David Perry

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Dual licensing poses challenge

How would you feel about letting one of your competitors sit in on one of your planning meetings? Welcome to the world of dual licensing in the mattress arena, where that very thing happens on a regular basis. I’m working on a story on the challenges of dual licensing (in which one bedding producer partners with two different licensing groups), but wanted to throw the issue out to... More

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Barragan remembers good times

It was not an easy interview for either of us, but it was far harder for my subject, Napoleon Barragan. How, I asked him, was he coping with yet another death in his family and his business challenges? “To deal with the future,” he said, “you have to remember the past.” There have been some good times to remember, Barragan said. He recalled special family times... More

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Whining about competitors not productive

We know the set-up: Mattress sales are down as the industry suffers through another brutal year. Mattress companies are trimming costs. Consumers don’t have much appetite for a new mattress. In short, times are tough. This is a time, I think you would agree, that mattress producers need to be on top of their games. But I see something else happening, something that isn’t... More

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Mattress consumers looking for deals

And the winners are $599 and $699. Those were the leading prices touted by two top bedding retailers in ads for those all-important Fourth of July sales earlier this month. And they underscore a basic fact about these tough times: Consumers are looking for good deals. The $599 price was for a Sealy ultra-plush pillow-top queen set, and that was a closeout price, said the Mattress Firm ad.... More

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CPSC's FR enforcement record not impressive

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is not impressing too many people in the mattress industry with its seemingly lax enforcement of the federal mattress flammability standard. And that is a shame. The FR law, which went into effect in July 2007, was among the most expensive regulations ever enacted by the agency. It took effect after years of study and work by the mattress industry,... More