NEWARK, N.J. — High-end bedding maker Shifman Mattress worked with upscale

department store Bloomingdale’s to create a luxury bedding line it says takes comfort into the clouds.

“When you go to bed at night, what is the actual size of the cloud you sleep on?” a point-of-purchase sales bro-chure asks. The new Beau Reve line, sold only at Bloomingdale’s, will retail on sale for $7,999 in queen and $8,999 in king.

And this “cloud,” unlike many others in the market, can be turned. Shifman defends the two-sided design by saying, “Flipping and rotating your mattress and pillowtop every six months dramatically extends the life of the bed. Flipping is good. Don’t let anybody tell you any differently.”

Bill Hammer, Shifman’s vice president, calls Beau Reve “the most luxurious mattress we have ever made.”

Shifman officials are positioning the sleep set, packed with luxurious filling and comfort materials throughout its 22-inch depth, as offering a “plush cloud of natural ingredients.”

Like all Shifman products, it is hand made in the company’s recently expanded facilities here, where time-tested but now largely abandoned bedding techniques such as hand-tufting and eight-way hand-tied boxsprings are still employed.

The Beau Reve pillowtop models and others in the collection are all two-sided and are offered in three firmnesses: firm, plush and ultra-plush. The line includes a dual-comfort king option, which features zippered mattresses under one king-size independent pillowtop. That option offers a different sleeping solution for consumers who have different comfort preferences. The dual comfort king retails for $9,499.

Shifman officials said the new line represents “the strongest premium mattress program in the country.”
They defend that lofty claim by making these points about the new line:

* It takes 23 people more than 12 hours to make the Beau Reve pillowtop, mattress and boxspring.

* The 5-inch-deep independent pillowtop is filled with cashmere, silk, wool and body-conforming natural latex foam.

* The 9-inch-deep mattress is “excessively cushioned” with high-grade cotton. “We love the virtues of cotton so much,” Shifman says, “we make our own soft cotton felt. Cool in summer, warm in winter, breathable and long-lasting, it may be the perfect upholstery material.”

* Designed for premium bedding, the Holland Maid Free-End Offset innerspring system features alternating turn construction to produce “a distinctive, luxurious feel unique to innerspring technology.”

* The mattress is hand tufted, a Shifman hallmark, to prevent the cushioning materials from shifting or bunching. By sewing the mattress from top to bottom, the producer says it locks the cushioning materials into place.

* Titanium edge-guards in the mattress and cross-supports in the boxspring provide additional strength.

* The mattresses rest on an 8-inch-deep boxspring that has been hand crafted from eastern Canadian spruce. Inside each boxspring are upholstery-grade hourglass-shaped coils that independently absorb the body’s weight and contours. Those coils are hand-tied with Italian twine to keep them in place.

The Beau Reve is being shown in most Bloomie’s stores, with one king-size set and one king-size dual comfort set. Bloomingdale’s is part of Federated Department Stores.