What You Need to Know about Top of the Bed

Just as the clothes make the man, the top of bed product makes the bed. And as with fashion, there’s a bedding choice on the market for every consumer’s style. Are you a classic dresser who wears fresh, crisp button ups and ironed slacks? Try a fitted bed cap or a tailored bed skirt. Do you feel right at home in a tux or a formal gown? Dress your bed with layers of opulent comforters and coverlets, and pile it high with beaded and embroidered pillows. On the weekend, do you don a comfy sweater and worn-in jeans? Your bed might like a quilted spread and a couple of feather pillows in chenille shams.
Current top of the bed trends give retailers and consumers many choices: foofy or starched? Custom or ready-made? Traditional or avant garde? At the recent Las Vegas Market, FL&LS spoke with top of the bed producers about their take on trends and predictions for current hot sellers.

Shapes

Shari Hammer, owner of SIS futon Covers, sees the top of bed market going in two main directions. On one hand, “I see it going very formal and decked out. They’re decking out a bed with 10 or 15 pillows, the whole package. But I also see it going very sleek and kind of minimalist.” SIS is taking the minimalist road. “Contemporary furniture is really big right now, so contemporary top of the bed is a big thing.”

Arthur Viente, Director of Sales for Legacy Linens, does a more opulent, layered look. He sees his company going the high design direction. “What we’re finding in our experience is that people don’t have the time to do the design as much as they want. People want everything finished, so they don’t have to work through the whole design process– they can see it, understand it, and go. We try to give them a finished look. We’re really a designer look without the headache.”

Products

Duvet covers

Duvet covers are one of the hottest products for top of the bed right now. “We’re doing duvets mostly,” said Hammer of SIS. “The insert is buttoned all the way around the duvet cover, so in a sense it’s like a bedspread, just not quilted. It’s buttoned together internally. We have buttonholes on the insert, and we have buttons on the duvet cover on the inside. So they can remove it and wash it, but it stays in place.”

Mary Lou Rath of CottonBelle also emphasizes duvet covers. “We do coverlets, duvets and inserts. Sometimes people use a duvet without the insert.” She stresses the importance of helping consumers consider the weight of the fabric when they’re choosing bed covers. Lightweight bed toppers are popular, especially in warm climates.

Bed spreads/comforters
A typical bed set from Southern Textiles builds off of a basic comforter. “The ensemble comes with the comforter and skirt, and then there’s usually two Euros, two shams and then a few decorative pillows,” said Vicki Fil, Director of Product Development.
Hirsha Lodhia of Shamiana does mostly pillows, but has also seen success with a quilted bedspread. “My bed in the bag has two free shams, it’s reversible, it’s washable, and it’s one-size-fits-all, so it’s really a great deal,” she said. “People go crazy about this, because it’s uncomplicated, there’s no shams or bedskirts,” and no need to custom-create a longer drop.

Bed caps
A bed cap is a fitted bed covering that slips down over a mattress or a futon. The corners and edges are sewn to precisely hug a bed’s curves. “We do a lot of bed caps,” said Hammer of SIS. “It’s a real fitted, tailored, clean look, because we do a lot of platform beds.”

Sheets
Some manufacturers include sheets with the top of bed category while others do not. SIS does include sheets with top of bed. “I know that I personally like my sheets to match my bedding because you see them,” Hammer said. “We brought out our own line of sheeting because we wanted to choose colors that work with the fabrics in our line.
So we’re putting together the whole total bed, from what you actually sleep on to what you cover yourself up in. We can also put the sheeting on the back of the duvet cover if the custo-mer wishes.”

Bed skirts
Even on the more “foofy” beds, there was hardly a ruffled bed skirt to be seen at Market. Southern Textiles does nicely tailored bed skirts with a few wide pleats, as does Legacy Linens.

SIS is seeing bed skirts fade a little, “I think because bed frames now have real nice side rails and the box spring is not visible so much anymore,” Hammer said.

Pillows

Pillows from Shamiana

Pillows are the highlight of bedding accessories. “People buy pillows four or five times a year without guilt, so it’s the price point that has to be competitive, and it has to be fun,” Lodhia said.

Traditional pillow shapes are still popular, and there’s an explosion of non-traditional sizes as well. Boxy shapes and masculine styles are quite popular. “Of course the traditional, Euro, queen, because that’s industry standard, and everybody likes those on their beds,” Hammer said. “As far as toss pillows, we’re doing a lot of bed bolsters that fit the whole bed.”

“Box corner is my favorite,” Lodhia said. “And then the oversized 22-inch. The 22 tends to do well in the sofa business because it’s a little bit bigger, and then the box is more of a clean, modern look.”

Rath of CottonBelle likes to help consumers think about the functionality they need from their pillows by asking them questions. “Do you read in bed, do you have low back pain, are you hanging out on your bed?”

Legacy Linens showed some different looks in displaying pillows, with some stacked up on top of each other and not just in front of each other. This look has been cropping up in high-end design magazines as well.