Select Comfort offers Sleep Number pillows

Retail for $90 to $190, depending on materials

David Perry -- Furniture Today, September 23, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS — Select Comfort, which has found a niche in the mattress market with its Sleep Number bed, is expanding that concept with a new line of upper-end, customizable pillows.

The airbed producer and retailer has launched its Sleep Number Pillow(ology) program, which lets consumers create their "perfect pillow experience." The pillows retail from $90 to $190, depending on which materials consumers choose to use in them.

While the company's Sleep Number bed relies on adjustable air chambers to enable consumers to customize their comfort, the new Sleep Number Pillow(ology) program gives consumers choices of materials in the outer comfort and inner support sections of the pillow, as well as in pillow protectors.

The result, according to company officials, is a better night's sleep.

"Finally," said Pete Bils, Select Comfort's senior director of sleep innovation and clinical research, "there's a program that gives unhappy pillow owners and shoppers a way to get exactly what they want in a pillow for a better night's sleep. Every part of the pillow is customizable and exclusive to Sleep Number. For example, you can create one pillow that's a combination of a down pillow, contour pillow and foam pillow, and there are special fabrics for allergy sufferers and people who tend to sleep warm at night."

The new line of pillows is available at Sleep Number by Select Comfort stores and online at www.sleepnumber.com.

Consumers who visit that Web site are presented with "three simple steps" to create their perfect pillow:

• Choose the outer comfort shell. Options are: down, a down alternative, memory foam, and anti-microbial silver.

• Choose the inner support core: down, a down alternative, feathers, memory foam classic, memory foam contour, and anti-microbial silver.

• Choose the pillow protector to extend the life of the pillow: cotton, anti-microbial silver and In Balance fabric, designed to reduce body temperature swings.

As consumers make their choices, the price of their pillow is revealed. Choose a memory foam outer shell in standard size, for example, and a price of $79.99 pops up. Adding a down inner support core adds $49.99 and brings the price to $129.98. And picking a silver pillow protector adds $29.99, taking the price to $159.97.

Details of each of the comfort and support options are included so that consumers can make informed choices and pick the pillow best suited to their needs.

The new program gives the pillow its due, according to Select Comfort officials. They say the program gives consumers a simple way to end the "constant search" for a comfortable bed pillow.

According to the National Sleep Foundation's Healthy Sleep Tips, a comfortable pillow is just as important as a comfortable, supportive mattress. Industry statistics reveal that 62% of adult Americans purchased a new bed pillow in the last year, and 54% plan to buy another pillow in the next year.