Inside Mattresses With... Arin Schultz, Chief Growth Officer at Naturepedic
"At Naturepedic, we practice what we preach. It makes me very proud to work here."
Naturepedic started as one grandfather's mission to create a safe crib mattress for his grandchild. More than 20 years later, it's an established leader in sustainable sleep, selling certified organic mattresses, bedding, furniture, and more.
Arin Schultz has been with Naturepedic for over a decade and was recently named its Chief Growth Officer. It's a role in which he wears many hats — from marketing and customer service to public relations and research and development. Schultz welcomes the challenge: “I thrive in chaos,” he says.
Schultz recently joined me on a video call to share Naturepedic’s story, explain what sets the brand apart from its competitors, and discuss how the company helps its employees and customers stay informed about the chemicals found in everyday products that could pose risks to human health.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
When Naturepedic launched in 2003, it specialized in crib mattresses. When did the company decide to expand into mattresses and other sleep products for the entire family?
Our customer base literally asked for it. They’d be like, “I love your crib mattress, but I’d love you to create something that my kid can graduate to so I know they won’t be sleeping on [toxic] chemicals.” From that idea, we created our first kids’ bed in 2008.
Next thing you know, we had adult customers trying to buy our kids’ mattresses for themselves! Kids’ beds generally tend to be a little bit firmer. We were seeing a lot of returns, and when we started asking our customers about it, they were like, “Oh, I bought it for myself.” We had to emphasize that it’s designed for children.
From there, we set out on a mission to create our first adult mattresses. We released those in 2013, and we’ve been off to the races ever since. For example, our EOS Collection allows you to swap the layers out. If you like it plush on your side, and your partner likes it firm on theirs, the whole bed unzips and you can pick your own firmness level.
The same thing happened with the rest of our product categories. We’ve always sold sheets, but it became a boring sea of beige and white. Our customers wanted colors so last year, we introduced a ton of new colors to our bedding scheme with a variety of patterns and textiles. It’s been a resounding success.
We relaunched our pillows in 2023. We went from having two pillows to almost having 10 now. We have side sleeper pillows, body pillows, and different firmness levels for our loose, shredded latex pillows. We use down, and we use wool, because we know everyone sleeps a little bit differently.
What do you think makes Naturepedic different from other mattress brands, especially those with a focus on organic sleep?
We're not just some VC-backed marketing company trying to get rich off the organic mattress industry. Naturepedic started in [our founder Barry Cik’s] garage, and through a lot of trials and tribulations, he got to the point where he had built an amazing product, and to this day, we do that with everything we create.
We don't cut corners, either. Our mantra here at Naturepedic is, “No compromise.” We're not building these things en masse. If we took a tour of the factory right now, you’d see we are literally building every single one of these mattresses to order. These are not sitting on a shelf for months, or weeks on end.
With everybody jumping into the organic sleep industry, we find it helps our business overall. “Organic” is becoming more common in the general lexicon among mattress buyers: “What do you have that's green/eco/organic?” The best thing we can do as a company is to stay in the conversation.
At Naturepedic, we practice what we preach. It makes me very proud to work here. We don't have owners who are just lining their pockets. Every dollar they make, they put back into this company or give it away for charity. It makes it fun to work here, and I think it makes people work a little bit harder.
One of Naturepedic's core tenets is to "eliminate chemicals." What's the brand's approach to educating customers on what's safe, especially with so much misinformation and "greenwashing" online?
We utilize our blog, social media, and email program to help educate people. A lot of people don’t know what PFAS1 [also known as “forever chemicals”] are. A lot of people don't know what fluorinated compounds are, or why flame-retardant chemicals2 are bad. They just see on the news that a product shouldn’t have “this” or “that” in it, not why it’s bad.
Our founder, Barry, is a board-certified environmental engineer. We literally have three veritable libraries in our factories, all Barry's. He's written textbooks. We have papers galore. Education has been a core tenet for us as a company. I've heard Barry speak a billion times, and I can just rattle off the million different reasons why we should avoid certain chemicals, and not just in terms of mattresses.
Once people hear about those things and peek behind the curtain, it doesn't give them a lot of other options, especially when it comes to their kids. As a parent, you're certainly going to want to spend more money on an organic crib mattress once you know why the alternatives on the market could be harmful to them.
How do Naturepedic employees educate themselves on these topics, especially when new information emerges?
There’s a partnership between Barry and our in-house chemist, Peter, who stays on top of all of those key issues, because he can really speak that language and then make it digestible for the rest of the people in our company.
We're often in quarterly trainings led by Barry and Peter, reiterating the finer points about Naturepedic and certain topics that consumers might (or might not) be aware of. These trainings allow us to let consumers know that we're aware, and we can speak the language.
We're not just some VC-backed marketing company trying to get rich off the organic mattress industry. Naturepedic started in [our founder Barry Cik’s] garage…Our mantra here at Naturepedic is, ‘No compromise.’
We don't have a fast shopping experience in any of our stores. It's anywhere between an hour and two hours. We don't rush our customers out the door. We want them to feel comfortable with their overall purchase. Most of the people coming to our stores end up making a purchase, just because we've taken the time with them to explain everything.
That’s a result of Barry doing his trainings and Peter giving us information almost weekly, in some instances. And I will say it does trickle down to the rest of our organization, where somebody on the customer service team or somebody in marketing sees an article, and a lot of times they will share it departmentally. And then it’s a conversation starter. From the outside, we probably have some really boring water cooler conversations, but it's fun for us.
Naturepedic is certified GOTS, among many others. How do you ensure your suppliers and production partners stay in compliance?
We get audited three times a year by GOTS [Global Organic Textile Standard]. They pull a mattress off the shelf, and we have to be able to prove through our records what farm and what crop the cotton came from. There has to be full traceability from the time the seed is planted to when it showed up at our factory for use. (We get a lot of our cotton fill from Lubbock, TX3.)
We are also maintaining every single thing that we buy from our suppliers. It has to come with a certification, or else we're not buying it. They’re doing a very good job of staying in compliance, because once you lose that status, it is almost impossible to regain it.
We have nothing to hide; that’s why we have certifications galore. It keeps us honest. It's nice to have proof that we did the right thing. Especially with our crib mattresses, we have more awards and certifications than just about anybody out there, and we’re very proud of that fact.
What’s next for Naturepedic?
Organic stuffed animals. Like anything we do, we want to have a feel-good story around it. We picked eight endangered species to make dolls out of, and 10% of the proceeds go to the Wildlife Conservation Network. We figured, why are you going to spend the money on an organic mattress for your kid, but then put a synthetic stuffed animal with them at night? Now we’ve got all our bases covered.
Also, we just launched our line of kids’ furniture, and it's all solid oak. We spent a lot of time designing it. What we found on the market is that a lot of kids’ furniture is made out of pine, which isn’t bad, but a solid oak bed set is going to keep its value. It stands the test of time.
There's more to come towards the end of the year — 2025 will be one of our largest years ever for product launches.
Anything else you'd like to tell More Than Mattresses readers?
I think for people who might have just bought a mattress, or people who might not be able to buy a certified organic mattress or aren't just ready for one yet, small changes can still go a long way, whether it be adding certified organic pillows, a certified organic mattress protector, or certified organic sheets.
As long as you can add some sort of certified organic product to your sleeping environment, it's going to be that much better for your sleep.
Like this post? Here’s another story you may want to check out:
Inside Mattresses With... Angela Owen, CEO of Suite Sleep
"We don't just sell a mattress to people. We really are a partner in their sleep, and we work hard to get it right, even if it's not right the first time."
Coming next week…the Sleep Tourist returns!
I’m crossing a property off my New York City Bucket List. Which one? Well, you’ll just have to wait to find out! You’re welcome to read about my dream destinations and take a guess.
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Disclaimer: The information in this post is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. If you have sleep-related issues or concerns, please consult with your doctor or a qualified healthcare provider.
https://www.naturepedic.com/blog/how-to-avoid-pfas
https://www.naturepedic.com/blog/guide-to-flame-retardant-chemicals
https://www.naturepedic.com/farm-to-bed