It all started in 1999, when our founder, J. Shane Coker, after doing his walkabout in music, art & science, opened an unassuming little mattress store as a young man in Austin, Texas.

He had sort of grown up around the industry, and after carrying all the big traditional brands as well as new fads like the big memory foam & air brands, and after experiencing all the different technologies and core components that were on the market, he came to realize firsthand what worked and what didn’t, what was real and what was fad.

It didn’t take long to come to the rather shocking realization that the normal, non-natural mattresses offered to the public were too often heavily laden with toxic chemicals: volatile organic compounds off-gassing from chemical fire retardants, petroleum-based polyurethane foam, adhesives and the rest. Many of these chemicals were known carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, developmental neurotoxins, and obesogens. In response, he began carrying the organic, natural, and non-toxic mattress brands that were available and emerging at the time, which were few.

And he gained a purpose.

A few years later, after opening a sister store in Houston, Texas, Houston Natural Mattress, and after being involved on the ground floor of getting natural & certified organic mattresses and the reasons why they are so important out to the public, everything offered in the quickly expanding local mattress stores was either a natural or certified organic product, completely free of harmful chemical fire retardants. So he changed the names of the stores to Austin Natural Mattress & Houston Natural Mattress, and it took off in a huge way. Local Houstonians & Austinites really took to the idea of a chemical-free sleeping environment and healthier mattress options.

He also brought in Steve Chandler, Dustin Reiter, Charles Roberts & Hollis Chandler, all longtime professionals in the industry, as well as his wife Amanda, and together over decades they built Austin & Houston Natural Mattress into what it is today. They brought in the finest curated collection of organic mattresses & bedding on the planet, as well as creating their own natural & certified organic brand, and even began to be called upon to give talks about chemicals in household products to bodies & university students alike. They also created their “Purity Ratings,” a system by which to codify varying levels of chemical purity.

Today, they are still the same team, over a quarter of a century in business and all that carries with it: The knowledge and experience that comes along with having helped mold and shape the natural sleep zeitgeist, the knowledge of how to give the absolute best white glove customer service to stay in business as small locals in a corporate big box chain world. They are the oldest locally owned organic sleep shops in Texas, with showrooms that boast the most carefully curated and largest selection of natural, organic, non-toxic & luxury mattresses in Texas.