Therm-a-Rest

Company type	Private, subsidiary
Industry	Outdoor equipment manufacturing
Founded	1972; 52 years ago (1972)
Founder	John Burroughs, Jim Lea, Neil Anderson
Headquarters	Seattle, WA, United States
Products	Camp Chairs, Cots, Pillows, Camp Quilts, Sleeping bags, Sleeping pads
Parent	Cascade Designs
Website	www.thermarest.com/home

Therm-a-Rest is an American outdoor product company specializing in camping mattresses, sleeping bags, camp chairs, cots, and pillows. Therm-a-Rest began as a line of self-inflating camping mattresses, invented in the early-1970s by two former Boeing engineers and avid backpackers. The company was initially named Cascade Designs, which is now the parent company of Therm-a-Rest^[1] and other outdoor brands.

Product

A Therm-a-Rest self-inflating mattress consists of an airtight nylon fabric envelope filled with a sheet of low density, open-cell polyurethane foam. When a valve is opened the foam expands and draws air into the mattress. When the mattress has fully inflated, the user simply closes the valve. To increase firmness a few breaths of air can be blown into the mattress. To pack the mattress the valve is opened and it is rolled up tightly to force the air out, whereupon the valve is closed to prevent re-inflation.^{[citation needed]}