Tricks Of The Trade
March 2020Who owns what mattress brand?
Firstly, as mattress construction techniques develop, it becomes apparent that the internal components of many mattresses are identical but sold under differing brand names and, of course, prices. Knowing this gives you the opportunity to be able to identify similar specifications and selecting the manufacturer that offers the best value for money mattress.
We are all familiar with the scenario of trainers where the pester power of children sees us paying more than four or five times the real worth just for a brand name. Buying a mattress purely based on a brand name is just as ludicrous.
The components used in all mattresses only come from a handful of specialist suppliers all manufacturers use these self-same suppliers whether you have heard of them or not.
The size of the mattress industry is absolutely immense. In the UK, there are well over a hundred bed and mattress manufacturers some big and some small, many of whom are based in the Yorkshire area, known to be the mattress capital of the country. With this in mind, it becomes an arduous task trying to differentiate the manufacturers who are worthy of investigation and those who just churn out cheap mattresses for the budget market.
The majority of retail mattresses are mass produced
Looking at the makeup of the industry below, it does throw up some quite interesting partnerships and anomalies. Apart from a few brands from the Silentnight Group; Sealy and Silentnight, the Bensons site seem to be propagated with the Sleepmaster brand and the Sensaform brand. Brand names that are only found in the Benson’s stores. Interesting!
The Silentnight Group is also an interesting corporation to study. Obviously, they do not have their own stores and partner up with many high street notables such as Argos, Tesco, Sainsbury, Carpetright and numerous independents. Now, as detailed throughout this site there are only so many combinations of spring and upholstery combinations you can put together to significantly differentiate one mattress from another.
So how can there be so many Silentnight models out there under differing model names that can be realistically judged to be completely and significantly different?
Hand made mattresses are the exception to the mass produced market. Made by only a few small independent retailers
White label goods are often used by major brands to relabel standard mattresses
When you decide to ‘buy a new mattress’ we are aware that as the purchase is a once in a decade decision you will have no idea where or how to start your search. The manufacturers listed below are deemed to be the main players within the industry and should be used as a starting point in your research. As we said at the start, knowing which brands belong to whom will help in this search as many corporations may not want you to know this.
You will notice that the majority of mattress brands are owned by a few key players, with very few UK based hand made mattress manufacturers.
Which bed company owns which mattress brands?
HILDING ANDERS
Based in Malmo, Sweden
Owned by: KKR Global Investment Company
BRANDS:
JENSEN BEDS
CARPE DIEM BEDS
FEATHER AND BLACK (Acquired Dec 2017)
Hilding Anders manufactures for IKEA from two factories – One in Poland and one in China
Note – Hilding Anders sold the following brands to Steinhoff International in April 2013 and these have since been sold on to Alteri Partners LLP in November 2019.
MYERS BEDS
SLUMBERLAND
STAPLES BEDS
SILENTNIGHT GROUP LTD
Based in Barnoldswick, Lancashire.
Owned by: U.S Private Equity firm, HIG International
BRANDS:
SEALY (Under licence from Tempur Sealy International)
REST ASSURED
STUDIO BY SILENTNIGHT
POCKET SPRING BED COMPANY (PSBC) Exclusively for Costco.
LAYEZEE
HARRISON SPINKS (SPINKO LTD)
Based in Leeds, North Yorks
BRANDS:
SYNERGY
ADAM HENSON COLLECTION
SPINK AND EDGAR
Harrisons also manufactures a collection of products for Feather and Black as well as John Lewis.
FLEX EQUIPOS DE DECANSO
Based in Madrid, Spain
Parent Company: Fabricas Lucia Antonio Betere, S.A.
BRANDS:
E.S. KLUFT and CO. (51% share as of June 2013)
AND SO TO BED
KEEN AND TOMS HOLDINGS LTD
Based in Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire
BRANDS:
ALTERI PARTNERS LLP
Based in Mayfair, London
BRANDS:
HARVEYS FURNITURE
MYERS BEDS
SLUMBERLAND
STAPLES
Alteri Partners acquired the above brands from Steinhoff International Holdings in November 2019.
AIRSPRUNG GROUP PLC
Based in Trowbridge, Wiltshire
BRANDS:
AIRSPRUNG BEDS
HUSH-A-BYE
GAINSBOROUGH BEDS
Summary
If you’re looking for comparisons to the Vispring range we have a detailed article here to give you some potential alternatives and a review of the Tempur range with similar construction style mattresses. These should give you an idea of the type of detail and upholstery you should be looking for.
Please Note: This is not a full and comprehensive list and all subsidiaries may not be included. Any errors or omission will be rectified as soon as possible upon receiving instruction. Please address all correspondence to [email protected]
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