Brooklyn Bowery: Entry-Level Mattress
What’s in a Name?
When Brooklyn Bedding (BB) launched an online mattress, they defied the convention of other established bedding manufacturers who established a new brand for their boxed bed model(s) – such as GhostBed by Nature’s Sleep, and Snuggle-Pedic by Selectabed. BB put their existing models under the new DreamFoam Bedding label and kept the established brand for their new line. The main reason for this appears to be the national name recognition for Brooklyn Bedding. It has in-store exposure in 33 locations (19 company-owned), most of which are in Arizona and Utah in addition to Internet exposure.
Three Models
Brooklyn Bedding’s new online offerings originally included only one mattress model (but with a choice of firmness). In 2018, it expanded to three models, one of which is Brooklyn Bowery. The name of Brooklyn Bedding’s entry-level mattress, Brooklyn Bowery, has interesting connotations related to New York City.
Not The Bums
Although the company was named after a daughter of one of the owners, it is coincidentally the name of a borough in New York City, the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers until 1958. “The Bums” was one of their unofficial nicknames, bestowed by a newspaper reporter. The Dodgers are now at home in Los Angeles. This means the company in Phoenix is closer to the team than to Brooklyn, NYC, NY.
The Bowery is an avenue and a neighborhood in another NYC borough, Manhattan. Although it is now famous for several celebrity venues, for a long time it was known for the “bums” who paid short-term cheap rent in flophouses, frequented the many bars, and found nourishment at several charity soup kitchens. We can be sure that the name of this mattress is meant to reflect the present (upscale) reputation, not the former.
Mattress Construction
Brooklyn Bedding’s original online model, #BestMattressEver, was an all-foam mattress. This was revised in 2016 to the first version of Brooklyn Signature, also an all-foam mattress, then in 2018 revised it again to a pocket coil hybrid. Now BB has three models with the addition of Brooklyn Aurora and Brooklyn Bowery. Aurora is a luxury hybrid, leaving Bowery as the only all-foam mattress in this lineup. This is the entry-level model with a nice-sounding tag: “A slumber essential, elevated.”
Like the #BestMattressEver (BME), the Bowery is a 10” high mattress with three layers. However, the details differ.
Cover
While BME had (and Signature has) a quilted cover, the Bowery’s cover is a smooth-top stretch knit made with a cotton blend (likely with polyester).
Comfort Layer
Instead of Talalay latex, as in BME, the top layer of Brooklyn Bowery is 3” of Energex. Although the description on Amazon calls this memory foam, it is not. Energex was engineered by Elite Foam Solutions to have properties of both latex and memory foam, making it in some was a latex-like foam, and in other ways a stand-in for memory foam. In this way, it is similar to (but not exactly like) the Adaptive Foam used by Tuft & Needle (also based in Phoenix).
Energex is an open-cell foam. In Bowery, it has gel infusion for cooling. This does work to some extent, but cooling would be more efficient with a greater flow of air through the mattress, such as with the Airflow Transfer System, an option with Selectabed mattresses and a standard feature on TempFlow and Snuggle-Pedic models. The video below shows how it works.
Transition Layer
BME’s transition layer was Dunlop latex. The transition layer in the Brooklyn Bowery is 2” of polyurethane foam. BB describes this as “comfort foam” with a firmness intermediate between the top layer and the support base.
Support Layer
The foam support core of the Bowery is 5” high, contrasting with BME’s 6” core. It is high-density polyurethane, the standard support core for most all-foam mattresses.
USA Made
Brooklyn Bowery, like all Brooklyn Bedding and DreamFoam Bedding mattresses, is made in America in BB’s own plant in Phoenix, Arizona.
Marketing
All Brooklyn Bedding online models are sold online from the company’s website and on Amazon, as well as in 33 stores in Utah and Arizona. The mattress is compressed, sealed, rolled, and put into a box for shipping by FedEx Ground. It is delivered directly to the customer’s door or taken home by the customer from the store – it’ll fit on the back seat of a car.
Warranty and Sleep Trial
As with all Brooklyn Bedding Mattresses, the Bowery is covered by a 120-night sleep trial and a 10-year warranty.
Customer Response
We calculate our ratings in accordance with our Verified Review Policy.
The relative newness of the Brooklyn Bowery and Brooklyn Aurora shows in the number of customer reviews on both the BB site and Amazon. On Brooklyn Bedding, 241 of the reviews are for Signature (both versions), 92 are for Aurora, and 24 are for Bowery. On Amazon, These are 21 overall and 17 VCR (verified customer reviews) for Signature (current version), 9 overall and 1 VCR for Aurora, 1 overall and 0 VCR for Bowery.
There are only 3 customer reviews for the Brooklyn Bowery on Amazon, not enough for a fair evaluation of customer response. Part of the lower number may be accounted for by the lack of a firmness choice as opposed to the two higher models, Signature and Aurora, making them more attractive.
Pros & Cons
The most named pro of the Brooklyn Bowery is it is comfortable. Also cited is customer service. I didn’t see any cons, but the lowest ratings were 4 stars.
