Topper, Protector and Pad: What Each One Is

What a mattress topper is

A topper is a filled, quilted layer that lies on the mattress. The fitted sheet goes over it, so the guest never sees it. It is bought to change the feel of a bed, not to protect it.

We fill toppers with polyester wadding, in hollow fibre or microfibre. The quilting holds that filling in place, and it can be box, diamond, channel or baffle box.

The quilting pattern is the part worth thinking about. A pattern with smaller compartments holds the filling in smaller areas, so less of it can move during a commercial wash.

A topper has to stay on the mattress through a bed strip. It is made either with corner straps or with a full skirt that drops down the sides. The choices sit on the mattress topper page.

What a mattress protector is

A protector is a washable layer. It sits between the mattress and the fitted sheet, and it takes the soiling that would otherwise reach the mattress. It is thin, and it is not there to change how the bed feels.

The face is either terry towelling or a plain woven cloth in the same fabric as your bed linen. It is made to the length, width and depth of your mattress. A fitted skirt covers the top and drops down the sides.

A protector is laundered far more often than a mattress is replaced. So the fabric and the stitching matter more here than on most lines. The same build covers the pillows on those beds, cut to the pillow instead.

Choices for this line are on the mattress protector page. If your market asks for a particular test report on the finished article, tell us the standard and we arrange it with your order.

Where the word pad fits in

Pad is a regional word rather than a defined product. In the United States a mattress pad can mean a thin quilted protector, or a filled topper, depending on who is writing.

This matters on an order. Two suppliers can both quote a mattress pad and send two different things. A hotel group buying across markets can end up with filled layers at one property and thin covers at another.

The way round it is to drop the word and write the construction. Say whether the layer is filled, what the face is, how deep the mattress is, and how the layer stays on. Those four entries describe one product in any market.

What a tog figure measures

Tog is a unit of thermal insulation. It says how well a filled article holds heat in. It is used for duvets and quilts in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

A higher tog holds more heat. It is not a measure of quality, thickness or weight. Two articles with the same tog can feel quite different in the hand.

A tog figure comes from a test on the finished article, not from the filling on its own. So if your tender asks for a tog rating, tell us the standard and the figure you need. We arrange the testing with your order.

A comforter is filled and quilted the same way a topper is, so the comforter page covers the same choices.

Which layer does a property actually need?

Often both, because they solve different problems. The question to ask is what is going wrong on the bed now.

If mattresses are coming out of service stained, the protector is the line that is missing, or is not being changed often enough.

If guests report the bed itself rather than the linen, a topper is the layer that changes it. Better sheeting will not.

On a ward the balance shifts, because the protector carries the work and is washed hardest. Ward lines run alongside hospital bed sheets and draw sheets.

One point on counting. Both layers need a rotation, the same way sheets do. A single set per bed means a bed goes out of service while its layer is in the wash.

What goes on the order

The mattress measurement first, and the depth with it. Depth is the figure most often left off, and it is the one that decides whether a fitted layer stays on.

Then say which layer you mean: filled, or a thin washable cover. Then the face, the colour reference, how the layer stays on the mattress, and how it is labelled and packed.

Measure the mattresses before the order, rather than working from the bed size name. Properties bought in more than one batch often hold two depths under one size name.

The rest of the range sits on the bed linen page. Our hotel bed linen guide covers the sheeting that goes over these layers.