While on the phone with customers, occasionally we’ll hear a comment such as “Lifekind — that’s a nice name. What does it mean?” We explain that our name refers to the necessity we feel to be kind to all life in the work we do, the products we offer, and the way in which the materials in those products are obtained. We explain that in part it’s a fun spin on the word “mankind,” offering a larger, more compassionate and all-inclusive meaning.

When I think about our name, the first thing that comes to mind is the Northern California wool we use in our mattresses, pillow tops, and other products. It comes from sheep that graze freely on organic pastureland and are sheared using methods that minimize anxiety and discomfort. No traumatic “sheep dipping” takes place, and sheep dogs are used to keep predators away, rather than deadly poisons.

It’s a total commitment to ethical ranching that we feel passionate about. If it’s important to you, too, you’ve come to the right place.

Sylvia, Sales Supervisor

The other day I heard a colleague say something that made me think. She was talking with a customer and describing today’s “chemical” mattress market as being a lot like the tobacco industry of the fifties. People were told back then that cigarettes weren’t bad for them, the same way today’s consumers are told that chemical flame retardants and formaldehyde-containing memory foam in mattresses aren’t just safe, but can even be good for them — and it worked like a charm. Skyrocketing cancer rates were the result.

Growing up in the seventies, with the Surgeon General’s warning on every cigarette pack, I wondered how Americans of my parents’ generation could have been so naive. How could they not have known smoking was dangerous? Sure, cigarette ads featured endorsements from beloved movie stars, cartoon characters, even the family physician (“More doctors smoke Camels than any other brand!”), but average people must have known intuitively that something was wrong. Right?

Maybe not.

I’m guessing that Americans of the forties and fifties, like us, wanted to believe that something they enjoyed was safe, and that the government would tell them if it wasn’t. Yesterday’s cigarette ads featuring leading physicians have become today’s two-page layouts for memory-foam mattresses in environmental magazines, targeting a health-oriented clientele that would run in the opposite direction if they knew what memory foam was made of.

Hazardous chemicals are a part of almost everything we use, including our mattresses, and cancer rates have never been higher. Could there be a connection? Many consumers don’t want to think so.

After all, the government would tell us if it were dangerous. Right?

(To see test results showing over 60 volatile chemicals emitting from a memory-foam mattress, see Walt Bader’s book Toxic Bedrooms:
Your Guide to a Safe Night’s Sleep, available from Lifekind.

Sylvia, Sales Supervisor

Growing up in the city, life was always fast paced. Consumption is a way of life. Life is not all that sustainable.

After my first camping experience in high school, life took on a different meaning. Nature has a perfect balance that cannot be recreated. It renews the mind and invigorates the spirit.

Over the years, I have realized that while voting in our democratic system is one way to make your voice heard, it is undeniable that we also vote with our dollars. Every purchase we make, in a way, defines who we are and what we stand for.

Regardless of where you live, life can be sustainable. Supporting organic agriculture and buying domestically-made goods made from renewable resources supports “the little guy” instead of the multimillion-dollar corporation that in exchange fuels the fire of non-sustainable living.

The earth is one big eco-system and our everyday choices WILL impact the planet one way or another.

How do you vote?

Rowena, Product Specialist

I’ve been thinking lately about the differences between the ways our great grandparents lived compared to how we live now. My great-grandmother used to take salt baths and rubbed oils on her hands to make them smooth. She used vinegar as hair conditioner and as a softener for clothing in the washing machine. She bought all of these ingredients at the local market. My grandparents even had a horsehair mattress that was made by a merchant in town.

Why is it so common in this day and age that we go shopping for other countries’ products when ours are time tested and proven to be effective? I say, when your health and well-being are involved, support American workers and buy U.S. manufactured mattresses. I know my great grandparents would have never imagined there was any other option.

If you aren’t supporting your neighbors, then who will be there for you when you need it?

Sara, Product Specialist