Belgium's Latexco ramps up U.S. latex production
Serving growing base of bedding sources
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, November 23, 2008
LAVONIA, Ga. — With firm footholds on both coasts of the United States, Latexco has ramped up production of its latex bedding products. And business is good, despite a sluggish sales climate in the mattress arena, company officials say.
Latexco, based in Belgium, is one of the world's largest latex producers. It is making steady progress on its U.S. growth strategy, according to the company.
“The U.S. is a really big growth market,” said Vincent Gesquiere, general manager and executive vice president of Latexco's U.S. operations. “We are experiencing 40% growth this year. In this economic climate, that is really good. We are adding new customers as more latex programs are launched.”
Latexco, one of three companies pouring latex mattress products in the United States, is helping to launch those new programs with its breadth of new products, including innovative combinations of latex and other foams, Gesquiere said.
Gesquiere, 32, is a 10-year veteran with Latexco and a native of Belgium. He is based out of the Lavonia facility, and has lived in the United States for nearly three years.
Natural latex is an important selling point of Latexco's U.S. product line. Its U.S. latex blends consist of more than 50% natural latex, harvested from rubber trees in the Far East. Natural latex offers a “comfortable, luxurious fee,” Gesquiere said.
The company's U.S. latex offering includes pillows, toppers and mattress cores. All are produced using “the Latexco process,” an improved version of the dunlop latex production process, in which latex is produced in a molded process for pillows and mattress cores and in a continuous pouring process for toppers, Gesquiere said. He said that Latexco produces its dunlop latex foam under tightly controlled conditions that yield consistent, high-quality products providing “the optimal balance between support and a soft hand.”
Latexco's expanding U.S. operations include its latex-pouring facility in Lavonia, which recently celebrated its first year of latex production. The plant makes latex foam toppers that are used in innerspring and specialty sleep beds. It also does foam fabrication, in which layers of latex foam and other foams are bonded to create a variety of mattress constructions.
The company's Sleep Comp West facility in Los Angeles, acquired from bedding veteran Steve Antinori in 2006, also does foam fabrication work. It also serves as a distribution center, as does the Lavonia facility.
Latexco's mattress cores are shipped to the U.S. from the company's headquarters facility in Tielt, Belgium, a state-of-the-art factory of more than 500,000 square feet. The company also has a foam-pouring plant in Spain.
Acceptance of the company's product lines is growing in the U.S., officials said. Gesquiere noted that Latexco currently supplies eight of the Top 10 bedding producers with latex products.
“We have custom-made programs for several bedding manufacturers,” he said. “We are taking latex to the next level. We are not just selling blocks of foam. We are here to make latex the way our customers want it to be made.”
The future of latex is bright, Gesquiere believes. “I really believe in latex,” he said. “At the last International Sleep Products Assn. show (held this past March), a lot of my customers said that latex could be the new kid in town. They said latex could be the next growth category.”
The fact that industry sales leader Sealy has a latex program and is now pouring its own latex in the U.S. is a plus for the category, Gesquiere said.
“Sealy has always been an advocate of latex,” he said. “When you have the No. 1 mattress manufacturing pushing latex, the rest of the industry will look at it.”
He figures that latex core sleep sets have about a 3% share in the U.S., a far cry from the 15% to 20% share the category commands in Europe. That means the segment has plenty of growth potential. “The availability of the product is increasing in the U.S.,” Gesquiere noted.
And that's good news for Latexco.
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