A Memorable Experience; Viscoelastic Foam Dominates Tupelo Mattress Offerings.
TUPELO, Miss.-"Visco" was the operative word for bedding
exhibitors during the recent Tupelo Furniture Market.
And with its abundance of regional companies, licensees, national
manufacturers and specialty bedding providers, the market offered a bevy of bedding choices for retailers.
The prices for viscoelastic memory foam, once reserved for
luxury-level bedding, have crept downward and were attractive enough to
keep most bedding showrooms busy when other categories were crying for
clients.
Sleeptronic Inc., based in Dallas, unveiled its first all-foam
mattress. That model, Heavenly Mystique, has a 4-inch layer of
viscoelastic foam with 6 inches of polyurethane foam as a base and
retails at about $799 queen.
"That's a very hot price point," said Anthony Klatt,
director of sales and marketing for Sleeptronic. "It is designed
specifically to look like a traditional mattress but provide a
viscoelastic feel and response. It was exceptionally well
received."
Sleeptronic also debuted the Heavenly Comfort, a new 17-inch-thick,
two-sided innerspring with a Euro boxtop on each side and tack-and-jump
quilting. It will retail for $699 to $799.
"With so many people going to one-sided, it runs kind of
counter to what is going on in the industry," Klatt said. "But
we are finding we are growing our market share by continuing to offer
two-sided products."
Fraenkel Inc., a licensee for Englander and a manufacturer of its
own USA Sleep Systems brand, had "an outstanding show,"
according to Brian Akchin, chief operating officer for Fraenkel. About
90 percent of Fraenkel's total line is now one-sided.
"We introduced a greatly enhanced visco program," he
said. "Our visco products are combined with both innersprings and
foam."
American Bedding Co., a licensee of Lady Americana and a producer
of its own branded products, unveiled its Sterling & Thomas brand
for the first time. This 22-model line -- all one-sided and foam-encased
-- represents the highest price points American Bedding has ever shown
under its own name, according to Mike Brown, sales manager.
"We wrote more business and opened more new accounts with this
product than we ever could have imagined," Brown said.
Sterling & Thomas's all-foam models include one with 3
inches of viscoelastic and one with 7 inches of latex foam.
Jamison Bedding Co., a producer of both all-foam and innerspring
mattresses, unveiled a line of five all-foam beds that will retail for
$599 queen with a 7-inch core of polyurethane foam. The Comfort Choice
Latex is a new $1,799 queen with a firm latex feel on one side and a
softer feel on the other side.
Thad Pettyjohn, Jamison's vice president of sales, is excited
about the new foam line, which includes viscoelastic foam models,
especially since an all-foam bed story may be easier for a retail
associate to talk about than remembering coil counts. "Sales in
foam will double," he predicted.
Boyd Specialty Sleep is no stranger to memory foam, especially with
its ability to combine it with its airbed technology or other types of
foam cushioning. The new Operetta six-chamber airbed features tri-zoned
viscoelastic foam and Lyocell ticking.
Restonic New Albany highlighted an array of viscoelastic products
to satisfy retailer demands. "Memory foam just continues to be
really hot," said Robert Quinn, executive vice president.
"We've broadened our merchandise and are increasing price
points and selection."
Park Place Corp.'s Sleep Therapy line of viscoelastic
mattresses occupied a prominent place on the showroom floor, as Park
Place mined the growing interest in memory foam. Later this fall, the
company, trying to find the next chapter of the viscoelastic foam story,
will expand the Sleep Therapy line by introducing Health Therapy. One
model will feature built-in concentric magnets to promote better blood
circulation. Another will offer a CoolMax moisture-wicking ticking. And
the third model will feature a mattress ticking with aloe vera permeated
throughout the ticking fibers. Aloe vera has been used for centuries as
a medicinal ointment.
The Alabama licensee of Spring Air Mattress Co. highlighted the
Sleep Fitness program of viscoelastic mattresses for people with active
lifestyles. That collection, introduced at the corporate level in April,
has begun rolling out at the licensee level and marked its debut for the
southern states serviced by Spring Air Alabama. Sleep Fitness'
cache includes Spring Air's CST (Contour Surface Technology)
viscoelastic foam layer that has been cut out in a zoned pattern on the
surface to maximize air flow.
Attracting a great deal of curiosity was Summit Furniture Group
International, an importer of Chinese-made mattresses. Seven of the nine
models the company makes under its flagship Sleep Therapy collection
name were on display, and all of them had a visco story of some sort.
"We had a phenomenal show," said Terry Batka, president of
Summit.
He attributed the success to product value and retailer curiosity,
since this was Summit's first major presence at that market. His
top-of-the-line model was the Ultra-Featherbed, an immense innerspring
bed -- encased coil over encased coil, all of which is encased in foam
-- with a layer of viscoelastic foam in the Euro-Box pillowtop and a
layer of goose down on top.
"I stress non-temperature-sensitive because our bed will feel
the same whether in a cold warehouse or a bedroom," he said.
"The retailer will benefit from less returns because the customer
will receive a bed as they remembered it feeling in the showroom. We
have found this to be a problem for some retailers with other visco
products."
This model is designed to retail for about $1,799 queen, but Batka
said a retailer could go as low as $999 and still enjoy a full mark-up.
Batka hired Wayne Strachan out of retirement to call on the Top 100
retail stores. Strachan was an executive with The Brick retail furniture
chain.
Therapedic Sleep Products highlighted its all-viscoelastic foam
MemoryTouch brand. "We enjoyed a warm reception to our top visco
model," said Gerry Borreggine, president.
That model was a $1,999 (retail) box pillowtop with 3 inches of
5-pound viscoelastic foam atop 3 inches of convoluted high-density foam.
"That was the big hit of the show for us," he said.
Comfor-Pedic, also a Chinese import, made its first appearance in
Tupelo, highlighting a new design of its Natural viscoelastic model.
Caption(s): Boyd Specialty Sleep showed its Operetta air mattress
with tri-zoned memory foam cushioning layer. / Left: Therapedic's
MemoryTouch line uses visco in a traditional mattress look. Below:
American Bedding unveiled its Sterling & Thomas line. / 1. Restonic
showed its Sensora mattress. / 2. Symbol's 7003 Contour Top model
is part of its Comfortec collection. / 3. Spring Air's Sleep
Fitness line features memory foam with zoned patterns for better
ventilation. / 4. This Chinese-made Ultra-Featherbed model is the top of
the line from Summit Furniture Group International.
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