Sealy, Simmons poised to turn buyers' heads
By Larry Thomas, Bedding editor -- Furniture Today, October 14, 2001
Although bedding remains a bit player at the High Point market, the industry may create a noticeable blip on buyers' radar screens here this week. This is due largely to major product rollouts by two of the industry's biggest producers, Sealy and Simmons.
Simmons, as we've reported, is renting a hotel ballroom for a two-day showing of its new Beautyrest line, while Sealy is making significant changes to portions of its flagship Posturepedic line and its high-end Stearns & Foster brand.
All eyes will be on Simmons because of the incredible success of the single-sided Beautyrest that debuted about 18 months ago. However, Sealy's newest entries also deserve full attention, since the No. 1 producer is spreading its wings in a couple of new directions.
First, several new models, particularly those being added to the Stearns & Foster line, are considerably softer than anything else previously in the company's line. Both the Stearns & Foster and Sealy Posturepedic lines remain tilted to the firm side, but the new models give retailers a wider variety of firmness levels from which to choose. And that just might give Sealy a way to capture more slots at existing dealers, which surely is one of its goals.
But the most noticeable change in the Sealy showroom is the colorful ticking selected for its new Posturepedic Crown Jewel and Palatial Crest models. While we don't want to overstate the importance of ticking, the fact the fabric contains any color other than white or beige is pretty big news these days.
"We want to make a fashion statement with our luxury products … and we want our products to stand out on the retail floor," said Mark Wozniak, director of marketing for the Sealy brand.
Wozniak noted that strong, bold colors are becoming very popular for comforters, bedspreads and other top-of-the-bed products. As a result, he believes the new ticking will resonate with consumers. "We need to stand out from the sea of beige and white that are on retail floors now," he said.
Retailers who want "exclusive" covers may still be able to get them, but they will have to contain the same color scheme as the one on display in the showroom. In other words, if you like a model with green ticking, the alternative cover choice will be predominately green as well.
Simmons, on the other hand, is sticking with white for its new Beautyrest line. In fact, all models above $899 in queen have solid white ticking made of a terrycloth-like material that stretches.
The company is getting the fabric from a variety of European ticking vendors it is reluctant to name, while Sealy's new fabrics primarily come from Burlington and Culp, the two biggest suppliers of ticking to the U.S. mattress market.
Kurt Ling, vice president of the Beautyrest brand, said Simmons picked the European fabrics primarily because their stretching helps reduce the movement felt by one sleeping partner when the other rolls over.
"They also have an incredibly soft hand," Ling said.
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