Six manufacturers have joined the new Spring Air International licensing group, bringing to 13 the total number of North American mattress makers producing the Spring Air brand. The additions give the brand coast–to–coast coverage in the United States, the Boston–based company said.
The former Spring Air Co. collapsed in May and, that same month, current company Chairman Ed Bates acquired the Spring Air brand family, which includes the flagship Back Supporter and Chattam & Wells brands. He also acquired Nature’s Rest, which he holds under a separate entity.
The six new U.S. licensees are:
- Pleasant Mattress Inc. will service northern California. Founded in 1959, Pleasant Mattress is a family business owned and operated by President Herb Morgenstern. In addition to its mattress line of Cannon Sleep Products, the company is one of the nation’s largest futon manufacturers. It has headquarters in Fresno, Calif.
- Medi–Pedic Bedding Co. will distribute mattresses to Arizona and southern California. Medi–Pedic, based in Commerce, Calif., was founded in 1990 and is owned by President Gereis Sidaros. It also holds an Englander license.
- Upper Midwest Sleep Products is a family–owned business with mattress factories in Grand Forks, N.D., and Toledo, Iowa, (operating as Midwest Sleep Products). It will produce Spring Air product for those two states, as well as Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The company is owned and operated by Richard Stevens, whose family began making mattresses in the 1920s. It also holds a Restonic licensee.
- Pennsylvania Bedding, founded in 1906 and based in Old Forge, Pa., is led by President Bill Spudis. It will supply retailers in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Bedding, which had held a Comfort Solutions license, won multiple national awards from the company for product quality and other areas of business performance. It now holds a Therapedic licensee.
- Winco Bedding Co. Inc. will produce Spring Air product for Arkansas, Kansas, parts of Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. The company is led by Chief Executive Officer Carroll Moran, who also owns Corsicana Bedding Inc., a seven–plant operation founded in 1971. Winco Bedding plans to open a separate manufacturing facility in Carrollton, Texas, dedicated to making Spring Air products.
- Once a Spring Air Co.–owned plant, the Spring Air Salt Lake City facility ceased operating along with the former corporate entity but has since reopened as Spring Air–Mountain States. Led by President Dale Schmutz, who was chief financial officer of the former operation, Spring Air–Mountain States will serve Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.
“Undoubtedly the Spring Air brand lost many valuable customers during the transition,” said Rick Robinson, Spring Air International president. “But in reorganizing the company to include many of the industry’s best and brightest producers and in rethinking our operating philosophy and strategic direction, we firmly believe in our collective ability to cultivate new business and recapture a healthy percent of the share that was lost.”
