Traffic at the summer Las Vegas Market, held July 30-Aug. 2 at the World Market Center, was seemingly lighter than at the winter show. Although the halls were quieter, bedding exhibitors expressed contentment with visitor numbers and reported at least two hectic days.
“This was a good market for us,” said David Karr, president of Greenville, S.C.-based airbed maker Comfortaire. “We have sales representatives (in the West) and they’re making appointments and bringing in customers.”
As Ron Passaglia, chief executive officer of licensing group Restonic, explained, “At this show, it was all about working your customer base—not walk-ins. Monday and Tuesday we were very full, with key accounts coming in.”
- Throughout the market, line extensions were the order of the day, with mattress manufacturers filling in price points at both the high and low ends, and offering new takes on existing technologies throughout their product ranges. There were a number of new exhibitors in the bedding category, as well as relocated, remodeled and expanded showrooms.
- Companies continue to introduce gel products, but with more variation. Retailers could find beds with memory foam and latex swirled or speckled with gel, contour-cut gel foams, poured gel coatings (generally over visco-elastic) and thick layers of molded “soft solid” gel fused to foam pillows and foam mattress cores.
- Adding punch to the market, manufacturers showed large swathes of bold color—from turquoise to tangerine—especially on mattress borders, point-of-sale materials and sleep accessories.
Following is a sampling of bedding products shown in Las Vegas. (All prices are suggested retail for queen-size mattress sets unless otherwise noted.)
Sealy
As part of a continuing emphasis on specialty sleep, Trinity, N.C.-based Sealy added this pillow-top model to the top of its Optimum gel memory foam collection. Optimum is supported by national advertising, online marketing and a range of point-of-sale materials. It retails for $3,799. Sealy also added gel foam to its affordable Sealy Comfort Series Memory Foam collection, priced from $599 to $999, as well as new fabrics in bold colors. Its new specialty sleep partner Comfort Revolution, which has headquarters in West Long Branch, N.J., showcased a range of pillows and toppers using poured gel technology in an adjacent showroom. The two companies launched a co-branded foam mattress—packaged in an attractive, reusable wheeled trunk that holds a 14-inch king size mattress. Sealy-only branded foam pillows and toppers from Comfort Revolution are scheduled for introduction in early 2013.
Simmons Bedding Co.
Each Simmons bedding line now has its own Recharge Sleep Station and interactive video display to educate consumers and encourage longer rest-tests on the retail floor. (The Beautyrest Black station is shown here.) The Atlanta-based company focused on expanding price points in several of its lines and continues its emphasis on national advertising, social media outreach and attention-getting point-of-purchase materials to promote the Beautyrest Recharge campaign. “We’re approaching 1 billion impressions in electronic media and have had 100,000 conversions through our dealer locator,” said Gary Fazio, Simmons chief executive officer. The Beautyrest Black collection was broadened to include four firmer models retailing from $1,999 to $2,999. Beautyrest TruEnergy has a new opening price point—the Blaine retails for $1,299. It brings the line to 10 models, topping out at $2,799.
Tempur-Pedic
The news at the specialty sleep manufacturer, which has headquarters in Lexington, Ky., revolved around the launch of several new models and technologies. The Tempur-Weightless collection has an extra-resilient new support layer made from proprietary Tempur-Float material. Two Weightless beds, Tempur-Weightless Select and Supreme, retail for $2,199 and $2,699, respectively. New Tempur-Breeze technology contains three layers of cooling technology. Beds with Breeze technology include Tempur-Cloud Supreme Breeze, retailing for $3,499, and Tempur-Rhapsody Breeze, retailing for $3,999. The company also added a new entry price point to its Cloud collection. The Tempur-Cloud Select retails for $1,999.
Ashley Sleep
Ashley Sleep unveiled an innovative nonsplit king PowerSleep Motion Base. Its retail price is equivalent to a “$699 upgrade” from a traditional bed base, said Gordon Hecht, director of sales for the Arcadia, Wis.-based company. Ashley Sleep also added Nu-Wave gel to its specialty bedding collection. “We use a bonded gel process with one-eighth of an inch of gel bonded to the surface of the foam,” Hecht said. Four memory foam models containing the new gel technology retail from $999 to $1,999.
Comfort Solutions
The Willowbrook, Ill.-based licensing group expanded price points and features in four product lines, putting an emphasis on latex, gel and toppers. The value King Koil Posture Sense line gained a double-decker “pillow-top euro-top” model (pictured) and a three-piece bed with reversible topper priced at $1,099. The specialty sleep Natural Response collection grew by four models. Each contains Gel Response latex. Beds in the group retail from $2,499 to $4,999. At the top end of the line, the Natural Response Luxury bed has a removable and reversible topper with layers of gel foam and latex. Other new models included two ultra-premium iMattress beds retailing for $2,999 and $3,499 that incorporate iFusion gel foam and Gel Response latex. The Laura Ashley Value collection was updated with new fabrics.
Boyd Specialty Sleep
The company’s new Easy Flex manual adjustable platform base (pictured) is modeled on Boyd’s power Flex Base 2000 and retails for $399 in queen size. The St. Louis-based company also launched an assortment of specialty beds, bases and sleep accessories. Highlights included a new Natural Flex latex bed, a redesigned Night Air bed collection and a shippable Flex Base 2000 adjustable base. The Night Air collection has a quieter motor and new fabrics. It retails from $599 to $2,999. Boyd also added new fabrics and styling to the Responda-Flex memory foam line.
Therapedic International
Therapedic Northwest owner Laurie Simpson shows off a bed set from the new Agility line. “The collection combines pocketed microcoils and mini-microcoils with gel foam for an especially responsive surface feel,” said Gerry Borreggine, president and chief executive officer of the Princeton, N.J.-based licensing group. The collection incorporates swirled gel produced with bio-based content. It’s dressed in fashion-forward fabrics accented with tangerine—the Pantone color of the year—and white borders. Four beds retail from $1,299 to $2,499. Therapedic also updated the top beds in Kathy Ireland Home with new fabrics and multiple layers of latex in different densities.
Technogel U.S.
The Pittsburgh-based manufacturer of high-end mattresses and pillows with temperature-regulating, pressure-relieving polyurethane “soft solid” blue gel made its Las Vegas debut. Its three-bed collection contains between 37 pounds and 72 pounds of gel per bed with retails from $2,999 to $3,999. The $2,999 model has an innerspring core.
Serta
The company’s iComfort gel memory foam collection continues to see strong growth, as does its pillow program, said Kelly Ellis, Serta director of integrated marketing, pictured here with a new iSeries model. The Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based company filled in price points with two new iSeries constructions added to both the hybrid Trump Home and Perfect Day wrapped coil collections. The first iSeries construction includes three layers of gel foams—KoolComfort Memory Foam, Cool Action Gel Energy Foam and Cool Action Gel Memory Foam in its top comfort layers. It retails for $2,999. The second iSeries introduction features two layers of gel foam and retails for $1,999.
Spring Air Sommex
The North York, Ontario-based manufacturer made its Las Vegas debut with a multiyear lease on a World Market Center showroom. The space was a showcase for the introduction of the ObusForme brand to the United States, as well as the company’s newly acquired Natura World and NexGel product lines. ObusForme innerspring beds retail from $799 to $1,599. According to Valerie Stranix, chief marketing officer (pictured here with an ObusForme bed and point-of-sale demonstration unit), “In our world, a better night’s sleep is a given—we want to own the morning through better engineering.” The company is marketing the beds with a set of tag lines that begin with “I a.m. (energized, focused, refreshed, etc.)”
Leggett & Platt Consumer Products Group
Leggett & Platt, headquartered in Carthage, Mo., introduced a number of Fashion Bed models. The LaSalle and the Monterrey are “whole beds” that accommodate a box spring and are upholstered in linen. Three wood beds in different styles have slatted platform bases. (The Ardmore is shown here.) All retail for $599. New headboard-and-footboard combinations retail from $299 to $499 and come in a range of looks and finishes, from industrial chic to traditional.
Anatomic Global
The new Rejuvigel collection “has a contemporary fresh new look in lime green and silvery gray with a new gel foam technology,” said Jacqui Griffith, senior director of marketing for bedding for FXI, the parent company of Anatomic Global, with headquarters in Media, Pa. The three beds retail from $1,199 to $1,899. The Corona, Calif.-based company also added new mattress models to its Ascent collection, which starts at $1,499. The mattresses have patent-pending technology to hug the company’s adjustable bases.
Spring Air International
The Boston-based licensing group presented two new gel foam product lines. The Back Supporter Cool Dots collection (pictured) has unusual gel circles poured into dimples in the top memory foam layer. The cooling, pressure-relieving gel is zoned in the center third of the bed. The two-bed Cool Dots line with wrapped-coil innerspring retails for $899. The Back Supporter Conforma Gel collection has a number of patents and uses tri-zoned, surface-modified gel memory foam in the top comfort layer. Available with encased coil or all-foam cores, the entire collection retails from $799 to $2,499.
Glideaway Sleep Products
Dan Baker, vice president of sales for North America for the St. Louis-based company, touted the virtues of the new specialty sleep Sleepharmony collection with latex and gel-infused latex. Three beds retail from $1,199 to $1,799 and come in 8-inch, 10-inch and 12-inch mattress heights. The two top models have gel-infused latex. The beds are upholstered with brown microsuede on the border and white stretch knit panels with Outlast fiber. The company also added a gel pillow to its large pillow selection. The new Blue Chill retails from $49 to $79.
Sleep Inc.
National Sales Manager Davis Whitworth tests a Bodyrhythms model, a new three-bed collection that incorporates natural latex over a foam core. It retails for $1,299, $1,399 and $1,499. The Corsicana, Texas-based company expanded its Bodycomfort collection from three beds to nine. Each has pocket springs and layers of swirled gel memory foam. Prices range from $599 to $1,499. The Bodycool line has three beds with differing layers of specialty foams—gel foam, supersoft foam, memory foam and Talalay latex—and a smooth top. Prices are from $799 to $1,099.
Kingsdown Inc.
President and newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Frank Hood relaxes on an elegant bed from the new, high-end innerspring Tradition line. The beds feature border tufting and visco-elastic foam and retail from $2,999 to $12,999. The Mebane, N.C.-based manufacturer launched two more Kingsdown collections—Select and Passions—and added new opening price points less than $1,000 to its MySide foam beds. Select is a specialty foam line that pairs a modern smooth top with an ornate top panel. Passions is a value line combining gel memory foam and wrapped coils.
Englander
Licensing group Englander, with headquarters in Olive Branch, Miss., added a new top bed to its Egel collection. In addition to a layer of gel, the Opulence has 4 inches of latex and 2 inches of memory foam. The entire Egel line now uses a poured gel technology to coat the entire top layer of latex or memory foam. Five beds in the line retail from $1,599 to $3,000.
Pure LatexBLISS
In addition to doubling the size of its showroom, the Atlanta-based company doubled the size of its pillow collection, adding its ActiveFUSION Climate Control technology to a new selection of pillows—and to all its mattresses. The technology is a combination of phase-change material in both the product covers and the latex, as well as gel in the latex. Here, company co-founders Kurt Ling and Joe Hunt show off one of the ActiveFUSION pillows, which retail from $129 and $149.
The Bed Wedge Co.
The company, based in Carson City, Nev., brought its Bed Wedge to the Las Vegas Market for the first time. It acts as a barrier between the mattress and headboard, preventing pillows and other items from falling behind the bed. The Bed Wedge also can be used in bunk beds. A crib version is coming soon. Suggested retail for a queen size is $54.95.
Protect-A-Bed
The Chicago-based protection supplier opened a bright, spacious 5,100-square-foot showroom filled with mattress and pillow protection products and innovative displays, including a waterfall waterproofed with the company’s proprietary Miracle Membrane. At the show, the company emphasized product kits aimed at various consumer groups, including students.
Dormeo Octaspring
The London-based manufacturer of specialty beds with patented memory foam springs opened its first permanent showroom at the World Market Center. In addition to its mattresses and pillows, the company showcased headboards and bases with under-bed storage. “The beds are more responsive, you don’t sink in. You have all the benefits of memory foam, but don’t need a training manual on how to use your bed,” said Chris Henning, president for North America.
Upcoming markets
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