Licensee Cameron Bedding expects to stay with new Spring Air entity

By David Perry

CAMERON, S.C. — Spring Air's long-time licensee here, Cameron Bedding, expects to play a role as a new entity called Spring Air International works to relaunch the brand, officials of the licensee said.

Wes Price, president of Cameron Bedding, said that his company doesn't seek to draw attention to itself, “but our mindset going forward is very aggressive. We intend to be around for many years to come as a Spring Air licensee and/or whatever brand might come our way, but right now we are focused on making beds of quality and providing our customers the best product and service in the industry.”

The company is in this city about 40 miles south of Columbia, S.C. (Furniture/Today incorrectly reported in its May 11 issue that the company was based in Beaufort, S.C.)

Price is one of three brothers in the fourth generation of Cameron Bedding & Mfg. Co., which has been in business since 1895 and is the oldest bedding manufacturer in South Carolina, he said. He works with his brothers Dave and Bill in the business, and his uncle, John Wesner III, chairman, remains active in the company.

“We are the oldest charter Spring Air licensee, from 1928, and the only one to remain in the same family for that time,” Wes Price said.

He added that Cameron Bedding has been “up in sales this year and will continue to grow as the details of Spring Air's future emerge.”

He added that the company plans to open another facility, this one in Georgia, in the near future.

“The demand for Spring Air is growing so fast that we are producing more beds than ever,” he said. “We are now shipping the majority of the Southeast. These are very exciting times and all customers new and old are very excited about the Spring Air brand being available again.”

Former Spring Air companies in Ch. 7

By David Perry and Larry Thomas

WILMINGTON, Del. — Consolidated Bedding and its affiliated entities, which operated as Spring Air across the country, have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation here.

Officials of a new company working to relaunch the Spring Air brand, Spring Air International LLC, said the filing is not expected to affect their plans.

The filing sheds some light on the abrupt shutdown of Spring Air's nine corporate plants and headquarters in early May. It said that Consolidated Bedding and each of the Spring Air subsidiaries “have been running at an operational loss for at least the last year,” and said the companies had undertaken “several strategic initiatives in an attempt to address these losses, including closures of some of their facilities and reductions in force.”

It also said that the company had been seeking strategic alternatives, including identifying potential purchasers. The filing said that The Riverside Co., a financial firm, had previously made an offer to buy the company “but subsequently elected not to purchase substantially all of the assets of the business for approximately $8 million and continue operations at the subsidiaries' Ohio and Texas facilities.”

Former Spring Air officials said the collapse of the talks with Riverside led to the decision to cease operations of the Spring Air corporate facilities.

The Spring Air companies separately filed a total of 20 Chapter 7 petitions in bankruptcy court here. They did not list liabilities, but each of the filings said that estimated liabilities were $50,000 or less.

One of the filings in the case says the debtors “have sold substantially all of their assets and ceased their business operations.” The new Spring Air entity, Spring Air International LLC, said it has purchased the global rights to Spring Air's intellectual property.

After Spring Air shut its corporate-owned plants, the company's three U.S. and two Canadian licensees have continued to operate.

The filings include these entities: Consolidated Bedding, Ackerman Mfg. Co., Alabama Bedding Mfg., American Bedding Inds., Associated Trucking Co., Atlas Bedding Mfg., Chattam & Wells, Nature's Rest, Nature's Rest Marketing, Spring Air Bedding Co., Spring Air California – Deluxe Bedding Co., Spring Air Mattress Co., Spring Air Mattress Co. of Colorado, Spring Air Mountain West, Spring Air Partners-California, Spring Air Partners-New Jersey, Spring Air Partners-North America, Spring Air Partners-Texas, Spring Air West and the Spring Air Co.

Robinson: Spring Air to focus on local markets

By David Perry

The new president of the new Spring Air says he wants to return the company to its licensing roots, with a twist.

Rick Robinson, just named president of Spring Air International LLC, the new entity that controls the Spring Air brand around the world, says the producer will aim to build its business one market at a time. That local focus helped build Spring Air into the bedding power it once was, he said.

Robinson said his primary objectives are to “return the company to the locally focused, successful licensing entity that it was for most of its 83 years.” But the twist on that home-cooking recipe is what Robinson sees as a new business model that is far more “licensee-centric” than the former business model.

“Although technically operating as a licensing organization, at Spring Air International it will not be 'business as usual,'” Robinson promised.

Some of the new wrinkles of the new Spring Air will include a small corporate staff and office space, somewhere in the Boston area, a “substantially reduced” fee structure, and plans to refuse corporate rebates from suppliers, Robinson said. In addition, the company will develop new product designs at the licensee level and will forgo an in-house research and development center in favor of independent performance testing.

Those are some of the steps that will differentiate Spring Air from similarly sized licensing groups, according to Robinson.

“We intend to develop cutting-edge marketing, manufacturing and sales services for our licensees and their retailers, while enabling licensees to deliver maximum quality and value to their customers,” he said.

Licensees outside the United States, of which there are nine, will play an important role. “We will deliver the programs and interaction that are important to our global partners, as well as include them in our domestic marketing planning process,” Robinson said.

He asserted that Spring Air knows what kind of company it will be — and what kind of company it will not be.

“Our company will be rooted in the concept of a shared vision,” Robinson said. “My focus will be on facilitating sales and profit opportunities for our licensees, and on increasing the equity in the rich heritage of Spring Air brands.”

Given the tumultuous manner in which Spring Air abruptly ceased operations in early May, the company faces challenges in regaining lost business. Robinson said he understands those challenges, but sees a positive outcome.

“We're certain that the Spring Air name and products will have a solid foothold in the mattress landscape, and our licensees will have the tools to maximize and grow that foothold in each of their markets,” he said.