Your comment has inspired me to make a 'sheet disruption' company called Who Gives A Sheet. Sheets will be reversible and for every set of sheets purchased, we'll give a sheet to someone that needs one.

I will be your first customer. Egyptian Cotton, high thread count, bright white. Thanks.

And yours for me to make one specialising in waterproof ones called "Three Sheets to the Wind"

Love the visual of a crowd of happy customers, children included, shouting "We gave a sheet!"

Even before that, start making mattresses flippable again.

But a flippable + rotatable mattress means it could last decades, so of course it won't happen.

I was just discussing this with the owner of an independent mattress/furniture store in Seattle (Bedrooms and More in Wallingford). He is now refusing to carry non-flippable mattresses because he finds them to be too wasteful.

That's pretty cynical. High-end mattresses are generally intended to last decades--and whether they need to be rotated depends on the material.

The mattress I own now is non-flippable, and came with a 20 year warranty.

With strechy jersey sheets with deep sides, it doesn't matter if you apply them 90-degrees rotate.

The last time I had stretchy jersey sheets, they didn't hold up well at all. I'm wondering if that's a problem with them in general, or if I just bought crappy sheets.

Wouldn't you then have to worry about fitted bedsheets and comforters?

Absolutely, you would have to get new bedsheets, comforters, and beds to support the new form factor, but if it means replacing the mattress every n*2 years instead of every n, I'll come out ahead in the long term.

Throw in one pair of sheets for free. Most people have more than one, but by giving away one pair you can avoid the initial friction, then if the mattress company ALSO sells sheets you can play both sides. Create demand for a product you supply.

You would also need to change the entire ecosystem: if you use standard mattresses, then you can leverage the existing supply of sheets etc. Which is not to say it's a bad idea, but I imagine there's much more involved.

You could sell the custom sized mattress at cost, but then charge a premium for the sheets. That way you make money off of the sheets, which wear out more quickly than a mattress anyways.

Edit: I'm joking...

Patent the square sheet form factor and you can lock out competitors and/or get hefty licensing fees. (as well as method and application of turning a sheet 90 degrees to hide coffee spots under pillows that you will then license at no cost to buyers of your brand of sheets while suing buyers of competitor's sheets)

Square with rounded corners of course...