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DreamFit's pillow comfort index is on the ball

By David Perry -- Furniture Today, January 28, 2007

Vinemont, Ala. — What weighs eight pounds and is helping one sleep accessory producer define comfort in pillows?

Answer: A bowling ball.

And that bowling ball also happens to represent the average weight of the human head, according to officials at DreamFit, based here. They are using a bowling ball in their new Comfort Support Index, designed to help consumers find the pillow that is just right for them.

DreamFit has a pilot test of the new CSI program at this week's Las Vegas market, where it is showing in the Pavilions, P-30504. The CSI is a work in progress, admits Bob Pearce, director of sales and marketing, but it's one that he's excited about.

"This program offers the consumer a reference point to make a wiser pillow decision," Pearce said. "Consumers have closets full of pillows that don't work for them. We want them to buy the right pillow the first time."

Here's how the program works: Company officials place an eight-pound bowling ball in the center of the pillow. Then they measure the level of indentation caused by the pillow.

For example, if a pillow with a thickness of six inches is compressed by the bowling ball to three inches, the CSI would be 50, representing a 50% indentation from the original height of the pillow.

What that means, Pearce said, is that the lower the CSI value, the firmer the pillow. The higher the CSI value, the softer the pillow, he said.

DreamFit currently offers a line of seven pillows, one made from Italian memory foam, three from engineered fibers, and three from feathers.

The memory foam pillow has a CSI score of 22, while a feather pillow scores 34 and a down pillow scores 44.

That system will help consumers find the type of pillow best suited to their sleep positions, Pearce said.

"As a general rule," he said, "firmer or lower-value CSI pillows are preferred by side sleepers and higher value or softer pillows are more often used by back or stomach sleepers."

The CSI program takes some of the guesswork out of finding the right pillow, according to Pearce. He said it provides a scientific basis to compare pillows.

"This is a more cerebral approach to help consumers get it right the first time."

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