Kluft wins press attention for luxury bedding line
David Perry -- Furniture Today, November 25, 2010
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. - Earl Kluft was in his element here, showing an NBC News producer how he puts the luxury into luxury bedding.
The producer, working on a segment for the "Today Show," spent hours filming Kluft's craftsmen here as they assembled high-ends beds at the company's expanding campus.
It was yet another day in the media spotlight for Kluft, who is riding a wave of attention in the consumer press. A while back, The Wall Street Journal featured Kluft in a piece that included a quarter-page look inside his $33,000 top-of-the-line sleep set, the Palais Royale. There were also recent appearances on TV shows in Los Angeles and New York.
And all of that media attention is good for business, according to Kluft, president of E.S. Kluft & Co., which makes the Aireloom and E.S. Kluft lines of bedding.
"We've seen a spike in our better business in our Beyond Luxury category," Kluft said. "There has been a definite uptick in business because of all the publicity."
Since the Wall Street Journal article appeared in mid- June, Kluft has sold dozens of the $33,000 Palais Royale sleep sets. That's a brisk sales pace for such a high-priced bed.
There have been a number of spikes in Kluft's business this year.
In fact, business has been so good that Kluft has expanded his operations here, adding 40,000 square feet of production space to the 127,000 square feet under roof at the company's main facility in an industrial park. The new facility, which is devoted to box spring production, is just across the street from Kluft's original facility, and it's a tangible sign that his business is on the ascent. Few bedding producers have been adding to their factories in recent years.
Kluft said there's a key reason behind the company's growth.
"It's the diversity of products we produce. We make so many different and specialized products," he said. "We are the antithesis of the homogenized approach followed by other bedding producers. We can't use the same 20 ingredients in every bed we make. We have triple the ingredients of other bedding producers."
While sales of high-end beds are on the upswing, Kluft is doing more business at what he calls "more promotional price points." That would mean $399 or $499 beds for many producers, but for Kluft it means beds retailing from $899 to $1,200. That's how the company is broadening its appeal in response to a market that has turned downward in recent years.
"The market at under $1,000 has become extremely important," Kluft said.
E.S. Kluft also is enjoying strong sales at price points over $2,000, including prices above $30,000, where Kluft is currently the only U.S. producer with an offering.
"We are trying to get the consumer to spend as much as they can on the mattress," Kluft said. "A good mattress is more important than anything. We want consumers to spend their money where it will do them the most good - on their mattress. Your health is the most important thing you have. We want consumers to be refreshed in the morning."
Kluft bemoans "the race to the bottom" in pricing that he says many in the industry are following.
"That's bad for the manufacturer, it's bad for the store and it's bad for the consumer," he said. "The consumer is getting a mattress that is not good enough for them. I want to do the opposite. I want to make sure the consumers make the best investment they can."
The best-selling retail price point at E.S. Kluft is a lofty $2,499.
"I don't think we have any competition on fit, finish and feel," Kluft said. "A lot of people are trying to do what we do, but when you lay on their beds they don't have the feel of ours. Our feels are substantial, because we use high quality materials and we know how to make beds that deliver a better night of sleep."
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