More than 10,000 athletes from around the globe are in Paris to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games. But before each athlete gets their shot at gold, silver, or bronze, they will rest their head on a bed made of a decidedly less prized material: cardboard.
For the second Summer Games in a row, Olympic Village is outfitted with real bedding and mattresses atop custom-made cardboard bed frames.
“These sustainable beds are 100% made in France and will be fully recycled in France after the Games,” an Olympic spokesperson explained in a recent video showcasing the platform-style frames.
Back when the beds were unveiled at the previous Olympic Games, in Tokyo, rumor had it that they were “anti-sex” beds designed to discourage athlete hookups. That wasn’t true, and in fact, several Olympians shared on social media that the beds were actually rather rugged. On TikTok, for example, members of the US women’s rugby team tested one bed’s mettle by doing yoga on it, skipping across it, and even falling on it with a pro-wrestling “elbow drop” move.
A few days before the 2024 Games, British diver Tom Daley similarly took to TikTok while bouncing on his Olympic bed, illustrating that the frames are sturdy enough to accommodate extracurricular athletic pursuits. He also showed that the beds come with a couple of nice-to-have features, including a headboard and underbed storage space.
So if a cardboard bed is suitable for the world’s most fine-tuned physiques in need of a restful night’s sleep, is it a good choice for everybody else? Since the Olympic beds are not currently available for sale, Wirecutter tested two cardboard beds that are—the Room in a Box Bett 2.0 ($220 for a queen) and the Yona Cardboard Bed ($180 for a queen)—to find out.
We purchased a Yona bed, which I gave to a friend who had recently moved into a new home she had yet to fully furnish. She slept on the frame, with a new innerspring mattress on top, for one week, and then I interviewed her about her experience. Room in a Box sent a Bett 2.0 to Wirecutter’s office in Long Island City, New York, where we tested its assembly, comfort, and durability with a panel of paid testers of various ages and abilities. I also took a nap on the RIAB Bett 2.0 (with a new innerspring mattress on top) and spent time getting in and out of both the Yona and RIAB beds while reading, working on my laptop, and so on.
Both beds are made from corrugated, recycled cardboard, but they boast a design very different from that of the Olympic furniture (more on that below). However, just as the Olympic organizers are pushing for a more eco-friendly event, Yona and RIAB tout cardboard’s sustainability as a key reason that they use the material in their products.
After testing these beds for comfort, sturdiness, and ease of use, we found that cardboard beds aren’t as flimsy as one might assume—but the reasons to buy a cardboard bed largely are. Here’s what these beds are like, and what we think most people are better off with instead.
