1991-2015 Interzum, Las Vegas Market Shopping Venues Open For Mattress Industry

The International Sleep Products Association’s first 100 years—Part III of the fourth and final installment

The mattress industry went to market

The era 1991-2015 brought big changes to how retailers shopped for finished sleep products in the United States and evolution in how manufacturers sourced the machinery and components needed to make them.

Regional markets

When the home furnishings industry was more regional, travel more difficult and communication technologies less ubiquitous, cities around the country, including Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco, hosted major furniture and bedding markets.

But, by the 1990s, interest in those shows was beginning to wane. Some bedding manufacturers found the Tupelo Furniture Market in Tupelo, Mississippi, to be a productive show, but mostly for promotionally priced bedding.

High Point Market IHFCHigh Point Market

Meanwhile, the biannual High Point Market in High Point, North Carolina, made that small city a destination, particularly for furniture and department stores and buyers of all types from the East Coast, Midwest and South.

But the bedding industry has been fickle when it comes to High Point, with companies putting their energies into the event for a time, then pulling back before returning again.

World Market Center in Las VegasLas Vegas Market

In 2005, a new player made a splashy debut when the World Market Center opened in Las Vegas.

The Great Recession scuttled plans for what was once to be an eight-building complex with 12 million square feet of show space, but three buildings totaling 5 million square feet were constructed, and Las Vegas quickly became the bedding market for finished products.

The most recent show, held in August, included more than 100 vendors of sleep products, offering everything from mattresses and foundations to pillows, protectors and sheets.

For a few years there was a fierce East Coast-West Coast competition between the High Point and Las Vegas markets and seemingly endless changes in show dates as each tried to draw the attention of retailers away from the other.

That largely ended in 2011 when a deal brought much of the High Point Market, including the International Home Furnishings Center—the “big building” where many sleep products manufacturers have showrooms—under control of International Market Centers, which also operates the Las Vegas show.

ISPA Bedding Centre logoInterzum Cologne

2003 BedTimes Interzum coverAt the same time, there were changes to Interzum Cologne, the machinery and components shows that mattress manufacturers shop.

As the bedding industry grew more global, the International Sleep Products Association formed a partnership with Interzum Cologne, the world’s largest exhibition of furniture machinery and components, held in odd-numbered years in Cologne, Germany.

In 1991, the association hosted the first ISPA Bedding Centre at Interzum Cologne with 16 ISPA-member companies in the pavilion.

2014 ISPA EXPO ribbon-cuttingISPA EXPO

Of course, ISPA’s own EXPO, held in even-numbered years in various U.S. cities, remains a must-attend show for both domestic and international manufacturers.

It’s the largest event of its kind devoted exclusively to machinery, components and services needed to produce mattresses, foundations and other sleep products.

In 1992, 140 supplier companies displayed their products and services at the show in Nashville, Tennessee; in 2014, the number had grown to a record 214 exhibitors when 3,300 attendees gathered in New Orleans.

ISPA EXPO logoWanting to give mattress makers even more opportunities to see the latest introductions from suppliers, ISPA added an exhibit hall to its Industry Conference, an event held in odd-numbered years to alternate with ISPA EXPO.

ISPA EXPO 2016 will be March 9-12 in Orlando, Florida.



View this entire special section as it appears in the print magazine: BedTimes November digital edition.


Read previous chapters in the 100-year history of ISPA:
1915-1940: An industry comes together
1941-1965: A time of war, a time for peace
1966-1990: The challenge of change



Related Posts

Prettiest mattress sights at Las Vegas Market

The editors of BedTimes and Sleep Savvy magazines had...

ISPA to discuss mattress recycling solutions at Las Vegas Market

The International Sleep Products Association will host a discussion...

At Las Vegas Market With David Perry — and Twitter

Editor at Large David Perry visited Las Vegas Market...