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Spring Air resigns from ISPA

Says organization doesn’t meet members’ needs

David Perry -- Furniture Today, April 1, 2008

ELK GROVE VILLAGE, Ill. — Spring Air, the sixth largest U.S. bedding producer, has resigned its membership in the International Sleep Products Assn., effective today.

The company cited unhappiness with a number of ISPA’s policy decisions.

“After careful consideration,” said Bob Hellyer, Spring Air’s CEO, “we do not believe ISPA leadership is effectively representing the needs of its members or properly managing its budget.”

ISPA disputed that assessment, saying that it is working effectively for its members.

Spring Air’s departure means that half of the industry’s six largest producers are no longer ISPA members. Sealy, the industry’s leading producer, and Serta, the No. 3 producer, both resigned their ISPA memberships early in 2005 and have not rejoined. Components giant Leggett & Platt also resigned from ISPA in 2005, but rejoined the association last year.

Hellyer wrote a letter to Dick Doyle, ISPA’s president and CEO, to say Spring Air was resigning from ISPA. Hellyer released the letter to Furniture/Today.

“The bedding industry needs a strong voice in Washington to represent us to Congress, the executive branch and the regulatory community,” Hellyer wrote. “By one example, we were not well served by ISPA’s lobbying efforts on behalf of (the federal mattress flammability standard), which continues to wreak havoc on our industry. Likewise, the flood of Asian imports represents a significant challenge to U.S. manufacturers and the association has been weak in addressing this issue.

“Instead of providing strong lobbying and advocacy on issues like these,” Hellyer continued, “ISPA is busy flying retailers on junkets to Florida and contemplating a $100 million consumer advertising campaign.”

Doyle, in a response to Hellyer's release to Furniture/Today, challenged those points.

“You cited our government advocacy as one area of concern,” Doyle wrote. “I can tell you from my many years in Washington that there are few if any other associations that have been as effective as we have been in working with the Consumer Product Safety Commission on (the federal FR standard).… With your direct involvement as a member of our board and as our vice chairman we were able to address a very challenging situation in a reasonable and effective manner.”

Responding to the issue of retailers joining an ISPA meeting in Florida earlier this year, Doyle wrote: “You should be aware that the retailers paid for their own transportation and lodging to attend the Mattress Industry Leadership Summit last month. We had an engaging full day session with the nine major retailer executives that participated, and all agreed our efforts will go far to expand the market for new mattress sales. They also agreed that we can do far more collectively than any individual manufacturer or retailer could ever hope to do on its own.”

Hellyer said in his letter that the decision to leave ISPA was a painful one for him and his leadership team. “As you know, my great-grandfather and father were both past presidents of the predecessor organization to ISPA and I have served as a vice chairman,” he said. “However, we could not justify our continued involvement at this time because of the way the organization is moving.”

Hellyer said Spring Air will “look at new ways in which we will invest our ISPA membership dollars to support effective advocacy of our industry’s needs in Washington.”

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Spring Air resigns from ISPA

Apr 6, 2008

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