Who is the world’s number one bed manufacturer?

Question: Who is the world’s number one bed manufacturer?

Answer: Sealy Beds

No matter where you travel in the world you will more than likely find yourself sleeping on a Sealy bed.  Sealy is to beds, you see, what Coca Cola is to soft drinks, and love them or hate them Sealy are by far and away the largest bed manufacturer in the world.

The Sealy story goes back a long way, back to 1889 when Daniel Haynes from Sealy USA, patented a process for compressing cotton. These compressed cotton mattresses proved so popular that they were referred to as “the mattresses from Sealy”. And in 1906 the Company took the name we all know now – Sealy.

But why did Sealy prosper, through the 1930’s Depression, two World Wars, huge technological advances in bed design, and over 100 years later become the world’s number one? Sealy chose to license the brand to manufacturers throughout the USA and later the world at large. There was no point in trying to transport bulky goods such as beds half way across the world. Make them locally to designs launched and tested at the USA head office.

Here lies the choice. A local bed manufacturer experimenting with spring units, mattress fillings, covers, packaging materials etc will come up with their best effort. Sealy USA does the very same but at a much grander scale. The result – the best tested, the best built beds in the world today. The small local manufacturer just can’t match that can they? Not often anyway.

But what about Silentnight you ask. That old hippo and duck make good beds. And yes, in the UK, Silentnight are the largest bed manufacturer.  And for very similar reasons to Sealy – Silentnight are also big spenders on research, and their technology is also patented and a proven winner.

There are no losers here of course. Silentnight make their beds at Barnoldswick in Lancashire and Sealy make theirs at Aspatria in Cumbria. Buy from either manufacturer, and you are still supporting the local economy and if anything goes wrong (which rarely does) you’ll have a replacement bed travelling up the M74 within the week.

So the world likes Sealy beds. But are they right? Are Sealy beds all they are hyped up to be? It would be nice to have a simple answer – yes or no – but unfortunately sleeping surfaces are just not that easy to categorise.

There are four broad ranges of mattress technology out there in the market place today. We have the standard open coil mattress, Sealy and Silentnight continuous coil mattresses, pocket spring mattresses and then foam mattresses.

Each technology has its place in the bed world. You need a low cost, robust mattress for the spare room? Then open coil or foam could be best. You want a sumptuous, comfortable and supportive mattress no holds barred? Then a pocket sprung mattress or a visco elastic memory foam mattress may be the best choice.

If however you want a high quality, supportive and comfortable mattress that won’t break the bank then Sealy or Silentnight will almost certainly be our recommendation. And to sub divide further, if you like your bed a bit softer, then more often Silentnight will come up with the goods. And if you like your bed a bit firmer, then Sealy are the experts.

It’s an interesting fact well recognised throughout the UK bed industry, that Scottish people prefer firmer beds. And another interesting fact is that Scotland is Sealy’s most successful region in the UK. At Archers Sleepcentre we can attest to the fact that our customers love Sealy.

So is there a particular Sealy bed that is better than the rest? The most popular bed is undoubtedly the Sealy Memory Support. But it could be argued that it is the low price that people like. A 2 drawer double divan set retails at £499 and literally walks out of the door.  During our 20% off promotion, at £399 we expect to sell shed loads.

But that doesn’t make the Memory Support the best Sealy bed. My choice is the Sealy Ortholuxury. The Ortholuxury is not the most expensive Sealy bed, but to me it epitomises what Sealy does best. It’s a traditional tufted mattress using Sealy’s Posturepedic Ultra Luxe spring system. This spring system is one of three spring systems patented by Sealy. It has the highest spring count and in my view the most supportive feel of the 3 systems. The result is a wonderfully comfortable bed that offers firm support.

However don’t take my word for it. Pop into one of our stores and try the Ortholuxury out for yourself. If you don’t think it is right for you, our sales consultants have many more options to show you.

Related posts:

1. Best Bed in the World
2. Kaymed Air Nest divan bed is a winner

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