For a pillow that can prop you up and keep you cool: consider the Purple Back Cushion, which has that certain je ne sais quoi we’ve seen in its mattresses. It’s made of the same jiggly, gelatinous, gridded substance as Purple’s other pillows and mattresses, which made the small back pillow feel particularly cool to us. The cover, however, won’t fit most chairs well: The single, non-elastic strap is sewn at the very top of the back cushion, which makes it hard to position properly. (It flopped a lot in our testing.) If you don’t mind ignoring the strap altogether and frequently positioning the pillow where you need it to be, this is a good option, especially since you can reverse the gel insert to choose whether to sit against the soft side or the firm side.
