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Softer, plusher mattresses prove hard to ignore

By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, October 28, 2001

HIGH POINT — Mattresses made softer by a variety of foam and fiber cushioning attracted the lion's share of attention in bedding showrooms this market.

While few producers abandoned the concrete-like firmness levels that dominated many lines only a few years ago, such models clearly took a back seat to more plush versions — especially at the upper end of the price spectrum.

Producers say the plush models make it easier for retailers to sell their products on the basis of providing a better night's sleep. They say that often makes price an issue of lesser importance during the sales presentation.

"This whole trend is a very healthy one for the industry," said John Ross, vice president of sales and marketing at specialty bedding producer Halcyon/Waterspring. "It has helped our company's growth tremendously."

Plush bedding took on special importance at Sealy Inc.'s Stearns & Foster line, whose product introductions included a five-model lineup of plush pillowtop models. The new models, called the Pillowtouch collection, are the softest mattresses to date in what has been a firm bedding lineup. Retail price points range from $1,699 to $2,599 in queen.

"We felt we needed to expand our lineup to give our dealers a wider range of firmness levels," said Jim Ross, Stearns & Foster marketing manager. "And the response was fabulous. A lot of retailers were real excited about this."

Not only are the mattresses the most plush in the Stearns line, they feature colorful pastel ticking — a drastic change from the white and beige ticking that dominates the mattress market today.

"Our research shows that women really love this. It's very fashion oriented," Ross said of the color selections.

Kingsdown, which in recent years has focused on plush, upper-end bedding, also reported positive dealer reaction to its newest models, while specialty sleep producers such as Strobel Technologies, Boyd Specialty Bedding, Classic and Comfortaire said they continue to get good placement on a wide variety of plush foam, air and watermattresses.

"Thursday (the official opening day of market) was the biggest market day in the history of the company," said David Tenuta, Kingsdown's vice president of marketing. "We had dealers in here all day."

Tom Dolack, national sales manager at Classic, said dealers were especially enthusiastic about a latex foam mattress that could be used with an European-style slat system as the foundation.

"This is a potential profit center that many retailers have never thought about before," he said of the slat system. "The demographics for this product will be at the peak for the next 10 years."

United Sleep Products, which opened a new showroom in the Independence Hall building, also had positive reaction to a new mattress featuring a Reflex foam core topped with two inches of Visco-elastic memory foam.

"We're very, very pleased with what this product has done for us," said Paul Sullivan, executive vice president. "This is target marketing. No more shotguns."

Officials at Bemco reported good reaction to an innerspring model with memory foam cushioning, while Wolf Bedding had good feedback on a new cotton cushioning material called Aerolife.

Wolf Bedding President Tony Wolf said Aerolife cotton is processed so that the material is more resilient and more durable than traditional cotton cushioning. Initially, the material is available with the company's futon mattresses, but future uses could include innerspring mattress cushioning.

"Every (futon mattress) dealer who came into our showroom has converted to Aerolife," Wolf said. "The reception was just great."

Simmons, which rented a Grandover Hotel ballroom for a two-day showing of its new Beautyrest line, also said it received considerable positive feedback on the new models, which cover firmness levels ranging from extra plush to extra extra firm.

"Traffic was steady throughout the day," said Don Hofmann, senior vice president of marketing. "Most of our big dealers were here."

Hofmann and other executives acknowledged, however, that overall market traffic was light. The secret to keeping showroom reasonably busy, they said, was making appointments in advance of market. Those who relied on walk-in traffic had lots of free time on their hands, according to producers.

"We made a lot of phone calls, e-mails and faxes before market to get people here," said Steve Bennethum, vice president of sales at Strobel Technologies, a producer of watermattresses and foam bedding. "And we have to maximize the (sales) opportunities we do have."

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Specialty sleep products likely to stay hot

Dec 22, 2004

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