General

Sealy Corporation, through its subsidiaries, is the largest bedding manufacturer in North America and produces a diversified line of mattress and foundation products. Sealy's conventional bedding products (mattresses and foundations) include the Sealy, Sealy Posturepedic, Sealy Correct Comfort Pocket Coil & Sealy Spring Free. Sealy, as distinguished from most of its competitors, also manufactures many of the important component parts that are used inside the mattress. Sealy owns and operates a component-manufacturing subsidiary, with three plants that produce virtually all of the company's proprietary and patented mattress innerspring requirements and approximately half of its foundation components.

Bedding Industry

According to industry sales data compiled by the International Sleep Products Association (ISPA), a bedding industry trade group, approximately 700 manufacturers of mattresses and box springs make up the domestic conventional bedding industry, generating wholesale revenues estimated at approximately $5.8 billion during calendar year 2004. Approximately two-thirds of bedding is sold through furniture stores and specialty sleep shops. Most of the remaining bedding is sold through department stores, mass merchandisers and membership clubs.

Retailers

Sealy sells its products through more than 7,000 retail outlets, which include furniture stores, national mass merchandisers, specialty sleep shops, department stores and warehouse clubs.

Manufacturing and Facilities

Sealy manufactures most bedding to order and has adopted "just in time" production techniques in its manufacturing process to more efficiently serve its dealers' and customers' needs. Most bedding orders are scheduled, produced and shipped to retail warehouses within 72 hours of receipt. This rapid delivery capability allows Sealy to better satisfy customer demand for prompt shipments. Sealy operates 31 plants, which manufacture bedding in 20 states, three Canadian provinces, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Argentina, France, and Italy. Sealy operates a research and development center in High Point, North Carolina, with a staff that tests new materials and machinery, trains personnel, compares the quality of Sealy's products with those of its competitors and develops new products and processes.

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Sealy History

Sealy, Texas, is a small town just outside of Houston. It was the home of Daniel Haynes, a cotton gin builder, who began making cotton-filled mattresses for his friends and neighbors in 1881.

He went on to invent a machine that compressed cotton for use in mattresses, receiving a patent for his invention in 1889. His mattress became so popular that he sold patent rights to people in other markets, who also began building the product that, at the time, was known as the "Mattress from Sealy."

In 1906, Haynes sold all of his patents and knowledge to a Texas company that took the name "Sealy." It was at this time that a young advertising executive named Earl Edwards launched Sealy on the road to national prominence.

Edwards placed Sealy mattress ads in The Saturday Evening Post and Ladies' Home Journal. Edwards ensured that Sealy registered its name, developed a trademark, and gave Sealy the slogan "Sleeping on a Sealy is like sleeping on a cloud."

Edwards' next idea was to be a pivotal step in Sealy's evolution. He felt that more production facilities, in various locations, would be key to Sealy's expansion, but knew the company didn't have the capital to do so itself. So he followed Coca-Cola's lead and sought licensees.

By 1920, Sealy had 28 licensed plants and was the first mattress company to establish a licensing program.

Business flourished until the Great Depression, when mattress sales drastically declined. Sealy might have gone under, but, spurred on by Earl Edwards, the strongest Sealy licensees, including The Ohio Mattress Company, pooled their resources, paid off the debt of the licensing company, and created what was to become known as Sealy, Incorporated. The 1930s were tough, but these determined licensees survived and, in fact, introduced a major new product at the same time -- the Button-Free mattress.

In 1950, Sealy introduced its first Sealy Posturepedic brand mattress, the only mattress in the industry that focused on the importance of correct back support.

The 1960s saw Sealy commission the first major research study to define the profile of the Sealy Posturepedic consumer. In 1967, Sealy Posturepedic TV commercials ran during prime time -- on network television. Another first for the industry.

The 1970s brought major product developments and refinements. Sealy Posturepedic bedding became high-tech with programmed coils for increased support. At the same time, Sealy box springs became known as foundations, due to the development of the torsion bar module.

The end of the 1980s saw the introduction of the industry's newest innerspring innovation -- Sealy's PostureTech Coil, now used in all Sealy Posturepedic mattresses. It is highlighted by a patented Sensory ArmT feature that senses and cushions movement, then responds with increasing support ... correct support. The decade also saw an end to decades of lawsuits between Sealy, Incorporated, and one of its largest licensees -- The Ohio Mattress Company, a publicly traded corporation. Following the settlement of those lawsuits, all but one domestic Sealy licensee were consolidated under The Ohio Mattress Company.

In April 1989, Sealy was taken private in a leveraged buyout (LBO). In 1997 a team of senior executives of the firm joined with Bain Capital in acquiring the Company. The Company today operates as a privately held corporation.

Sealy decided to expand its international horizons in 1995, with the objective of increasing its owned and operated presence in foreign markets. At that time, a new International Division was formed to assess worldwide opportunities while developing a team to execute this global strategy. Historically, Sealy had entered into contracts with independent licensees for manufacturing and marketing the Sealy brand abroad. There are licensees operating in Australia, Bahamas, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand and the United Kingdom.

In 1995, direct export business began to South Korea. And in 1996, Sealy began manufacturing and selling in Mexico.

In 2005 Sealy Canada launched a new product line called SpringFree. The SpringFree line consists 3 new products.  The Spring Free Memory Foam mattress is built with a viscoelastic memory foam core that forms to your body position and shape to relief pressure points and deliver a deep, re-energizing sleep.  SpringFree Latex comes in a tight top or pillowtop construction with a 100% resilient latex core that offers a unique blend of support, softness and resiliency.

Today, Sealy Corporation is the largest bedding manufacturer in the world. Sealy manufactures and markets a broad range of mattresses and foundations under the Sealy, Sealy Posturepedic, Sealy Correct Comfort Pocket Coil, Sealy Spring Free, Stearns & Foster and Bassett brand names. Sealy has the largest market share and consumer awareness of any bedding brand in North America.

Sealy employs more than 6,000 individuals, has 34 plants, and sells its products in over 7,000 retail outlets in the United States, including furniture stores, leading department stores, sleep shops and mass merchandisers. Sealy is also a leading supplier to the hospitality industry.

Mailing Address:

Sealy Company Headquarters

Sealy Canada Ltd. Headquarters
685 Warden Ave,
Scarborough, ON
M1L 3Z5