Luxury Beds in Layers
Kluft sees future of high-end mattresses
David Perry -- Furniture Today, September 8, 2011
Earl Kluft stands with the new A 3 design that he predicts will transform the luxury bedding market.
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. - The Wizard of Ahh's has seen the future of luxury mattresses - and it looks a lot like his new A 3 series.
The "A" stands for Aireloom, one of the key lines produced by E.S. Kluft & Co., based here. And the "3" stands for the unique three-tier design of the beds, which feature a foundation, a "middle mattress," and a separate ComfortTop, a reversible pad that offers various comfort options.
"Within five years, all luxury mattresses will have a ComfortTop, a pad on the top of the mattress," declared Earl Kluft, founder and CEO of E.S. Kluft & Co. "With that design we are able to achieve maximum comfort and conformability."
Kluft said the A 3 series, which retails from $4,000 to $7,500 in king, was well received at the recent Las Vegas Market. "Retailers loved the A 3 series," he said. "They said it has a feel they have never felt before."
Kluft said the line offers several advantages. Consumers can customize the comfort feel they want, and couples can use the individual ComfortTop pads to get the exact comfort they want, without affecting the comfort choice of their partner. And that will help reduce comfort returns, a key issue for bedding retailers, Kluft said.
"Many times," he said, "a retailer gets returns because one partner complains about comfort, even though there is nothing defective about the mattress. With this new concept mattress, couples will not have to compromise, and if they decide later they prefer a different comfort experience, they can return and exchange just the top or one side of the middle mattress. The retailer will be able to accommodate them without a full return."
The design offers other advantages for retailers, Kluft said. "The footprint on the showroom floor is economized, as tops can be stored and exchanged easily from a storeroom," he said.
The ComfortTops feature a variety of comfort materials, including cooling Watergel from Italy, Cool Visco and Talalay latex. The most luxurious version features a reversible pad with a Talalay latex core lined with certified organic cotton on one side and certified New Zealand Joma wool on the other, offering options for cooler sleep in summer and warmer sleep in winter.
Kluft said he's so confident in the new technology in the line that his limited warranty insures the mattress against body impressions of over three-quarters of an inch, well below the more common 1.5- inch standard.
The "middle mattresses" come in plush, firm and ultra-firm versions. Constructions include an all-foam design or one featuring heat-treated, individually wrapped springs, natural latex and memory foam.
Special sheets designed to fit the new bed are also offered. Kluft says the new A 3 design was inspired by a trip he took through Europe earlier this year.
"My travels across Europe were very inspiring," he said. "I have long admired what the European bedding brands have been able to achieve in design and function, but they always lacked the structure of American bedding. The A 3 takes European innovation and combines it with E.S. Kluft's superior designs and technology, bringing together the best of both worlds. There will be nothing like it in the market."
Kluft plans to apply the A 3 three-tier design to all of the Kluft Aireloom lines in at least one model in each collection. And the company's high-end models, including the Palais Royale, will also be fitted with a ComfortTop.
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