresses do, and most are using a bamboo cover now to offset the heat issue instead of down.
I bought one from bedinabox.com. Even more spendy than the Casper but I’ve had it for months now and I sleep much better than I did.
Every mattress sold online arrives in a box. Nothing new here, lol.
I honestly can’t say enough good things about my Casper. I’ve had it a little over a month now. I was a little nervous about the firmness, as I’ve always thought I preferred a softer mattress. I was not disappointed though. I had been looking at all latex mattresses, but they were so incredibly “bouncy,” and the memory foam mattresses while not as bouncy, seemed to suck me in. Not to mention they slept pretty hot. This is the best of both worlds. Just soft enough, with very gentle support. I’m a combination sleeper, and it feels great on my back, stomach and side. You sink it just enough to feel snuggly, but the latex makes it so easy to move on, and keeps me nice and cool. And an unexpected added bonus… sex is SO fun on this mattress. I’ll spare you the details, but just trust me. It’s great. It’s already an inexpensive mattress (with a great return policy and warranty) but, you can save $50 more dollars by using my referral code!