The recent Las Vegas Market took the mattress industry down Memory Lane. It was a long journey, one stretching back two centuries, in some cases. Yes, the Gilded Age, a time of economic expansion from the late 1870s to the late 1890s, returned in three mattress showrooms. The Roaring Twenties came alive again in one showroom while another bedding maker noted that its anniversary sprang out of the Great Depression.
The bedding industry’s rich history was spotlighted in several showrooms at the market, highlighting the long-standing consumer franchises that some of the leading brands have built over the years.
Four companies touted significant anniversaries in Las Vegas as they rolled out new product lines and marketing campaigns celebrating their achievements.
Shifman Mattresses noted its 132-year-history with the introduction of its 1893 line.
Serta Simmons Bedding touted the 100th anniversary of its flagship Beautyrest brand, one that it celebrated with heritage displays throughout its showroom, and with a “Roaring ‘20s Soiree.”
SSB also threw a party for Serta’s Counting Sheep, celebrating their 25th year in action. A showroom display recapped the achievements of the sheep over the years.
Paramount Sleep celebrated its 90th anniversary with displays in its showroom and a festive and well-attended dinner for the company’s retailers, suppliers and friends.
And Sealy marked the 75th anniversary of its flagship Posturepedic line with the launch of a new Posturepedic line fortified with an all-new coil and dressed up with patriotic colors.
Shifman Mattresses got the mattress party started by showcasing its 1893 Collection, which celebrates the year the company was founded in Newark, New Jersey. President Bill Hammer was talking about some of the notable products introduced in that year, including Wrigley’s chewing gum and Cracker Jacks — and Shifman mattresses, of course.
Now I know that 1893 sounds like yet another Taylor Sheridan series (his 1883 TV series featured Tim McGraw and Faith Hill), but Shifman’s 1893 line tells the important (if less glamorous) tale of handcrafting expertise and quality materials that lives on today.
Shifman’s three 1893 beds, all retailing for more than $10,000, celebrate that heritage and the company’s ongoing commitment to quality and excellence, Hammer said.
SSB positioned Beautyrest’s 100th anniversary as marking “a century of innovation,” one that started in 1925 with the launch of the “exclusive Pocketed Coil,” offering “individualized support and streamlined manufacturing.”
Other SSB innovations cited in a big wall display included the 1954 introduction of the Hide-A-Bed, the introduction of queen and king sizes in the 1950s and the launch of single-sided mattresses in 2000. “Critics thought we were crazy for creating the ‘No-Flip’ mattress,” the display said, “but how many flippable mattresses do you see now?”
In the Serta showroom, a wall display traced “the life and times of the Serta Counting Sheep,” noting that they were born in 2000 when they were “disgruntled that consumers are falling asleep effortlessly on their comfortable Serta mattresses, and their services are no longer needed.”
In the Paramount showroom, the company featured a newspaperlike display that took the industry back to 1935, the year of Paramount’s founding, when the Great Depression still plagued the country, “Mutiny on the Bounty” was on movie screens, TV was a “rare technology” and Elvis Presley and Julie Andrews were born.
In that year, three brothers formed Paramount after they bought the assets of a defunct bedding company. Their first mattresses were tufted, a construction technique that still plays an important role at Paramount, managing director Richard Diamonstein said at Paramount’s dinner in Las Vegas.
The Sealy showroom highlighted a timeline of its history, one that included the 1950 launch of the Posturepedic line. “Sealy partners with leading orthopedic surgeons to provide a mattress with better back support,” the timeline said of that historic launch. The new Posturepedic line, introduced on the 75th anniversary of Posturepedic’s debut, filled the Sealy showroom.
The timeline also noted the company’s founding in 1881 in Sealy, Texas, where Daniel Haynes began making cotton-filled mattresses for his friends.
Two other bedding companies outlined their long histories in displays in their showrooms.
Kingsdown highlighted key dates in its history with a banner in its showroom. It was founded as Mebane Bedding Co. in 1904 by W.W. Corbett and A.N. Scott in Mebane, North Carolina, where it remains based.
And a timeline on the wall in the Englander showroom noted that Englander was founded in 1894 when “Max Englander woke up with a sore back and declared that good sleep starts with a great mattress, setting out to provide comfort for all.”
Lou Paige, Englander’s new CEO and president, was familiarizing himself with Englander’s history at the market. And he was celebrating some history of his own: 2025 marks his 40th year in the bedding category.
It’s interesting that several bedding companies have histories that stretch back a century or more. Their longevity is a testament to the strong brands that they have built and the generations of men and women who have nurtured those brands over the years.
Those histories should be celebrated, and I’m looking forward to seeing how those companies will be sharing their histories with retailers and consumers throughout the year.
Yes, brands matter, but they are no simple guarantee of success. It is up to today’s marketers to keep their brands vibrant on retail floors. If they do, those brands will write new chapters in their proud histories.
