Leggett & Platt expands Comfort Core line

David Perry -- Furniture Today, March 12, 2012

INDIANAPOLIS - Mark Quinn calls it the "ultimate hybrid."
     It's a sleep set that combines popular specialty sleep ingredients like memory foam, gel and latex with the comfort and support of Leggett & Platt's expanding line of fabric-encased Comfort Core innersprings, he says.
     That combination can help producers and consumers cut costs and it can help consumers avoid some of the challenges of specialty sleep beds, according to Quinn, segment vice president of marketing at Leggett & Platt.
     "Specialty sleep is trending heavily in today's market," he said. "But many consumers aren't ready to make the plunge into a mattress wholly created out of materials like visco. They associate these beds with sleeping hot, responding too slowly to movements or being too costly."
     The answer to those problems, he said, is to pair new innerspring designs like L&P's Comfort Core springs with specialty foams.
     At the International Sleep Products Assn. Expo here, Leggett & Platt will unveil four new products in its Comfort Core line: Hi-Low, Combi- Zone, Quantum and Softech Mini. The company believes the new extended Comfort Core line is a good way to battle rising foam costs.
     The new coils, Quinn said, offer manufacturers the opportunity to reduce the amount of fill materials required for mattress creation, a step that Leggett & Platt believes will help lower production costs.
      The new coils were created with customization in mind. The new Combi-Zone and Hi- Low coils offer zoning options of varying diameters, geometries and heights, while the new Quantum coil is a narrow- diameter coil, which allows an increase in coil-count by nearly 200%. And the Softech Mini offers all of the features of the traditional Softech at a smaller 1.5-inch height, ideal for placement in Euro and pillowtop models, Quinn said.
     He said he believes the bedding industry can overcome what he calls some of the stigmas of specialty sleep beds by introducing consumers to hybrid bedding designs.
     Research conducted by Kansas State University and the Institute of Environmental Research shows that innersprings sleep 28% cooler than memory foam beds, according to Quinn. Those findings, combined with the "active response" of Comfort Core coils, can combat consumer fears when it comes to specialty sleep, he said.
     "Comfort Core innersprings last longer than specialty materials," said Quinn. "When put through a Rollator test of 50,000 cycles, our innersprings only saw a 5%-7% loss in firmness, while visco, latex and poly-foam experienced tremendous breakdown rates ranging from 16% to 43%. Alone, these mattresses are lacking. But when paired with Leggett & Platt's Comfort Core innersprings, you can create the ultimate in sleep comfort and reliability."