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Bedding boosts biz with product, promos

By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, October 14, 2001

Sizeable rollouts

HIGH POINT — Although the bedding industry appears headed for its worst year in nearly two decades, the handful of producers who maintain showrooms here are trying to boost business with a variety of product introductions and marketing efforts.

Producers say that, while it's important for dealers to have effective products and promotions in place for the inevitable rebound, such efforts can also pay off in the short term with the smaller numbers of consumers who are shopping for bedding these days.

Specialty sleep producers make up the majority of bedding showrooms remaining in High Point, but the two largest product rollouts awaiting dealers this time are from Sealy and Simmons — two of the biggest conventional mattress makers.

Sealy is making significant changes to its Posturepedic Crown Jewel line, while Simmons is unveiling the second generation of its successful single-sided Beautyrest design.

The Crown Jewel changes affect models at $1,099 to $2,099. They include an enhanced edge support system and ticking fabrics in several new colors. Sealy officials say the new fabrics are groundbreaking because the industry has been dominated by white and very light beige covers in recent years.

Sealy's Stearns & Foster brand also should generate considerable attention with several new models at market. New entries include a top-of-the-line model at $4,999 in queen that has exotic cushioning materials such as latex foam and cashmere fiber. The cashmere is blended with DuPont's Comforel synthetic fiber.

Simmons is returning to market but only in a temporary space for two days. The company will use that time to officially unveil its revamped Beautyrest line, which will begin shipping to dealers in November.

Simmons officials are hoping to build on the success of the first generation of single-sided Beautyrest, which was unveiled in early 2000 and propelled the company to double-digit sales and market-share gains.

The new line will be on display in a ballroom at the Grandover Hotel on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 19 and 20.

Sizeable rollouts

Also coming to market with a sizeable conventional bedding rollout is United Sleep Products. The company, which also is a major futon mattress manufacturer, is adding seven sleep sets with a high-profile 336-coil innerspring unit, as well as three single-sided mattresses cushioned with Stylex foam.

United's futon unit is unveiling a marketing program called Dream Box, in which a dealer can get a futon frame, mattress, cover and pillows in a single carton.

Another major innerspring introduction is available from Bemco, which is debuting an upper-end mattress with coil-on-coil construction. The unit, at $1,499 in queen, features a Marshall Coil innerspring unit with a foam perimeter.

Specialty sleep producers Boyd, Classic and Comfortaire (see accompanying story at right) also have major product rollouts at market.

Boyd, which produces air, water and foam mattresses, is adding a latex foam model at $1,799 in queen. The new model, named Pacific Latex, features a foam core with varying densities to support different parts of the body.

Classic is unveiling a European-style slat bed that features adjustable lumbar support, but looks like a traditional box spring. It is available with a memory foam or latex foam mattress.

Wolf Bedding, which is moving to a new showroom on the sixth floor of the International Home Furnishings Center, is introducing several futon mattresses cushioned with Aerolife (see story below), a new fiber that blends natural cotton and synthetic fiber construction elements.

Classic's European-style slat bed allows for adjustable lumbar support in a multitude of positions.

Boyd Specialty Bedding's Pacific Latex mattress features a foam core that is "zoned" to support different areas of the body.

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Specialty sleep products likely to stay hot

Dec 22, 2004

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