High Point — If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the folks at Tempur-Pedic should feel extremely flattered.
Tempur-Pedic, with wholesale bedding shipments of its visco-elastic bedding of $188 million last year, pioneered the visco bedding market in the United States.
Its amazing success story, which included an 88% jump in wholesale bedding shipments in 2003, has encouraged literally dozens of competitors to jump into the fray.
The competition is heavy in foam beds like those made by Tempur-Pedic. But visco-elastic foam is also being incorporated into the cushioning layers of innerspring bedding.
Staking their claims
Almost without exception, Tempur-Pedic's competitors insist they have products that are superior to Tempur-Pedic's. Among the features they offer are various proprietary support designs, new visco formulations, including some from China, and the use of new cushioning materials such as wool.
For its part, Tempur-Pedic says its products usually have a higher foam density and are more durable and supportive than the competition.
The latest company to jump into the visco battle is Comfor-Pedic, a division of a West Coast-based, family-owned business that is almost 60 years old.
Comfor-Pedic made its first showing at the High Point market this spring, where it was one of more than a dozen bedding companies with visco-cushioned beds. On the product side, Comfor-Pedic has an edge support system, which consists of a stabilizing wedge of polyurethane foam.
"The largest advantage we have is our patented edge support," said CEO Scott Smalling. "This simple upgrade has caused our sales to skyrocket."
Flexible pricing
That producer also touts its pricing flexibility, saying it does not dictate the selling price to its dealers.
"What they charge is their business," Smalling said.
Comfor-Pedic is marketing visco beds produced in China. The company said it couldn't find visco of that quality domestically.
Visco-elastic foam is featured in all four beds in Summit Sales Group's new Tranquility Collection of innerspring bedding produced in China, and more visco beds are on the way, said President Terry Batka.
"We are really doing something good for the consumer and we are getting beds back to where they were in profitability years ago," Batka said.
United Sleep Products continues to expand its visco offerings, which now encompass 17 beds.
"Visco has been outstanding for us," said Thomas Nieman, vice president of sales.
Specialty sleep producer Natura recently entered the visco category with a bed that also features wool, one of the company's signature materials. That is part of the company's strategy of "offering components that upgrade the components our competitors have," said President Ralph Rossdeutscher.
Wool provides benefits that address some of the negatives in other visco-cushioned beds, he said, adding that Natura is the first company to pair the two materials.
Strobel Technologies, which entered the visco market eight years ago, calls its visco bed the Supple-Pedic. It features the company's "better mousetrap" — a proprietary visco formulation and a patented lever support system that evenly distributes a sleeper's weight.
"Strobel's program is proven to reach better price points, with great margins, and to sell exceptionally well in furniture and mattress stores," said President Mark Strobel.
Weil's Sleep Products says its Miracle Mattress line, cushioned with the company's Memortex material, solves what it says is a heat problem that stems from visco foam. Memortex is a pressure-sensitive material but, unlike visco, is not heat-sensitive.
"A major complaint of mattresses using visco-elastic (foam) is unacceptably warm sleeping temperatures," Weil's says in its promotional materials, adding that it has successfully addressed that problem.
Thurmo-Sleep USA, formerly called Thurmo-Pudic, now is offering its visco bedding in more than 1,000 stores around the country. But the company is going in a different direction than Weil's.
The heat-responsive nature of its visco bedding gets a nod in the "Thurmo" part of its name, said President Rod Whitney.
He said Thurmo-Sleep's good tailoring and conventional bedding looks make his line popular with retailers. So does the company's association with legendary NASCAR race driver Richard Petty, who sleeps on a Thurmo-Sleep bed.
'It's not a fad'
"I feel better now about the future of visco bedding than I did a year ago," Whitney said. "It is cementing itself as a permanent fixture in the industry. It's not a fad or a trend, based on what I see."
Ergo-Pedic says it has an advantage with its Body Web Support System, which is woven into the mattress. That system prevents a sleeper from sinking too deeply into the mattress, a problem on some visco beds, according to Ergo-Pedic Vice President George Klause.
Also, Ergo-Pedic's visco formulation is less temperature-sensitive than others, a feature that helps the beds perform more consistently in various climates, Klause said.
Denny Boyd, president of Boyd Specialty Sleep and an astute observer of the specialty sleep scene, says all the talk about which company's visco beds are better is part of the evolution of that category.
"Visco is being proliferated by a number of different manufacturers," he said. "Now people are trying to differentiate their visco from someone else's visco."
Is the increased visco competition affecting Boyd, which now has visco-elastic foam in eight beds?
"It's not hurting us," Boyd said. "There is so much business out there. We haven't even scratched the surface."
Futon and innerspring producer Gold Bond also is doing well with visco in its lines. Its Visco Opulence futon, with two layers of visco-elastic foam, has driven sales of higher-priced futons for many of the company's dealers.
Visco is offered in virtually all futon lines today, just as it has become a staple in conventional bedding lines.
