Why Kapok?

The original TRIBE Bolsters were filled with organic wool that had undergone minimal scouring to ensure that our bolsters were as healthy as possible. Bales would arrive but there was no consistency in the quality of the wool as sheep get sheared at different times of the year so the length of the wool varied and that meant some bales were lumpier than others. Minimal scouring also resulted in the wool still having thistles, twigs and dare we say it, little bits of poo in it!  Some customers would complain about the 'sheepy' smell. Wool filled bolsters weigh around 4kg each when well packed which makes them difficult to manoeuvre as well as expensive to ship our customers.

The second generation of TRIBE bolsters moved on to organic cotton batting from India. This proved cheaper, lighter and a lot less smelly, but we noticed that these bolsters flattened down very quickly. So your round bolster turned into a pancake bolster after only a short time. The shipping distance from India to New Zealand and Australia where most of our customers are based was also a concern.

Then came the discovery of the most beautiful, natural fibre - kapok - grown sustainably in Indonesia (a few less shipping miles to get it here!). The third and current generation of TRIBE bolsters was born.

It's like touching silk. Light, fluffy, odorless and clean.

A fully packed kapok bolster is under 2kgs, nearly half that of a wool bolster.

Kapok has no nutritional value so it doesn't attract insects or any other life form, and hence no pesticide or insecticide is used, plus, it requires very little water, so no irrigation either!

Quite possibly the perfect bolster filling.