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 Arm™ 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 2003, Sealy R&D developed
UniCased technology breakthrough.
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, Stearns & Foster and Bassett brand names. Sealy has the largest market share and consumer awareness of any bedding brand
in North America and believes it to be the largest manufacturer of bedding in the world.
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
