As the sleep products industry looks ahead, one priority is becoming increasingly clear: ensuring a strong pipeline of future leaders who can support manufacturing innovation, sustainability efforts, and long-term industry growth.
Through its support of a scholarship aligned with the International Sleep Products Association’s sustainability priorities and administered by leadership development network WithIt, ISPA is helping introduce students to career paths within the sleep products industry while connecting them early to the people, ideas, and experiences that shape lasting careers. The goal is not only to support students financially, but to help manufacturers engage emerging talent before career paths are fully defined.
WithIt’s work spans the broader home furnishings sector, with a focus on leadership development and professional connection. As Amy Van Dorp, executive director of WithIt, explains, “Our whole ethos is community—the community working together and helping each other.”
More than financial support
The scholarship builds on WithIt’s long-running approach to student engagement, which pairs financial assistance with exposure to industry professionals, mentoring, and networking. Scholarship recipients are invited to attend the WithIt Professional Conference, where they meet leaders from across manufacturing, design, logistics, and related disciplines.
Van Dorp emphasizes that the real value often comes from what happens once students enter those spaces. “They meet someone at this conference, who then maybe they keep in touch with, or contact them when they graduate,” she says. “And they find internships, jobs—it’s really the way that you get somebody started just with a big running leap.”
That combination of funding, mentorship, and access has produced measurable results. According to WithIt, 94% of scholarship recipients remain in home furnishings industries after entering the workforce—an outcome Van Dorp attributes to pairing financial support with intentional professional connection.
Why this matters for the sleep products industry
From ISPA’s perspective, sustainability is one area where new thinking and new talent are increasingly essential. As manufacturers continue to explore product life cycle, materials, and environmental responsibility, the ability to attract students with relevant academic backgrounds and expose them to real-world manufacturing environments becomes a competitive advantage.
Van Dorp noted that many students are not initially aware of the breadth of opportunity within the sleep products industry. “How many people say, ‘I want to go to school and actually work in mattresses?’ ” she says, underscoring the importance of early exposure and education.
By supporting students before they’ve committed to a specific career path, ISPA is helping manufacturers broaden awareness of roles across engineering, design, logistics, and sustainability-related disciplines—areas critical to the industry’s future.
Looking ahead
For manufacturers, initiatives like this represent more than outreach. They are an investment in the next generation of talent. ISPA is helping ensure that emerging leaders are prepared not only to enter the workforce, but to contribute meaningfully to innovation and sustainability efforts in the years ahead. For more information, visit withit.org/scholarship.
