JUVEA pillows and mattress toppers are made using natural latex sustainably harvested from the rubber tree or the Hevea Brasiliensis. Natural latex has unique buoyant, stretch and recovery properties that make it Earth’s perfect material for sleep products.
Native to the rainforest in South America’s Amazon region, the Hevea tree is naturally located in low altitude forests, wetlands, forest gaps and disrupted areas. The Hevea tree can grow up to 130’ tall and live up to 100 years. Ancient civilizations, such as the Olmec, Maya and Aztec discovered methods of collecting the natural latex sap, which protects the tree from bacteria and insects, and used it to rain proof clothing, make rubber balls and crude footwear.
Today, natural latex sap is harvested in plantations located in South America, South East Asia and Africa. These plantations use a sustainable collection process that does not harm the Hevea tree called tapping, allowing the tree to provide a renewable supply of latex. The Hevea tree is grown for 6 to 7 years before it yields any latex sap. Each tree can yield up to 150 grams of sap per day each day for up to 30 years!
The tapping process begins by removing a very thin layer segment of the bark on one side of the tree to expose spiraling tubes of latex around the trunk called ‘latex vessels’. Once exposed, the natural sap runs down the trunk via a hand cut channel into a collection container (often a coconut shell). Each section that is tapped can yield latex sap for up to six years. After, the process is replicated on the other side of the tree allowing the previous side to heal. This process is repeated on slightly higher portions of the trunk for up to 30 years.
The development of modern Hevea tree latex plantations has had a sizable positive economic and social impact on local remote communities of indigenous people. Further, rubber tree plantations have a far less impact on the local eco systems when compared to cattle raising and other crops that require slash and burn clearing. Since the cycle of the Hevea tree is approximately 40 years, which is replaced with new trees, biological diversity is much more prevalent when comparing other crops or land uses.
The natural latex combined with the clean Talalay manufacturing process separates JUVEA natural pillows and mattress toppers from competitors that use synthetic materials, petroleum based sources and down feather fills. From seed to sleep, JUVEA’s products are truly as nature intended.