Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few decades, you’ll know who Silentnight are—or at least recognise the familiar hippo in striped pyjamas and his yellow duck companion as seen on TV adverts.
But what do you actually know about this brand?
With over 70 years of experience in making beds, is Silentnight a reliable mattress company you can trust? Or have they just cut the mustard with excellent marketing?
The UK’s most trusted bed brand?
Silentnight have been a household name for decades in the UK and proudly wear the badge of the UK’s most trusted bed brand.
Even those with little knowledge in bed companies will have some familiarity with Silentnight.
Silentnight make all their mattresses in Lancashire, UK, and it’s important to them that their business stays rooted in Britain. As a British-made company, buying a Silentnight bed helps to support the UK economy and British workers.
The Silentnight group is also the largest UK manufacturer of beds and mattresses and make other popular beds such as Rest Assured and Sealy.
Design and Qualities
But what kind of mattresses do Silentnight actually make?
Silentnight produce a variety of different types of mattresses that come in single, double, king, and super-king.
- Eco Comfort collection – Traditional-style Miracoil or Mirapocket sprung mattress with fillings made from recycled plastic bottles. The Silentnight Eco Comfort Pocket 1200 Mattress won Good Housekeeping Getting Greener award 2020.
- Geltex range – Advanced hybrid mattress with layers of Geltex, Ultraflex and Mirapocket springs for support and pressure relief. Gel comfort layer is designed to be breathable and keep you cool throughout the night.
- Studio collection – roll-up style mattress which arrives vacuum-sealed for convenience and an ideal option for loft bedrooms. Combined with memory foam and Geltex this is a great choice for children and teenagers. Silentnight Studio Original Mattress awarded Which? Best Buy Winner 2020.
- Memory foam range – Hybrid mattresses combining supportive Mirapocket springs with breathable pressure-relieving memory foam comfort layer. These mattresses are hypoallergenic so are great for allergy-sufferers. Silentnight Studio Memory Hybrid Mattress was Which? Best Buy Winner 2020.
- Essentials collection – This traditional-style mattress offers support with Miracoil or Mirapocket springs. These are great mattresses for buyers on a budget and a good starting point with 1000 pocket springs. Ideal for children, teenagers or adults who are lighter and don’t need as much support.
Price Range and Guarantees
And there are plenty of other types of mattresses they do too!
The prices of their mattresses vary with the different options they have to offer. Their most basic Essentials mattress starts at £179 for a double to their more advanced Geltex mattress, Silentnight Geltex Ultra 3000 priced currently at £829.
Their lower-priced products will be great for the kids whilst their higher-end Geltex, memory foam and Eco Comfort collection provide fantastic support for adults.
They even do cot mattresses, meaning the entire family can embrace the Silentnight brand!
Silentnight are probably most known for their Mirapocket spring system which has zoned support in different areas of the mattress and has been scientifically proven to help align the spine and prevent aches and pains. The springs are double layered with each spring in its own individual pocket, designed to give you support across your entire body.
Their mattresses also have an edge-to-edge spring system meaning they will support you right up to the edge of the mattress and prevent the feeling of roll-off.
Silentnight offer a 60-night sleep trial when bought through them directly and you can get a 30-40-night trial on their mattresses when buying through high street retailers.
This may not seem like a lot when compared with other brands such as Simba who now offer a 100-200-night sleep trial—but do you really need this long to know if your new mattress is comfortable?
In fact, it has been proven that it should only take a couple of weeks to a month to adjust to a new mattress. Shorter trials mean there is less chance of you damaging the mattress and voiding your trial (I can’t be the only one who drinks coffee in bed?).
Reducing the carbon footprint…
Not only do Silentnight support British workers and offer a great selection of mattresses to suit everybody, in more recent years they have focused a lot of their attention on the impact their brand may have on the environment.
In 2017 they were awarded the Furniture Maker’s Company Sustainability Award and are part of the carbon neutral organisation.
They pledge themselves as a ‘zero-to-landfill’ business and recycle 90% of the waste from their Barnoldswick site in Lancashire.
Silentnight also support the Marine Conservation society and have helped to prevent over 105 million plastic bottles from entering the ocean and landfill sites.
So, how have they done this exactly?
Each of their Eco-Comfort range of mattresses are made from 150 plastic bottles which have been shaven down and turned into a soft comfy material. We sold an exclusive range of these mattresses when I worked at Bensons for Beds and they were really comfortable and supportive.
You would never think they have been made out of plastic bottles!
Silentnight are paving the way for other manufacturers when it comes to producing sustainable products and are proving that big companies can have a positive impact on the environment.
Who are Silentnight mattresses for?
Silentnight’s main target customer is your average middle-income family who are looking to spend a reasonable amount on a good quality mattress.
They’re a great choice for couples and bed-sharers (even if it’s just the dog you share with!) as their advanced Mirapocket spring system offers individual support across the entire mattress. This is ideal if you have a particularly fidgety partner or someone who gets up throughout the night to use the loo. This advanced spring system will prevent you feeling your partner move throughout the night.
When I sold Silentnight mattresses, I found that they were also really popular with older couples too. This was partly due to people recognising the brand from TV or previously owning a Silentnight mattress that they loved, but lots of people were also drawn towards the edge-to-edge support system.
Since lots of elderly people take their time getting out of bed, often sitting on the edge of the bed for a minute or two or perhaps slowly putting on their slippers before bracing the day ahead, it was important to a lot of people that the edge of the bed felt just as firm and supportive as the middle.
Customers also liked that many of Silentnight’s mattresses can be flipped. Double-sided mattresses help the mattress last longer as it gives the other side of the mattress a chance to recover and retain to its normal shape which might have been distorted after long period of laying on one side.
For me, I personally love the Eco Comfort collection and the idea that purchasing a mattress can help keep plastic out of our oceans.
Others may be attracted to the supportive Mirapocket spring system or cooling Geltex collection, or perhaps you just want to support British businesses.
Whatever it is, there is definitely a lot to love about this brand.
Who would Silentnight not be suitable for?
Silentnight is probably not going to be suitable for those looking for a top-end product. Whilst Silentnight have a fantastic range of beds, they are typically aimed towards a middle-earning group of people who are looking for a decent mattress that isn’t going to break the bank.
If money isn’t an issue and you want the highest-quality product available, you might look towards some other brands.
Again, if you want a mattress with a guarantee longer than five years, then Silentnight may not be for you as they only offer a 3-5-year guarantee on their products.
That’s not to say that their mattresses won’t last longer than 5 years. There’s a good chance they will last the average customer as much as 10 years, particularly a double-sided mattress rotated regularly.
But if there were any manufacturing defects after this 5-year period, such as dipping, you wouldn’t be protected by the warranty.
If you like the Silentnight brand but want a higher-end version of it with a decade-long warranty, then you should consider Sealy who are under the same group as Silentnight but offer a 10-year guarantee on their mattresses and have a more expensive customer in mind.
Summary
I think that Silentnight are a fantastic brand, and this company has so much to offer particularly for middle-income families, as well as older couples. I’d definitely feel I could sleep better at night just by knowing I was investing my money into a brand that supports British workers and cares about the impact it is having on the environment.
Of course, a lot of Silentnight’s recognition over the years has been due to great advertising, but they are also an innovative company who are continually working hard to keep their great reputation and provide ground-breaking products.