Tuft & Needle Pillow Review

Overview of The Tuft & Needle Pillow

Tuft & Needle has decided to break the norm by creating a pillow that unlike so many others isn’t adjustable. Their one-size-fits-all approach has resulted in a pretty beautiful, sleek and breathable foam pillow. It’s also super-duper eco-friendly meaning it’s safe for your mind, body and soul!

Construction of The Tuft & Needle Pillow

The Tuft & Needle Pillow is designed to work for all sleep types. It’s made of custom cut T&N Adaptive Foam (their trademark) which consists of graphite and cooling gel beads (meaning it’s thermoregulating), not that there are any “beads” that you see or feel. It’s a pretty sleek and uniform looking product and it’s packaged in a beautifully crafted soft micro polyamide and polyester pillowcase. It’s meant to help you sleep cool and honestly, it looks pretty cool too. It’s just designed SO WELL.

It comes in two different sizes: Standard and King. The Standard pillow retails for $75 while the King size is only an additional $25 on top of that, which is not too shabby. Tuft & Needle is offering a 100 Night Trial and the pillow comes with a 3 Year Limited Warranty. The pillowcase is washable, however the foam and foam encasement is not; it’s recommended that you spot clean it if needed.

It has three different certifications in the name of both health and environmental safety and sustainability. They are: STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX certified (16.HUS.79211, Hohenstein HTTI), GREENGUARD Gold certified and CertiPUR-US® certified. This pillow is also hypoallergenic.

Standard Size 16” x 25” x 5”
King Size 16” x 34” x 5”

Setting Herculean Standards for the Mattress, Pillow and Bedding Industry

Most companies release pillows with only one or two of the previously mentioned certifications. Okay, let’s be frank: some with none at all. Tuft & Needle’s towering standards and expectations (it’s a good thing!) in the name of health and environment should bring any decent person to their feet and competitors ought to be paying attention—whether they care for the environment or the health of others or not. It’s not a nice thing to talk about but the reality is that some companies don’t care and anyone who has a good marketing campaign will make sure you can’t tell the difference.

T&N is one of the first to offer a product with a trio and the fact that these certifications have become common makes it apparent that it’s because consumers aren’t afraid to make demands. Although this brings something else to mind: Since people seek it and companies are quick to provide it, the fact that T&N decided to get three different certifications just goes to show you how much there is to be mindful of. It’s crazy how much something can matter to one certifying organization but could perhaps be entirely irrelevant to another. I’m not trying to make a case study out of the brand but I’m curious why the three certifications? Why not just two? Is it to prove their commitment? That wouldn’t be a bad thing. We ask partners to prove their commitment with a diamond ring and we ask others countless ways to put their money where their mouth is. Or is it because there simply isn’t one certification that can encompass so many different areas of concern?

When you consider the price, this is a BIG portion of what you’re paying for: Assurance and that’s not a small thing. To be assured is pretty significant. Let’s not minimize it. (Think about how a mother can feel assured knowing their child has a cell phone they can reach them on.) You’re not paying for a “label.” You’re paying for the knowledge that various third parties/organizations have had to meticulously investigate and hold accountable these companies and their products. Imagine someone having to take ONE person’s feedback into account and going back and making changes to an original design of sorts. Tweaking it, resubmitting it and so on. Consider what it would be like to be under the scrutiny of a whole slew of people in hopes of passing an exam, or meeting their list of requirements, if you will. It’s that involved and that can’t possibly be cheap when it comes to mass-produced consumer products.

My Tuft & Needle Pillow Findings

The Tuft & Needle Pillow is beautiful. It’s designed well and it’s simple. There’s absolutely no guesswork and it even LOOKS great. You don’t have to fluff it, in fact you don’t really have to do a thing. It’s soft and comfortable (and it has almost zero off-gassing too, which is huge) but where I think most reviewers get it wrong is by trying too hard to make it sound like the one-size-fits-all that it’s creators originally meant and hoped for it to be. The reality is this: Many things aren’t what they seem to be. It’s not exactly a firm pillow so I won’t describe it that way. Heck, it’s not even medium firm. This is a SOFT pillow. The way it appears, because it’s made from a single piece of foam and because foam retains its shape, might give the impression or illusion that this is another “medium firm” pillow but it’s not. The moment you lay on the pillow you will know. The foam compresses significantly to hold space for your melon. It doesn’t dip just a little—it sinks. Due to its intrinsic properties, I think this could be a great product for back sleepers and stomach sleepers but side sleepers, heed caution. There’s no doubt that when it comes to customer reviews that the results are pretty varied here but one of the most common remarks that I found was that this pillow does tend to lose some loft throughout the night. That being the case, while it might seem “supportive” at first (I honestly have no idea how), it most likely won’t stay that way to see the morning.

My Tuft & Needle Pillow Recommendation

The pillow feels like a normal pillow should feel. I don’t want you to think that it suddenly meets mattress level the moment it’s met with any weight BUT if you’re a side sleeper, chances are you need copious amounts of support to avoid waking up with a stiff neck. The type of support that you can’t ever doubt and in my opinion, this pillow is just too soft to meet the requirements of such needy concerns. The Tuft & Needle Pillow is fabulous, aesthetically well executed and made with top-notch materials (you can see it and feel it) but I don’t believe this is a one-size-fits-all. While they nailed “soft and squishy,” I’m not sure “supportive” can really fit into the picture. Supportive is usually synonymous with a certain level of firmness.

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