David Perry
ATLANTA — Turning conventional wisdom on its head, Simmons is looking to boost bedding exports to China, and believes its new luxury Beautyrest Black line, successfully introduced at the July Las Vegas market, is the right vehicle.


Chinese consumers “would be extremely receptive to a luxury mattress brand,” an official of the bedding major said. Simmons will test the waters with a showing at the Zhejiang Top Private Luxuries Exhibitions, set for Sept. 15-17 in Hangzhou, China.

Simmons is no stranger to the Chinese market. The company said it was the first mattress manufacturer to ship beds to China in the early 1900s. So strong was Simmons’ presence that the Chinese word for Simmons, Xi-Meng-Si, became the generic Chinese term for a mattress.

The company stopped sending beds to China on the eve of World War II, but revitalized its China export program last year. Simmons believes that country’s increased interest in luxury products has created a retail climate in which the Beautyrest Black line can find a successful home.

A number of foreign companies view China as an emerging luxury market and believe that consumers there are willing to embrace a variety of Western luxury brands. Analysts say China already is home to the third-highest number of luxury consumers in the world, and predict that 250 million Chinese citizens will be able to afford upscale products by 2017. Well-known luxury brands such as Armani, Louis Vuitton, BMW and Mont Blanc already are successful in China.

Simmons’ interest in China provides a new twist on China and bedding. Most of the talk in the U.S. bedding industry is about the impact that Chinese-made mattresses will have in the U.S. market.

The Beautyrest Black line will make a homecoming of sorts at the Hangzhou show. Hangzhou is noted for its silk production, and silk is among the comfort layers in the new Beautyrest Black line, which also uses wool and alpaca.

The line features the company’s Advanced Pocketed Coil springs for enhanced durability, as well as layers of memory foam and natural latex. Retails for the line in the United States start at about $2,000 and top out at about $5,400.