HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill.–With the Las Vegas Market a little more than two weeks away, Serta has partnered with two firms, Furniture First and Five Star Mattress, to produce private-label mattress lines.
Under the agreement with Five Star, Serta will manufacture mattresses ranging from promotional to midprice points, $299 to $999. According to Donna Zett, a former Serta executive who has been named president of Five Star, the line will fill niches left open by smaller, unbranded mattress manufacturers that are unable to remain profitable because of the new flame-retardancy regulations that went into effect July 1.
The alliance with Furniture First makes Serta the exclusive supplier of Mattress 1st, Furniture First’s domestic private-label program. The program will retail at “high-velocity” promotional price points, according to Bob Muenkel, director of mattresses for Furniture First. The two firms first joined forces in 1999, and this program represents an expansion of that partnership.
Both lines will be on display at the upcoming Las Vegas Market.