COVER STORY page 2
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
by Bruce Alexander |
Gold Bond Futon - ‘Old Hands’ At the Helm
|
When I first met Bob Naboicheck it was 1989 or 90. He told me that his family had been making futons (cotton filled mattresses with striped ticking) since 1900. On my first tour of the Gold Bond facility Bob spent quite a while explaining the fundamentals of the cotton used to make batting for the company’s futon mattresses. Picker, gin motes, linters, etc. all blended for body, resilience, and comfort.
Over the years Bob has also worked diligently to advance the cause of the industry that supports his family and employees. Instrumental as an FAI board member in 1993 and 1994 and leader extraordinaire during two years as Association President in 1995 and 1996 Naboicheck orchestrated the team execution of a consumer PR program that ultimately garnered hundreds of millions of impressions for the members, finalized the transition of the Association from an organization of pioneers to a professional business enterprise, and brought a level of energy and experience that helped propel our small niche product category into the home furnishings mainstream.
—Editor
|
Gold Bond has an enviable mix of “experienced hands” and industry veterans behind the scenes. While the production people are not actively thinking retail in the promotional sense, they do know that innovative products, inspection, quality control and on-time shipping are essential for their company’s dealers’ success.
Gold Bond recently added Dennis Ferry and Ray Andarowski to its management team. Mr. Ferry, Vice President Manufacturing, came to Connecticut after leadership positions with Mattress Discounters, Simmons and King Koil. He was given responsibility for the development of Simmon’s Beauty Rest Futon, which he created in 1988.
He relishes the competitive challenges and has brand management, product development, and merchandising experience. He developed Mattress Discounters private label mattress program, which grew to nearly half of the chain’s day-to-day sales volume.
Mr. Ferry says, “My current area of responsibility includes the manufacture of our hand-made classic cotton and innerspring Sacro Support premium line with an entirely new upgraded look and feel. Also, we’ve added a new Royalty cotton and innerspring promotional line that’s a winner. Almost simultaneously we started production on our new encased coil futon mattresses some of which flow technologically from our successful futon products. They’re all built from demonstrably superior components. Our sales team has a great presentation on those as well.”
“Now we are putting finishing touches on our new Visco Foam futon mattress line due out in May - which we were told must offer more quality and value than anything else out there (in the marketplace) or why bother? They should be a big hit,” he said.
Mr. Andarowski, the company’s Production Manager, spent eleven years with Sealy Oakville of Connecticut and seven more with Simmons in Jacksonville, Florida. He is charged with increasing productivity while preparing for increased shipments anticipated from the company’s new mattresses, new lines and futon products.
Company executives believe the opportunity exists for an independent bedding manufacturer to have significant impact by providing clearly differentiated products to selected dealers. The company is now doing just that with its futon and mattress lines.
Key Price Points
Market forces and a near total focus on bottom line manufacturing techniques—how to make it cheaper have had a homogenizing effect on the futon mattress products that many of Gold Bond’s competitors now produce —it is a given now that most innerspring futon mattresses are undifferentiated. As a consequence, futon store owners are forced to compete on price alone.
Gold Bond has deliberately developed those products that enable a futon retailer to offer futon buyer a different high-quality story at a sharper price point. The company makes the last of the bedding industry’s hand-made products. Retail price points range from promotional to super premium. Futon retailers derive far greater margins as a consequence. This competitive position benefits futon retailers as well, because Gold Bond continually works to build the highest quality possible and translate such products into retail advantages.
“Gold Bond’s impressive line up of premium futon mattresses encompass every style, range of price points, and comfort level. Product differentiation and innovation have always been the Gold Bond way. The basic starter mattresses range up through three super premium innerspring futons. Add to that our new LatexPlus, and Gold Bond’s super plush SoftTouch, and Wool Wrap, our futon retailers have a potent line up that’s second to none,” Stuart Glasser of the Tampa, Florida based Glasser Group, which has been working successfully with key Gold Bond futon accounts for over 10 years, said. “Gold Bond is hitting the key price points in futons ($149 to $399) and the high-volume points in the futon mattress business ($499 to $1,499) with unquestionably the industry’s best made lineup,” Mr. Naboicheck notes. “It’s successful, and we can help futon retailers do it with ease and on a daily basis. That’s exciting.”
Gold Bond is located in a 115,000 square foot facility immediately off an interstate highway in Hartford, about half way between Boston and New York City. The company presently ships about 1,500 futons a day or about 30,000 each month.
The sleep surface innovator was the first to add the concept of “plush” to what was, originally, a thin pad and so helped fuel the futon boom of the 80’s, 90’s and new century just underway. It was among the first cotton-batting producers to receive an Underwriters Laboratory (UL) Classification.
Gold Bond continues to listen to futon buyers and to futon store owners. The company president and its key executives spend hours each month in furniture and futon stores, listening to what the customer thinks and to what they want. They are listening to the buyers’ every day, and to what storeowners require.
Like Super Bowl Champs?
It makes for a successful, ambitious, and hard-charging corporation. It has made Gold Bond the strong leader in the futon industry, a pioneer since those early days of thin futon mats propped over in a corner, tucked under a table. It’s kept the company in the vanguard of one of the furniture industry’s few true growth categories.
For the New England Patriots, winning the Super Bowl was okay for last year. So what about next year? Likewise for Gold Bond. Being the market leader for the past years in futons was fine back then, but what about next year?
Partnerships, innovation, research and development and faith in the inevitable success of high-quality components is expected to keep Gold Bond at the forefront of the futon industry.
GOLD BOND FAST FACTS
• Location: Hartford, CT
• One of America’s oldest independent family-owned sleep products manufacturers
• 1980: First Gold Bond futon prototype produced
• 1898: First Gold Bond mattress prototype built
• Futons: 13 models include industry’s deepest premium line
• Mattresses & Boxsprings: 25 models, with innerspring, foam and encased coil technologies
• Developed the first and only fully flexible innerspring futon mattress
• Introduced the industry’s only pure natural latex foam futon mattress
• Ships to 50 states and 11 countries
• One of USA’s largest cotton garnetters, carries Underwriters Laboratory (UL) Classification
• Known for extensive use of wool, silk and other natural fibers