Gardner Mattress Innerspring Vs. Pocketed Coil Mattresses

Gardner Mattress can make a unique mattress for the customer’s needs. Innerspring and Pocketed Coil are two of the most popular types of mattresses. Listen or read more to hear from Kirk Forsyth, General Manager at Gardner Mattress, to find out the differences between Innerspring and Pocketed Coil mattresses.

Katlyn Graham:  Hello. I’m Katlyn Graham, here with Kirk Forsyth, the General Manager at Gardner Mattress. Welcome, Kirk.

Kirk Forsyth:  Thank you, Katlyn.

Katlyn:  Thanks for joining us today.

Kirk:  Pleasure.

Differences between Innerspring an Pocketed Coil Mattresses

Katlyn:  We are going to tap your mattress expertise once again. This time, the difference between Innerspring mattresses versus Pocketed Coil mattresses. I must admit, I don’t know what is the difference between Innerspring and Pocketed Coil?

Kirk:  They’re both steel springs, but there’s a unique difference. In a Pocketed Coil, they are individually wrapped by fabric. They’re attached by fabric for a couple of reasons, one being they tend to transfer much less motion. They also tend to be more conforming.

Your more traditional Innerspring or continuous wire springs tend to be firmer, so they make more of an orthopedic or firm style of mattress.

They tend to be a little bouncier.  Both are very, very, long lasting, though. Certainly different feels and reactions to the body as somebody lays on them.

Mattress Motion: Firm Vs. Bouncy

Katlyn:  Let me just see if I got that right. You said Innerspring is firm, but bouncy?

Kirk:  It can be. Depending on how it’s upholstered, they can be a little bit. They can transfer a little bit more motion.

For instance, two people are getting on it, one person gets up, it may be a little bouncier feel or a little bit more motion than a Pocketed Coil would be, because it’s a more absorbing, less transfer type of a motion.

Pocketed Coil Mattress Contour the Body

Katlyn:  It sounds like that fabric around the coils of the Pocketed Coil mattress makes it so that it’s a little bit more contoured to your body?

Kirk:  More contoured, better to your body. The fact that the coils are attached by fabric as opposed to steel fabric is more of an insulator motion, whereas steel would be more of a transfer of motion.

Benefits of Innerspring Mattresses

Katlyn:  What are the benefits of the Innerspring mattresses?

Kirk:  It’s definitely going to be probably the most supportive in the sense [that] it’s going to be a real firm unit. If you like a firmer product, that’s definitely the way to go, would be more of a traditional coil.

We use them in a variety of different gauge of steel coil counts to determine how firm you want to go. That would be the main benefit: more of a firmness type of product.

That’s what we started the manufacturing with was for years — just traditional Innersprings.

Benefits of Pocketed Coil Mattresses

Katlyn:  Pocketed coils are the newer way of building mattresses.

Kirk:  Newer, it’s just a complement to that same type of manufacturing. We use a Pocket Coil to create the same type of quality of mattress, but a softer feel, a little bit more conforming, maybe a little less bouncy, as I say, a little less motion transfer.

People tend to ask about them more readily. I think when people do research online, the first thing they do is they come in and say, “Are these individually wrapped coils?”

Maybe about half of what we do is in that type of coil. Half is not. Both have their benefits and their place in the bedding industry.

Innerspring and Pocketed Coil Mattress Popularity

Katlyn:  I know everyone likes a specific mattress, but it’s about 50‑50 in how many mattresses between Innerspring and Pocketed Coil, or … ?

Kirk:  Actually probably a majority still would be in our traditional Innersprings, probably more like 70 to 75 percent is still what we do, is our mainstay products, which are traditional Innersprings.

We’re introducing more and more of these Pocketed Coils as they evolve and become maybe a little bit more technically advanced. There’s a variety. You can really configure them from our vendors in many, many different ways ‑‑ countless ways.

They keep coming up with different configurations of these coils ‑‑ for different benefits and different uses, and they’ve really come a long way.

Custom-Built Gardner Mattresses

Katlyn:  At Gardner Mattress, you actually custom‑build those mattresses, right?

Kirk:  We do. We upholster them in a variety of different ways, and they will all feel vastly different. We can tailor one for your specific needs, and any kind of options you’re looking for.

If you want to go very, very natural, we have that. If you don’t care about that, you’d like more of a foam or memory foam or latex feel, we pair them up that way as well. There’s a lot of different variety or uses for those coils.

Cost Comparison: Innerspring vs. Pocketed Coil

Katlyn:  In terms of cost, how does Innerspring compare to Pocketed Coil?

Kirk:  I would say for the most part our Pocket Coil lines are going to be on the upper end and our middle to upper end, and the traditional Innerspring is going to be our starting point and through our middle to upper end as well. So I have probably more variety in those products, because that’s what we’ve been making for the longest.

Feel the Difference

Katlyn:  I know you’ve already briefly touched upon it, but let’s say there’s an Innerspring mattress in front of me and there’s a Pocketed Coil mattress. If I were to actually sit on the Innerspring, what would it feel like?

Kirk:  It’s going to be less forgiving, especially as you sit. For instance, when we sit on a mattress, and many people will lay down sometimes to try them, but when you sit on an Innerspring, you’re going to feel as though there’s definitely some real resistance.

A traditional Innerspring really pushes back on you. It creates a lot of resistance. It’s designed to try to get back to its neutral state, which is standing tall.

A Pocketed Coil, same idea, but you’re going to sink into it, especially when we’re sitting and not dispersing our weight across the mattress or our body across the mattress.

Initially, when you sit on a Pocketed Coil, you will definitely feel a lot more give. That would be the main difference.

Katlyn:  You really need to go sit on it, or lie down would be better, to feel it for yourself and see what will be comfortable for you.

Kirk:  We’ve found that with the traditionals, we have a lot of variety.

I would say that the Pocketed Coils tend to be a little bit softer, probably better suited for a back or especially a side sleeper, where you want to have a lower pressure sleep system to combat pressure points on shoulder and hip areas, better circulation, all those types of things.

Katlyn:  Another consideration.

Thank you so much, Kirk, for breaking this down for us.

Kirk:  You’re welcome.