Mark these special dates on your bedding calendar
David Perry, Executive editor -- Furniture Today, January 20, 2003
If you're serious about the bedding business, it's time for you to pull out your 2003 calendar and mark a few special dates.
Let's start with Feb. 17. That's when we will publish a special mattress flammability supplement that will give you the basic information you need to understand this complex and critical issue. Having spent the last week or so gathering information for this project, we've seen the importance of education.
For example, we were talking to one producer about the cost of complying with California's stringent new open-flame standards, which go into effect Jan. 1, 2004. Will you be applying flame-resistant materials to the mattress and the box spring? I asked. The producer wasn't sure.
No knock on that producer, but that's a big question he must answer. (Some suppliers say producers should put flame-resistant, or FR, materials in the box spring.)
To help meet the industry's information needs, we will provide a primer on mattress flammability in our Feb. 17 supplement. We'll give you answers, in layman's terms, to basic questions. We'll define the key terms on the flammability front. We'll give you a timeline of the major developments. And we'll introduce you to more than a dozen companies offering FR products. We believe this will be the most comprehensive and useful FR directory available.
The next key date to circle on your calendar is Feb. 24. That's when the second installment of our new bedding feature, Bedding Benchmarks, will run. I described the aims of that feature in its first installment last week. But I want to briefly discuss it in this space too.
Bedding Benchmarks, which will run 13 times this year, is a roundup of bedding news. It won't replace any of the bedding coverage you have come to expect in Furniture/Today; it's being added to put even more bedding news in the spotlight.
We welcome your news items for Bedding Benchmarks, whether you're a retailer, producer or supplier. If you don't send us news about your company, don't complain when your competitors get more ink than you do.
In addition to Feb. 24, Bedding Benchmarks will run March 31, April 28, May 5, June 2, June 16, July 7, Aug. 25, Sept. 8, Oct. 6, Nov. 3 and Dec. 1.
Finally, circle March 2–4. Those are the dates of the 2003 Futon and Specialty Sleep Expo in Las Vegas. This vibrant category is attracting lots of attention, thanks to the success (and marketing savvy) of companies such as Select Comfort and Tempur-Pedic.
Hotel rooms in Las Vegas are filling up fast, show officials tell me. Call Circus Circus at (800) 634-3450 (show identifier is D02 FUTN) or the Sahara at (888) 696-2121.
You also can check the Futon Assn. International's Web site, www.futon.org, or call Expo Manager Tambra Jones at (559) 868-4184. I'll see you in Las Vegas.
