Nineteen months ago, Casper began selling its first product, a single-model memory- and latex-foam mattress. Now it’s poised to test whether its early success with the mattress will translate to another product: one pillow, perfect for all sleepers. Jeff Chapin, the chief product officer at Casper, has 30 prototype pillows strewn around his bedroom. One of them, the end result of a design and testing process that lasted more than a year, is what Casper hopes will be the holy grail of bedding: one pillow, perfect for all sleepers. There is no variant for side or back sleepers. No choice of firmness. Buyers who prefer specific materials — down or latex or cotton or wool, or perhaps buckwheat — are out of luck. Every Casper pillow is filled with the same synthetic fibers, stuffed to the same density and wrapped in an interchangeable white percale cover. The pillow is an experiment for both the bedding industry, where products have grown ever more specialized and complex, and for Casper, a startup that sells mail-order mattresses.
Priced from $500 for a twin to $950 for a king, shipping included, and sold only online, the Casper mattress was meant to appeal to those who hate mattress shopping. “Our forecast was that we would sell a couple hundred within the first few months,” said Philip Krim, Casper’s chief executive. “We sold that within days.” The mattress’s simplicity, Instagram-friendly packaging and extensive marketing struck a chord. Sales reached $1 million in the first month, and recently topped a cumulative $100 million. Now, Casper is poised to test whether its early success will translate to other product categories. On Tuesday, it began selling the new pillow, as well as sheets. “We never viewed ourselves as a mattress company,” Krim said. “We always talked about it in the broader context of sleep.” Casper, whose five founders are all in their 20s or 30s, was not the first online mattress retailer with a pitch tailored for millennials, but its success helped supercharge the market, which has now become something of a frenzy.
Shoppers have at least a dozen brands to choose from and new entrants pop up each month. Saatva, which opened in 2011, expects to triple its sales this year, to $85 million, while one of the newest arrivals, Leesa, which began shipping late last year, said it was on track for sales of $30 million this year. Tuft & Needle, another popular brand, said its sales were on pace to quadruple this year, to at least $40 million. Investors are pouring money into the new ventures, which are sometimes referred to “Mattress 2.0” companies. Casper has raised nearly $70 million from investors at a valuation of $550 million. In contrast, Mattress Firm, the industry’s biggest specialist retailer, had annual sales of $2.3 billion last year; its market capitalization is $1.6 billion. “It’s a modern-day gold rush,” said David Perry, the executive editor of Furniture Today, a trade publication. How that gold rush pans out remains to be seen. Mattress-industry veterans point out that Casper’s share is still a tiny sliver of a $14 billion-a-year market — and its long-term prospects are hard to judge.
“It’s trendy to say Casper is an industry disrupter,” Perry said. “What I would say is that they’re a potential disrupter. Comfort is very subjective. There are many advantages to trying a mattress out in a store. The idea that the Casper bed is perfect for everyone doesn’t fit with what the industry experience has been, but clearly, that message is resonating with consumers.” Casper started working on its pillow the day after it shipped its first mattresses. The company, based in New York City, began its research by buying dozens of well-reviewed pillows, tearing them apart and experimenting with the components. Early user tests revealed a surprise: Foam, the material that worked well for Casper’s mattresses, bombed. Casper’s experiments included a few departures, like a “pillow of pillows” — dozens of small pillows stuffed inside a shell — and a puzzlelike adjustable pillow stacked with configurable layers. But the design that Casper homed in on is fairly traditional.
Visually, the pillow’s only unusual feature is its dual-layer construction: A thick, washable outer layer surrounds a springy inner core, a structure intended to prevent the pillow from flattening too much. Like Casper’s mattress, the pillow comes in only one model, priced at $75 for a standard and $85 for a king. The company initially considered making variations, but user tests showed that most people gravitated toward the same feel. Casper’s founders acknowledge that they do not really know what to expect with the pillow and sheets. “When we placed our initial pillow and sheet orders, we joked that the only thing we’re certain about is that the number we ordered is wrong,” Krim said. “We just don’t know which direction we’ll be wrong in.”$Top brandsTop rated Spa Sensations MattressesSee allMattresses and AccessoriesThere are many types of mattresses on the market today, which can feel very different. Choosing a good mattress means figuring out what you personally find most comfortable.
Innerspring mattresses have metal coils inside for a springy, bouncy feel. The coils can be thick and firm, for more support, or thin and compressible.Memory foam mattresses conform to your body and have much less bounce. Higher density memory foam mattresses provide more support and are more durable. A layer of gel may be added to memory foam to make it cooler. If you like the feel of memory foam but don't want to replace your mattress, you can get a memory foam mattress topper. Latex mattresses and toppers offer the firmness of memory foam with a little more bounce.Futon mattresses are traditionally made from packed cotton, although today many are filled with wool, foam and other materials, and some even have coils. A futon mattress on a firm base will usually offer good support.air mattresses, or airbeds, are great portable options that can be used for travel, camping or guests. A dual-chamber airbed allows each sleeper to choose their own firmness.At Walmart, you'll find a wide selection of mattresses at Every Day Low Prices, so you can get the good night's sleep you crave.