Tempurpedic

One of the larges mattress manufacturing outfit is doing some changes in the warranties its offering to consumers. In order to provide full customer satisfaction, Spring Air Mattress will honor warranties for defective products resulting from body impressions of up to 1.25 inches. The normal industry standard is actually 1.5 inches.

Spring is confident that their mattress products can deliver the best quality, as they have developed this new “Power Coil” system.

The Sleep Squad revolutionizes how mattress selling is done. Customers don’t come to the store, the store comes to you. The Sleep Squad showroom is found in a van that moves around the Chicago area. It’s an idea welcomed by mostly the design conscious, according to Furniture Style, who interviewed Sleep Squad’s owner, Michael Cote.

Some excerpt to that interview:

FS: You mentioned that consumers don’t like testing a mattress in a public setting. How does Sleep Squad’s experience differ?

New York Times published a very thorough article on the complexities of sleep, which deals with one’s prefence, habits, lifestyle, disorders, the mattress industry and a whole other factors. The article is extensive and loaded with facts and stipulations and here are some excerpts:

Furniture Today’s David Perry: “the mattress is not nearly as sexy a part of the equation as drugs or sleep-disorder centers. It just kind of lies there.” For generations many consumers perceived the innerspring beds of the three dominant “S-brands” — Sealy, Serta and Simmons — to be interchangeable. A Gallup poll 10 years ago found that nearly half of Americans didn’t know what brand of mattress they slept on. The industry blamed itself, often ruthlessly.

Scented bed linens? Why not? According to doctors, fragrance enhances the moods and emotions of a person. It has a calming effect, and may especially stimulate better relations in the bedroom. The fragrance include lemon, aloe vera and ginseng and the targeted consumers are newlyweds, as the sheets are perfect for romantic rendezvous. The scented bed linens are guaranteed to last up to 20 washings.

New Delhi, Dec 25 - Lemon, aloe vera and ginseng too — newlyweds can now get cosy in varying fragrances all night long with aromatic bed linen.

In the last ten years, the price of a mattress has indeed gone up. And if consumers were to assess the cause, it would have to be in the materials and technology adapted to make the perfect one. As most mattresses were likely to sag when compressed, the latest innovation such as memory foam has made it possible for a mattress to maintain its shape and quality years down the line. The average price of mattresses today cost anywhere between $500 and $1,600.

According to this data, there are some mattresses that may potentially have adverse long term effects that could damage your system — heart, liver, kidneys and so on. This is because some adhesive or glues used my manufacturers to bond the foam and fabric contain harmful substance and chemicals.

Consumers be forewarned. The option to choose an organic, naturally made mattresses is there.

Here’s a case of a guy from Wirral near Liverpool, England, who was literally killed by cigarettes. From the accounts of this news, he was smoking in bed when he accidentally dropped the cigarette on his mattress, causing it to blaze up and killing him in the process. He could not get up from it because he was disabled and therefore confined to the bed. But I guess, as with most smokers, who finds it hard to kick the habit, he could not help himself when he lit that cigarette while lying on the mattress. And of course, that would be the last time he would pop one.

I’m no fashion maverick but I think “fashion bedding” would have to mean color-coordinated, high-end designs for bed sets, beddings and bed sheets. True, you tend to pay more for their design and quality. Yet, the fashion bedding industry keeps a steady line of patrons and consumers. These days, fashion is indeed no longer just about what you wear. People dress up their kids or their pets and they too can spruce up the bedroom and “dress up” their mattress. Today, fashion encompasses total lifestyle.

Next to holidays, back to school preparations rake over billions of dollars every year. Buying and upgrading the things your children need for school is necessary for every parent. Although sometimes, some consumers do get carried away with their purchases. And advertisers duly take advantage of this. Consumerism may have in fact reached new levels because as September nears, shops like bookstores and school supply stores are not the only ones coming up with back-to-school promotions, even mattress stores are also taking a piece of the pie.

Forbes Magazine reports that design polarization is one of the latest trends in the industry today. When it comes to bedding, bed accessories and mattress purchases, consumers are now given plenty of options by stores selling lower-end  with very creative designs. It could be a great thing for consumers, but not so much for luxury companies.