All language subtitles for Inside.the.Factory.S05E04.Mattresses.1080p.PMTP.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-BurCyg_track3_[eng]

[music playing]

Whether you're a night
owl or an early riser,

we've all got one
thing in common, sleep.

Which helps explain why
we spend nearly 2 billion

pounds a year on mattresses.

[GREGG WALLACE]
Soft, medium, or firm,

we all spend around 26 years
of our lives lying on one.

And surprisingly, for
something so comfy, most of

them start off life as this--

cold, hard steel.

The transformation
happens in here,

in one of the largest mattress
factories in the country.

[music playing]
[vocalizing]

[GREGG WALLACE]
I'm Gregg Wallace

and I'm springing into action

discovering the astonishing
engineering that

goes into delivering
a good night's sleep.

It's a bed of nails.

Wow.
I'm Cherry Healey.

No bedtime story though.
We don't have time.

And I'm investigating
whether brain power can be

boosted by an afternoon snooze.

Go.

[GREGG WALLACE]
And historian, Ruth Goodman--

Oh.

[GREGG WALLACE] --draws
the short straw, checking

out some ancient bedding.

It's better than lying
on the floor, isn't it?

Here, in the factory
that never sleeps,

they produce 600 handmade
mattresses in just 24 hours.

Welcome to Inside the Factory.

[music playing]

This is the Harrison
Spinks Factory in Leeds.

They've been helping us catch
40 winks for nearly 180 years.

Here, more than 600
people sew together 465

different styles of mattress.

And there's a lot more to
them than you might think.

Whether it's a single
or a super king,

each one contains
more than 5,000

individual components,

from springs, vents, and tufts,

to frames, fabrics, and fleece,

all prepared on this six
and a half acre site.

Today, we're
following production

of their king-sized
pocket-sprung

emerald mattresses.

[music playing]

It all starts not with
a soft bouncy filling,

but with a delivery
of heavy duty steel.

[music playing]

Four lorries arrive
here every week,

each one laden with 24
tons of steel rod destined

to become mattress springs.

Seeing in today's delivery is

manufacturing director
Darren Rhodes.

- Good morning, sir.
- Morning, Gregg.

- Right.
- How are you?

What have you got in there?

There's 12 coils
of two-ton steel.

[GREGG WALLACE] That's
heavy, heavy duty.

- You are making beds, right?
- [DARREN RHODES] That's correct.

[GREGG WALLACE] And they're
going to become the springs?

[DARREN RHODES] That's correct.

Why do you use steel,
because that can't be cheap.

It's abundant. It's resilient.
It's strong.

It's a perfect material
for making springs.

This has got to get unloaded.
How long to unload this?

- About 30 minutes.
- Right.

Come on.

[music playing]
[beeping]

Our mattress production begins.

The 128 kilometers of
steel rod on this lorry

will make the springs
for 600 mattresses.

The delivery of our
steel rod is complete.

But while it would make
excellent bed springs

for a giant, for us
mortals, it needs

to be slimmed down even more.

To do that, it's
squeezed into shape.

It travels into this 14-meter
long wire drawing machine,

which will take its diameter
from 5.5 millimeters

to just 1.5.

How exactly does it work?

Well, effectively, we're
pulling the wire through a die.

You draw that
through that hole,

and that makes it
1.5 millimeters.

Correct.

[GREGG WALLACE] The steel
heads into a tungsten

carbide dye, the
diameter of which

is slightly smaller
than the wire.

It's pulled through with
a force of 2,500 newtons,

emerging 1 millimeter thinner.

It's then squeezed through
another nine increasingly

smaller dyes, finally emerging
at the required

1.5 millimeter diameter.

Why don't you just put
it through the shape

that you want straight away?

Because the wire would snap.

[GREGG WALLACE] Do you
know where reminds me of?

- It's like a pasta machine.
- [DARREN RHODES] Exactly.

You keep on tightening the
size of the hole you want.

Yeah.
Same principle.

[GREGG WALLACE]
And just like with pasta,

as our steel gets thinner,
it also gets longer.

By the end of the drawing
process, each 10.7 kilometer

coil is now a whopping
144 kilometers long.

Now drawn out, the wire
is coiled into drums.

Wow.

And that's what we use
for making the strings.

So now at the end of
all this engineering,

are we finally ready
to make springs?

We are.

[GREGG WALLACE]
From wire drawing,

the drums head over
to spring production,

where the 144-kilometer coils
are loaded into what's known

as a pocket coiler machine.

I'm meeting managing director
Richard Essery, a man

with a real spring in his step.

So tell me, how exactly are you
taking the straight wire I saw

and making it into
the curly pigtail?

[RICHARD ESSERY]
What we're doing,

we're actually engineering
memory into that straight wire.

[GREGG WALLACE]
Steel has a remarkable ability

to retain its shape.

And this machine engineers
springy memory by forcing

the wire into a spinning wheel.

The tight coil that is made
is then opened out and evenly

spaced by a spreader bar.

[RICHARD ESSERY] Now because
it's high-tensile wire,

that memory stays, and
that's your convolutions.

[GREGG WALLACE]
A convolution is--

[RICHARD ESSERY]
It's a ring in a spring.

A convolution's
a ring in a spring?

[RICHARD ESSERY]
Absolutely.

How many of these springs,
these complicated springs,

would be in each one
of the mattresses?

1054.

1054 in each mattress.

[RICHARD ESSERY]
That's correct.

What's the length of
the wire, do you know?

It's 1554 meters.

That's just short of a mile.

[RICHARD ESSERY]
That's correct, yes.

A mile of wire--

A mile of wire.

- -in a mattress.

This hardware will form
the internal skeleton

of our mattresses.

But when did we start
sleeping on springs.

Ruth is getting into
bed with the history.

[music playing]

The quest for a
comfortable night's sleep

is one that has dogged mankind
for tens of thousands of years.

But it was the
invention of this,

the pocket sprung mattress,
that was the real game changer.

It made the mattress modern.

But to find out how
we got here,

I'm meeting Deborah Sugg Ryan,
professor of design history

at the University of
Portsmouth, to sample

the rudimentary mattresses our
ancestors would have slept on.

- Deborah.
- Hello.

Come on in.

Almost 3,000 years ago,
we know that the Romans

were filling simple cloth
sacks with wool and feathers.

So what about back
here in Britain,

what were mattresses like
before there were springs?

In the Middle Ages,
around the 1200s,

people would have been making
their mattresses out of sacks,

which they called ticks.

They were very strong and
densely woven together.

And even today, we still
call the fabric that we

use around a mattress, ticking.

[RUTH GOODMAN]
These simple sacks would

have been stuffed with straw.

It doesn't look all
that comfy, does it?

So if I had my sacks of straw,
I was a medieval peasant,

how do I feel about this?

Oh, well, it's all right.

It's better than lying
on the floor, isn't it?

[music playing]

A more familiar shape
emerged in the 1700s,

but mattresses continue to be
stuffed with natural fillings

throughout the 19th century.

Despite offering some
comfort, this basic stuffing

soon got lumpy.

Luckily, the solution
to a sound night's sleep

arrived in the form of steel,

specifically the steel spring.

This is a sprung mattress.

OK, so springs, I
should be hoping for--

ooh.
It's quite bouncy, isn't it?

This was developed by
a man called Heinrich

Westphal in Germany in 1871.

It was really the
next big thing,

the biggest innovation
for hundreds,

if not thousands of years.

[RUTH GOODMAN]
This innerspring technology

was the beginning of the
mattress as we know it today.

Although it was a big leap
forward in terms of comfort,

it wasn't without its problems.

So you can see here, we've
got this series of steel

springs connected together.

But when you move one, you
move a lot of them together.

Yeah, and I definitely felt
that when I was lying on it,

that the whole thing sort of--

[laughing]

- -moved all at once.

It was a bit sort of
seasick, in a way.

But this innerspring
technology was

soon superseded by
a newer innovation,

the pocket sprung mattress.

So who do we have to thank for
a comfy night's sleep, then?

We have this man,
James Marshall,

born in Canada in 1840.

He was an engineer repairing
things like early automobiles,

trains, and farm equipment.

That sounds a million miles
away from beds and mattresses.

[laughing]

Well, all these vehicles
use spring suspension,

and springs had
started being used

in the seating for different
forms of transport.

[RUTH GOODMAN] Armed with an
in-depth knowledge of spring

technology, Marshall identified
that by keeping springs

independent of one another, a
mattress would be more stable,

and he created the world's
first pocket-sprung mattress.

That is it.

The pocket-sprung is just
a spring in a pocket.

But they're not done
individually like that.

So they're done in line.

So you can see on the edge here.

These kind of strips with
all the springs in together.

[RUTH GOODMAN] Yeah.

And then they sew
the strips together.

Yeah, and this
means that the springs

can move independently without
tangling with each other.

Oh, now that makes
enormous sense.

Each one has got
to work on its own.

It can't get caught up
with any of its neighbors.

And it can only go
in the directions

- that the pocket allows it.
- Absolutely.

So it can mold to the
contours of your body,

but also, of course, there
are two of you in bed,

and it means that you
can move independently.

It's really very
simple, but very clever.

The Marshall coil set a
new standard in bedding.

And 120 years later,
nearly 40% of all

the mattresses sold
in Britain today

still use this technology.

I don't think that
James Marshall, even

after the best night's
sleep, could have

imagined leaving such a legacy.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] All of the
mattresses made here at

the factory are pocket-sprung.

So our mile of
newly coiled springs

need to go into their pockets.

Durable and water resistant
polypropylene fabric

is used to make the
protective casings.

Polypropylene is
folded around the springs

and ultrasonically welded.

- It's done what?
- It's ultrasonically welded.

Like ultrasonic the Hedgehog?

Absolutely.

[GREGG WALLACE] This process
uses high-frequency vibrations

to generate temperatures
of over 160 degrees C,

heat sealing the polymer
cases in just 0.2 of a second.

But the mattresses here
don't just contain springs.

Oh, no. Even the springs
contain springs.

So these little springs
are going into the back

of the big springs.

[GREGG WALLACE] Why?

Basically, it's for extra
support for the heavier

parts of your body.

So if I put my belly on there,
it would only go that far.

But if I put my
belly and my ego--

- It'll be fully compressed.
- [laughing]

[GREGG WALLACE] In our mattress,
every third coil spring

contains a baby pocket spring.

One hour since our
steel rod arrived.

With springs made and safely
tucked up in their pockets,

they might not look
much like a mattress.

But that's all about to change.

So hey, it's a little
train going through here,

a train of springs.

- What's happening?
- So this is a glue assembler.

So what we're doing now
is assembling the pocket

coils into a mattress core.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE]
For a king-sized mattress,

31 strips each containing
34 springs, are lined up,

then glued in place,
top and bottom.

Well, that, looks
like a mattress to me,

or if not, the
bulk of a mattress.

[RICHARD ESSERY] Almost.

[GREGG WALLACE] This might
be a mattress factory,

but there's no time for
sleeping on the job.

This lot are far from finished,
so onto the next stage

in production--

framing, which is on
a different level.

And there's a reassuringly
low-tech way of getting there.

You're just going to
chuck them down the slide?

[RICHARD ESSERY] Yeah, it looks
like a kid slide, I know,

but that's exactly
what we're going to do.

- It's a pretty steep slide.
- [RICHARD ESSERY] It is.

- Do you ever go down it?
- Absolutely not.

- Have you ever been down it?
- No.

Well, I wouldn't
tell you anyway.

- Ready?
- Ready.

[GREGG WALLACE] Go.
Let's just let it drop.

[yelling]

[laughing]

The chute drops the
mattresses to mattress

assembly just next door.

It's the central hub
of the factory site

where 114 employees work
on six different stages

of mattress production.

I'm meeting team
leader Gary Smith.

- How's it going, mate?
- [inaudible]

Are you going to lift
this onto the table

and I'll show you
how to frame it.

Whoa.

We're attaching a steel
frame onto each side

to support the spring core.

Use that firm edge--
stops you feeling

like you're going to roll off.

It also holds the structure
better,

the shape of the bed better.

[GREGG WALLACE]
It's a proper metal frame.

Yeah.

So, although we fasten the
frame to the core unit,

- you also need a hog ring gun.
- A what gun?

- A hog ring gun.
- A hog ring-- why is it--

it must be from the time when
put a ring through a pig's nose.

A ring through a pig's nose.

So all we're doing is just
fastening the nearest string

to the corner to the firm.

[GREGG WALLACE] The galvanized
steel rings are fired out

of the hog ring gun
with compressed air,

looping through the frame
and mattress structure.

If you fix the corners, can I
have a go at the straight bits?

Yes.

[GREGG WALLACE] Does
anyone ever come and say,

can you do their ear?

No, but I have offered.

[laughing]

- All set.
- Ho. Ho. Ho. Ho. Ho.

- Fire it in and then hold it.
- Whoa. You know what?

It's pretty heavy duty,
this bed making, isn't it?

It takes two people
just three minutes

to frame each side of
a king-sized mattress.

I think I'm slowing things down.

Gary, Gary, Gary,
Gary, pack it in, son.

- All right?
- [laughing]

It's not clever.

All right, you're just
making me look stupid.

All right?

[music playing]

We all know the benefits of
getting a good night's sleep,

but what about grabbing
40 winks during the day.

Cherry's finding out
whether we should

be making time for a nap.

[CHERRY HEALEY]
To find out if there

are any benefits
to a daytime nap,

I'm meeting Dr. Neil Stanley--

- Hello.
- Hi.

- Lovely to meet you.
- Lovely to meet you.

[CHERRY HEALEY] who specializes
in the science of sleep.

Should we be making
time for naps?

I think we should.

A nap is great for
boosting your performance.

And the effects of a nap will
last three or four hours.

Whereas, many people go
for caffeine, coffee, tea,

the effects of those
are very short.

They may only last
for 30 minutes.

So less flat white
and more lie flat.

Absolutely.
Yes, 37% of people

in the UK say they're
not getting the right amount

of sleep for them.

And, we know the
effects of poor sleep

are as bad as being over
the drink driving limit.

[music playing]

[CHERRY HEALEY]
To get the most out of a nap,

it has to be the right duration.

20 minutes is optimum.

Any longer, and we
fall into deep sleep.

And it's waking prematurely from
this that makes us feel groggy.

Timing is everything. So
a 20-minute nap, which requires

about a 30 to 40 minute window.

Giving you that
time to fall asleep

means that you get
the benefit of sleep

without getting into
that deep sleep.

[CHERRY HEALEY] To demonstrate
just how beneficial a siesta

can be, we're heading
to a drop-in sleep

center in East London.

Here, worn out city folk can
pay eight pounds for 40 winks.

Neil has set up an
experiment in what

he's calling his reaction room.

Uh, so Neil, how on
earth are we going

to test napping with
something that looks

like it belongs in the gym?

What we have here
is a reaction timer.

I believe, these individual
lights will light up

and the subject's got
30 seconds to cancel as

many as they can in that time.

And then after
they've done that,

they'll go upstairs
for a 20-minute nap,

come down, and repeat it.

And hopefully, we'll
see an improvement

- in their reaction time skill.
- All right, let the games begin.

Our weary volunteers arrive.

Get ready.

And they begin
canceling those lights.

Go.

[music playing]

Time out.

[CHERRY HEALEY] First test
done, now, it's nap time.

I've made it nice
and cozy for you.

No bedtime story, though.
We don't have time.

To get the best out of your
nap, you need a quiet, dark room

with a temperature between
16 and 18 degrees C.

The best time is
between 2:00 and 3:00

in the afternoon when
our bodies naturally

have a dip in energy levels.

But don't stress if you don't
fall asleep straight away,

even closing your eyes to rest

is proven to have
a restorative effect.

20 minutes later, how
do our volunteers feel?

I feel more relaxed.
I didn't actually go to sleep.

Did you fall
asleep quite quickly?

- It took me about five minutes.
- That was a good 20-minute nap.

- I feel brilliant.
- I feel good, feel refreshed.

[CHERRY HEALEY]
They report feeling better.

Get ready.

[CHERRY HEALEY]
But are their reactions better?

Go.

[CHERRY HEALEY] On average,
our volunteers recorded an 11%

improvement in reaction times.

Time out.

[CHERRY HEALEY]
But some individuals

improved by as much as a third.

This is something
that people can do

that really does have an
effect on the way they perform.

So it is an important
thing that we should

be doing each and every day.

So our results
show that a power

nap really is a powerful
way to brighten up your day.

Wake me up in 20 minutes.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE]
Back in Leeds, our mattresses

are taking shape.

But no one's getting
a good night's

sleep on these steel skeletons.

They need some comfy coverings.

Every mattress
made at the factory

is covered in tightly woven
cloth known as ticking.

And this is also made on site.

Production manager
Matt Butler is giving

me a tour of the weaving room.

[MATT BUTLER] This is one
of our weaving looms.

We've got six of
them in the business,

and we're producing over
10,000 meters of tick a week.

This, to someone who's
never seen it before,

is almost unbelievable.

The looms weave
fire-retardant, viscose fibers

together to create the
perfect outer casing

for the mattresses.

Well, what this is,
is it's an air jet loom.

It fires a jet of air
straight across the cloth

and takes one its cotton
strands and fires it across.

And then when it's
coming back, it just reverses,

and then shoots back
with another jet of air.

[GREGG WALLACE] These air
jet looms weave 30% faster

than conventional machines,
producing the eight

square meters of ticking needed
to cover a king-sized mattress

in under 30 minutes.

Once woven, the ticking
moves to the sewing building

where it's cut to size to make
the top and bottom panels of

the mattresses and the borders.

Eight handles are attached.

And 16 nickel-plated air
vents are punched in.

These little vents
on the side, right,

do you know what they are
for-- but when you like bounce

on the bed to let the air out?

They are in the mattress
to let the air through

and to let the mattress breathe.

[GREGG WALLACE] Can
I have a go at this?

- Of course, you can.
- Right.

This is a job I can do.

- [laughing]
- Oh.

I didn't line up this
line with that line there.

Look.

I've messed up a bit.

I haven't necessarily
messed it up.

This could be like
a limited edition.

Exactly.

Every cloud.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] Two hours and
34 minutes since we began.

Back on the assembly
line, I'm catching

up with mattress master, Gary.

Gregg.

I brought all
these folders, right.

OK, so now you're going to
show me what to do with it.

- Right.
- See these?

- Yes.
- I put some of these on.

- Did you?
- Look at that craftsmanship.

- Look at that. Look.
- Beautiful.

- Eh?
- [laughing]

[GREGG WALLACE] A layer
of polyester padding

is fitted to soften the
edges of the mattress.

Ready for the border.

Now we're going to slide this
over the top of the spring unit.

We're just throwing
it all the way over,

putting it around us corners.

- That's it.
- Nice and tight.

And then, you'll put yours
around the bottom then.

I'll put on the top.

[GREGG WALLACE]
Folder in position,

it's now attached to the
springs in the core unit,

using a surprisingly
traditional method.

Now we're going to
hand stitch the bed.

- Hand stitch?
- Yes,

using a 12-inch needle that

- is razor sharp on both sides.
- Show me how to do it, boss.

All right, so what we do is
pull off three arms lengths

of string, thread this needle.

[GREGG WALLACE] Using a
super strong nylon thread,

the hand-sewn seam is
an additional measure

to hold the border firmly in
place and secure the springs.

That's going to take forever.

Why not do it by machine?
Why hand stitching?

Because hand stitching fastens
the border through the strings,

wraps around the strings, and
holds the border firm to it.

You can't get a machine
that will do that.

Wow.

So this company has been making
beds for nearly 200 years

and you still, in
the 21st century,

you have to hand stitch it.

Gary pushes the foot-long needle
in through three core springs,

bringing it back
out through the top.

He then threads it back through
the side and around the frame.

Well, I'm going to back off
and stop talking to you.

Show me the speed you
should go at, please.

All right.

This is sort of the speed
that we would have to go at.

[GREGG WALLACE] Remarkable.

Are you proud of the job you do?

Uh, I've always taken
pride in all the work I do.

The job worth doing
is worth doing right.

Do you think people
that buy these mattresses

are aware that people like you
have actually taken this much?

Uh, I don't think so.

Would you mind very
much if I had a go?

Yeah. We'll just start
you on another side.

We'll let you
go down that side.

You don't want me to
continue your line, do you?

- What?
- [laughing]

I can sew a button on.

How hard can it be?

I'm never going to
get it out there.

It's never going to
come out of there, mate.

It's all about the angles.

- Oh.
- [GARY SMITH] There you go.

- [GARY SMITH] Yeah, that whole--
- [GREGG WALLACE] Whoa.

This is incredibly--
incredibly difficult.

Not only can you not
see where you're going,

you're stitching something
that's nearly two foot thick.

As well as having
a practical use,

this is actually
really attractive,

isn't it, this hand
stitching here?

Yeah. It completes
the overall look of the bed.

I'll tell you what, I've never
really looked at a mattress.

I don't suppose many of us have.

But I'm going to take a much
closer interest from now on in.

[music playing]

The mattresses sides now have
their outer comfort layer.

But the core itself needs
some added luxury too.

More than 1,000 springs
provide the basic bounciness.

But when we sleep, we
need fine-tuned support.

And our mattresses are about
to get more spring than Zebedee

on a pogo stick, in the
form of an entire sheet

of micro springs.

This is a comfort layer.

It's thousands of points of
contact that molds to your body

to give you better comfort.

There's another layer of
springs about to go on.

Another one?

Well, as they say, you can't
have too much of a good spring.

These two layers contain
an additional 6,048 springs,

bringing the total of our
mattress now

to over 13,000.

Springs sorted, there's one
last tiresome topic to tackle--

sweat.

No one wants a sweaty
siesta, so a layer

of breathable natural
fiber is added.

- This is hemp flax.
- Hemp flax?

A hemp flax sounds like
an indigestion tablet.

Well, hemp is actually
from the cannabis family.

Is it legal?

Yes, this is legal.

But, listen, listen, listen,

underneath here, right,
it's all quite pretty.

This makes it look
like a donkey.

I feel like giving
it a carrot and see

if it will go to the other
end of the warehouse.

Look at this.
Why do you use this stuff?

[GARY SMITH] It's soft.

It's very resilient,
and it's antibacterial.

And it also wicks
moisture aware.

Antibacterial, why
is that important?

It's stops it getting smelly.

If I get hot and
sweaty in the bed,

the hemp actually gets rid of
the moisture and the smell?

- Yes.
- Right.

We got-- we got one, two,
three layers of springs.

We got sponge
around the corners.

We got a boulder.

- Is that it?
- No.

Are you pulling my leg?

The princess would never detect
a pea under all this lot,

but unbelievably, there is
still one more layer to go on,

- and that's wool.
- [music playing]

[CHERRY HEALEY] The
wool for our mattresses

is found 22 miles up the
road here at the factory's

farm Hornington Manor.

To get a soft cozy mattress,

you need soft beautiful wool.

Farmer Liam McPartland--

Hi, Liam.
Lovely to meet you.

Nice to meet you, Cherry.

[CHERRY HEALEY] --looks
after a flock of 300 sheep.

What kind of sheep
makes great wool?

These sheep in this field
are a North of England Mule,

which is a cross between
a Blue-faced Leicester ram

and a Swaledale ewe.

They have a very spongy
wool and a fantastic crimp.

What is a crimp?

A crimp is the springiness
in the wool, which

is fantastic for mattresses.

We don't want a limp soft wool,
like what you'd use in clothing.

[CHERRY HEALEY]
This natural crimp

is essential to help the
wool layer in our mattresses

retain its shape and bounce.

So Cherry, these are
the sheep that we're

- going to be clipping today.
- Look at those coats.

They need a haircut, pronto.
How is this going to work?

We'll just walk
the sheep through.

They'll go straight into the
pen ready for the clicker man.

That way. Whoa.
Ooh, off they go.

Whoa, that was so quick.
Wow.

God, bums are wiggling.

- I make a pretty good sheepdog.
- LIAM MCPARTLAND: Fantastic.

Great work.

[CHERRY HEALEY] Shearing
sheep is a specialist job,

so local pro, Chris, is
in charge of the clippers.

So I can see that he's got
a bit of a technique to it.

- What is he doing?
- You can see, Chris's

left hand is pulling
the skin tight,

whilst the right hand moves
the hand piece up the sheep.

[CHERRY HEALEY] Why does the
skin need to be kept tight?

If the skin isn't tight, then
the skin will bunch up like

that, and you could catch it
with the clippers.

[CHERRY HEALEY] Each fleece
is about two and a half

kilos of wool, and it takes
Chris just three minutes

to remove.

In just 45 minutes, we
have 15 freshly shorn sheep

and almost 40 kilos of wool.

I just cannot believe
how much there is.

Isn't fantastic?

It's so incredibly greasy.
What is that?

It's called wool grease,
and it gives the wool

some really amazing properties.

- [CHERRY HEALEY] Like what?
- Well, it's antibacterial.

Bacteria can't grow
on the wool grease.

Right.
So it acts as a natural barrier.

I can also see how
springy and fluffy it is.

You can see the crimp,
if you look closely.

[baaing]

What else is
amazing about wool?

You can't burn wool unless
you have lots of oxygen.

Wool's fire retardant.

And it has high
levels of nitrogen

and water content in it.

And talking to heat,
wool is actually

a fantastic regulator of heat.

It keeps you warm in the
winter and cool in the summer.

[CHERRY HEALEY] There's
no doubt about it,

these farm-fresh fleeces
definitely need a wash.

So they head 30
miles down the road

to Thomas Chadwick and Sons--

Hey.

- -where our wool goes
into the first of five

industrial washing vats.

The first cycle is at a very
toasty 73 degrees Celsius,

which removes stubborn dirt.

Mark Andrews oversees
the operation.

- If I've got a wool jumper--
- MARK ANDREWS: Yeah.

- --if I wash it that hot--
- MARK ANDREWS: Yeah, yeah.

MARK ANDREWS:
They'll shrink, yeah.

[CHERRY HEALEY] So how
are you preventing that?

You're being very careful.

You're not giving
it as much agitation

as you would in a
washing machine.

[CHERRY HEALEY] At the
end of the first wash,

excess water is
squeezed from the wool

before it plunges into a second
bath filled with detergent.

The soap removes contaminants,
such as dirt, sweat,

paint, and the wool grease.

Wool grease, also
known as lanolin,

is a valuable ingredient
used in cosmetics,

industrial lubricants,
and even shoe polish.

So it's filtered from the dirty
water and sent to be refined.

After a third and
final clean, our wool

is ready for the rinse cycle.

With no trace of
farm life remaining,

a brilliant white wool travels
through a 10-meter long blow

dryer, emerging at the other
end wonderfully fluffy.

What an amazing transformation.

Our sheep have been
sheared, washed, blow dried,

and turned into this
amazing, soft, fluffy wool.

I could use a lie
down after that.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] From
farm to factory,

our wool head
straight to fillings

where it's transformed
into the top comfort

layer of our mattresses.

I'm back with Matt to
unload the wool bales

into the blending machine.

[laughing]

I love this.

It's a beautiful
thing, isn't it?

How many sheep do you have
to shear to make one bale?

To make one bale--

280 sheep.

[GREGG WALLACE] The wool
we're feeding into the hopper

is far too dense to
be a soft top layer,

so the fibers are separated
out to give them more bounce.

The wool is picked up by a
conveyor covered in spikes

and carried into a series
of spinning metal combs.

It's a process known as carding.

It's a big comb.
[inaudible]

That's not something I
know a lot about, combs.

As they spin, the metal
teeth detangle and tease

out the tightly
packed fibers creating

a light and fluffy mesh.

Our featherweight fleece fibers
now travel to the cross lapper,

where they are [inaudible]
into five layers.

All this is doing is it's
just layering your web on top

of each other, building
it up, and to make

the first stages of the pad.

[GREGG WALLACE] The wool pad
may be beautifully light,

but it's also very delicate.

To stop it falling apart, some
reinforcement is required.

Matt, it's a bed of nails.

That looks like a
torture instrument.

What have a load of needles
got to do with a soft mattress?

There's 6,000
needles in there.

The needles are penetrating
through the material.

Every one has got
sly barbs in it.

The barbs hold on, and it pulls
back up through the fiber,

so it knits the
product together.

So once it's passed
through, you get this.

[GREGG WALLACE] The end product
is a three-meter wide topper,

which is cut to the standard
king-size specification

of two meters by 1.5.

This now looks completely
different from the wool

that we started with.

It feels very, very different.

My stacking is a bit rubbish.

Practice makes perfect.

I think I need to
take a few of these

around to the next stage.

- Can I grab some?
- Yeah.

Can I grab some of yours
that are better rolled.

Of course you can.
There you go.

[GREGG WALLACE] Three
hours and 21 minutes

since our mattress
production began--

- Hey.
- [inaudible]

- -I'm back with Gary on
the mattress assembly line,

putting the wall pad on.

I cannot believe
there's this many layers

in one of your mattresses.

There's still
another layer yet.

[GREGG WALLACE] The woven
ticking is the final addition.

Just got to pin
this side first.

[GREGG WALLACE] 30
10-centimeter pins

secure the ticking and all the
fillings in place on each side.

That is ludicrous.

It looks all right, but
what does it feel like.

[laughing]

This is a good mattress, mate.

- That works for me.
- [laughing]

Now this lot all needs securing
to the spring core,

which happens
at the tufting press.

Here, strings known as tufts are
threaded through the mattress

and all its layers
to hold it together.

But before all that,
we've got to give

the mattress a serious squeeze.

All right, so we're going
to compress the bed up to 50%.

You spend hours and hours
plumping up the mattress.

Why are you now
squashing it down?

I'm squashing it down because
we have to get a tufting string

in, and the tufting
string is not

long enough to be able to put it
in without it being compressed.

So side buttons, press down.

[GREGG WALLACE] That scares me.
I feel like it's going to rip.

[GARY SMITH] No.
All the time.

[GREGG WALLACE] Once squeezed
down from 25 to just 12.5

centimeters, the press
is turned 90 degrees,

ready for the 20 centimeter tuft
strings to go in.

When the tufts go in, they go
straight through the mattress.

It holds all these
strings in the place.

It holds all your fillings
in place so they don't move,

cause we're human rolling pins.

As we roll over in bed, we
can move those fillings.

These tufts prevent that.

This is your tufting needle.

It's 18 inches.

Has it got to go
all the way through?

It's got to go
all the way through.

[GREGG WALLACE] You've got to
get through 11 layers of bed?

Now we fasten the
tufting side to the hole

and it's spring loaded.

And I'm putting the tuft
string into the center.

- Can I have a go?
- Yeah, of course.

So, you're just holding that
with the tip of your thumb

until it's into the
center of the square.

- [GREGG WALLACE] In there right?
- [GARY SMITH] Yeah.

- Give it a push.
- [GREGG WALLACE] Oh.

[GARY SMITH] There you go.
That's it. Now it's in.

[laughing]
[GREGG WALLACE] Hey.

Tuft master, Wallace.

One more. One more.
One more.

There's something ridiculously
satisfying about spearing

- a fat bed.
- [laughing]

32 tuft strings go into
a king-sized mattress,

each spaced 35 centimeters apart
to spread the tension evenly

across the surface.

- Oh, that's a beauty.
- It's perfect.

[GREGG WALLACE] Tufts in
place, the tuft heads

are the finishing touch.

[laughing]

Well, it was all big
and tough [inaudible]

and now we got these little
fluffy pompoms [inaudible]

- A little tufty bit.
- All right.

Just pulling strings so
[inaudible] is on this side.

Threading through the
plastic loop, pulling,

and just let it go.

[GREGG WALLACE] The wool
tuft heads stop the strings

from being pulled back
through the mattress

when the press is released.

There's no job in this factory
that's too strange, is there?

No.

Squash your mattress
all flat and put

little silky pompoms on it.

Strung up and tufted
on both sides,

the mattress is released.

That's got that kind of
leather Chesterfield look now,

- doesn't it?
- Yeah, it does.

[GREGG WALLACE] Our mattresses
are plumped and primped,

but there's one last flourish--

tape edging.

I'm meeting Mikey
Duff, who's been

adding the finishing
touches to the beds

here for more than 15 years.

- Nice to meet you.
- Hello, Mikey.

- You all right?
- I'm good. I'm good. I'm good.

- So this is our final bit.
- This is your final bit, yeah.

So if Mikey messes up here,
we have to start all over again.

- [GARY SMITH] No pressure.
- I'm panicking.

- I'm shaking over here.
- [laughing]

Don't mess up, Mikey.
This has taken me ages.

I'll try my best.

[GREGG WALLACE] Mikey's job
is to join the ticking,

all the layers of padding,
and the border

into one seamless taped edge.

So what Mikey's got there is
an enormous sewing machine.

And what's that doing?
That is stitching the tape

plus the top and the border

- together.
- Together, yeah.

So hang on, the
most difficult must be

- going around the corner, right?
- Going around corner, yeah.

[GREGG WALLACE] Oh,
neat, the machine comes

around the whole of the bed.

This specialized sewing machine
is mounted on rails

allowing it to be
maneuvered through 360 degrees.

Mikey controls it with his knee.

Pressing down on a paddle stops
the sewing, leaving his hands

free to stretch the
tape around all six

layers of filling and border.

Well, that is
finishing it, isn't it?

[GARY SMITH] Yeah.

[GREGG WALLACE] That is
finishing it beautifully.

It seems to be tightening up the
whole thing, as well, making it

like completely finished shape.

Mikey's machine runs
at an incredible 2,800

stitches per minute.

There's no room for
error at this stage.

- If you do make a mistake--
- You have start over again.

- Rip it out and start again.
- Yeah.

[GREGG WALLACE] Another risk
is that the rapidly moving

needle overheats and snaps.

So it's constantly cooled by
a stream of compressed air.

I reckon it was easier to get
a space rocket to the moon

than it was to make
one of your mattresses.

It is remarkable,
absolutely remarkable.

[music playing]

Three hours and 41 minutes

after our lorry
load of steel rod arrived,

we have a completed mattress.

Thank you.

Beautiful.
There it is.

That's our finished mattress.

You know, I can see the
things on the outside of it,

like the handles
and the stitching,

but no one is going to have
any idea of what's in there.

It's quite remarkable, isn't it?

[GARY SMITH] It is-- beautiful.

Now let's get it wrapped.
Come on.

[music playing]

[GREGG WALLACE] Checked
for the correct number

of handles, vents, and toughs,
we're at our last stop--

distribution,

where I'm meeting factory
owner Simon Spinks.

- Simon.
- Gregg.

- How are you doing?
- Great.

On average, how many
mattresses will go

out of the factory every day?

- 500 to 600, a day.
- Wow.

Is your business
at all seasonal?

[SIMON SPINKS] It is.
We sell a lot of mattresses

during the month of January when
you see all the adverts on TV

for furniture sales.

But also, September when the
nights are getting darker.

We start to nest, ready
to sleep for the winter.

[music playing]

So we're at an end.

Should we put our final
mattress on the truck?

- I think we should.
- Come on.

[music playing]

Oh.
Oh.

- There we go.
- Right.

- Come on.
- Well done.

[GREGG WALLACE] The
mattresses from this factory

are bound for bedrooms all
over the world,

as far afield
as Australia and South Korea.

But back home,
it's the southeast

of England that buys the most.

We all sleep on a
mattress, and we all

know what one looks
like, but how many of us

have actually looked inside
and seen what's in it.

Am I impressed?

I'll tell you what,
I'll sleep on it.

[music playing]