A complete replica of the print magazine
In upbeat ticking showrooms at Interzum Cologne in Germany May 5-8, mattress makers were there to buy, fabric suppliers told BedTimes.
“We are finally back to where we were 10 years ago!” said Apollonija Spela Honigsman, research and development manager for Bodet & Horst in Elterlein, Germany. “Four years ago buyers were very depressed, all they wanted was cheap, cheap, cheap! Two years ago it was a mix—some were spending more. At this show, 90% are looking for something special, for new things—they want to be successful.”
On trend Contemporary black-and-white knit motifs are hot in Europe, said Johan Cleyman, managing director of Eden, North Carolina-based Innofa USA LLC.
In knits and wovens, there were innovations in appearance and performance—and many ticking showrooms were funhouses of new technology.
From one-piece knits with the look of cut-and-sewn covers to knits whose texture and design motifs could pass for a jacquard to wovens with many of the characteristics of knits, there was much to take in. Textile companies sought to entice high-end bed makers with fabrics that promise just about anything—they regulate temperature, deodorize, energize, rejuvenate—and some even improve your love life.
Charcoal gray with white stole the show.
Shades of gray Sunds Textiles A/S, based in Sunds, Denmark, traded in primary colors for combinations of gray and white in its cut-and-sewn covers.
“The current taste preference, especially in Europe, is for neutral designs in contemporary patterns, especially in all shades of gray—many blended with blues,” said Kristel Bisschop, sales representative with Monks International, based in Wielsbeke, Belgium. “It started about 16 to 18 months ago and is still very strong.”
But at Stellini, which has headquarters in Magnago, Italy, there also was the bold Grand Jacquard collection of modernist, super-sized, 90-inch design repeats—in vivid color or in striking black and white.
Piece-dyed A new group of dyed knits got a lot of attention from mattress makers, according to company officials Pedro Faria (left) and Jose Silva of Sociedade Textil, based in Guimaraes, Portugal.
Knit supplier Innofa, with headquarters in Tilburg, the Netherlands, ventured into dramatically contemporary black-and-white and charcoal-and-white designs. It also showed a group of very smooth, modernist knits meant to resemble woven ticking.
Sunds Textiles A/S, with headquarters in Sunds, Denmark, showed off its cut-and-sew capabilities with a collection of buns, concept beds and toppers that used stretch knits in all shades of gray with white.
Style spotter Sylvie Vandenameele, head of design with Lava Textiles, based in Wielsbeke, Belgium, created trend boards to help categorize the company’s offerings and aid customers with mattress design.
“We have 1 million square feet of knitting and sewing production space all under one roof in the Ukraine,” said Steffen Rømer, Sunds vice president of sales.
Entex bucked the gray trend with lots of color.
“We want to appeal to young people—optimism is our goal,” said David Gomez Francis, Entex export manager. “We are introducing ticking with two, three and four colors; knitted fabrics that are full of color and fun. In southern Europe and America, they’re not afraid to use a combination of colors.”
All that glitters Among its new offerings, Pratrivero, based in Pratrivero, Italy, showed mattress makers stitchbonds with bold color and lots of shine.
According to Tunç Akyürek, area sales director for Istanbul, Turkey-based Aydin Tekstil, his company had a very busy show and drew customer kudos with colorful fabrics, thanks to an investment in new equipment that allows for the use of three or more yarn colors. Aydin is slated to open a new factory in September, he added.
Boyteks, with headquarters in Kayseri, Turkey, won an Interzum Intelligent Material & Design award for its new Cooler collection, (See story on page 42), which focuses on sleep temperature. Its boldly colorful Romance knit collection is said to “heat up the bedroom” with Valentine’s Day red accents—good airflow story and soft comfort.
Cool color Export Manager David Gomez Frances of Madrid-based Entex touts the importance of color in appealing to younger consumers.
At Pointex, which has headquarters in Campi Bisenzio, Italy, columns of the company’s thickest new knits hung from the ceiling. The fabrics are highly sculptured and designed to never need quilting.
Colorful piece-dyed ticking is uncommon except at Sociedade Textil, a vertically integrated fabric producer based in Guimaraes, Portugal. The company showed a collection of medium-tone colorful knits that it says do a good job of preventing cover discoloration, which sometimes happens where foams meet fabric.
Also for bed borders, nonwoven producer Pratrivero, with headquarters in Pratrivero, Italy, showed sedate furniture upholstery-inspired stitchbonds, as well as customizable textiles for nonslip foundation panels. It also exhibited some wild color and shine with a glitter-filled stitchbond group.
The use of subtle shine adds interest and dimension to knitted fabrics, said Sylvie Vandenameele, head of design with Lava Textiles, based in Wielsbeke, Belgium. She grouped the company’s offerings into four trend categories with classical to contemporary inspirations, each of which included metallic yarns and colors that ranged from clear blues and reds to earth tones.
All in one Apollonija Spela Honigsman, research and development manager for Elterlein, Germany-based Bodet & Horst, explains Boxspring, a new one-piece, border-plus-panel knit.
From wash-and-wear, removable mattress panels on concept beds that showed off Bekaert Textiles’ cut-and-sew capabilities to one-piece knits that give beds a cut-and-sewn look without all the work at Innofa and Bodet & Horst, ticking companies focused on readymade solutions to lower production costs and raise end-user satisfaction.
Innofa showcased its one-piece Engineered Covers collection, which launched at ISPA EXPO in 2014.
“We’ve fine-tuned Engineered Covers to the required looks of the market and placed them with many important players,” said Johan Cleyman, managing director of Innofa USA LLC, with headquarters in Eden, North Carolina.
Loom-to-border These premade bed borders from Magnago, Italy-based Stellini come off the loom with a quilted and cut-and-sewn look.
“Manufacturers get so much value for their dollar because these covers are far less labor-intensive to work with. You can create a good-better-best look simply by adjusting the sweep of the contrasting ‘border’.”
Stellini introduced woven, premade borders that look quilted, tufted, cut-and-sewn or all three—but they’re not.
“This is how they come off the weaving loom, just like that, and ready to go on bed borders,” said Valentino Stellini, managing director.
Bodet & Horst unveiled Boxspring, a one-piece knit collection offering the look of a sewn cover with contrasting border and panel areas. The company said it developed a special knitting machine to produce the fabric.
Magnetic Ticking supplier Bekaert Textiles, with world headquarters in Waregem, Belgium, displayed cut-and-sewn concept beds, such as the Mix & Match, which enables you to personalize your sleep surface with a removable, magnetic topper.
The company explored other new technologies to assist mattress makers and consumers. It presented the refined, final version of Checkpoint, which debuted at Interzum Cologne in 2013. It’s an optical-indicator yarn for pillows, toppers and mattress pads that turns from blue to yellow when a fabric needs laundering.
DesleeClama’s new Double Sided collection is a hefty knit with two usable, different sides, enabling manufacturers to create multiple looks with a single fabric.
No need to quilt Marco Ranaldo principal of Campi Bisenzio, Italy-based Pointex, poses with columns of thick, sculpted, high-end knits that never need quilting.
Double Sided was one of three of the Zonnebeke, Belgium-based company’s fabrics to win an Interzum Intelligent Material & Design award. The company’s Biaxial mattress fabric won a Best of the Best Interzum award. It’s a knit with long-lasting, 50% stretch in each direction and is the perfect fit for adjustable beds.
Lava Textiles launched patent-pending Triple Jersey Knit technology that it says yields a fabric that rapidly disperses and dissipates moisture, humidity or spills. The company also touted its highly successful High Definition knits, which are produced on special knitting machinery that use very fine yarns to produce a soft and intricately designed fabric.
Build-a-bed Zonnebeke, Belgium-based DesleeClama has released the next generation of its iDC Designer Software, giving the design team complete flexibility in creating entire bed sets for customers.
Computer-aided design systems have come a long way since they first appeared on the scene in textile design departments. Custom applications allow for creativity and complete flexibility in design and easy communication between designer and customer.
In a showroom cloaked in one of its three Interzum award-winning fabrics, DesleeClama unveiled the third generation of its cloud-based iDC Designer Software.
“We decided that we need to be designing the entire mattress for our customers,” said Craig Dunlop, president of DesleeClama North America, with headquarters in Inman, South Carolina. “Beds are no longer a border and a panel. There can be eight to 10 pieces of fabric in a single mattress—it’s art. The new version of iDC allows for extreme design functionality and complete visualization of the finished product.”
At Waregem, Belgium-based Bekaert Textiles, the Imagine App design tool was center stage—along with a snack bar staffed with friendly Bekaert employees wearing “At Your Service” aprons. The Imagine App allows designers to experiment with textiles, colors, designs and quilt patterns, creating 3-D images that can be exported for customer viewing.
In four corners of its showroom, Bekaert displayed creative concept beds that must have sprung from the Imagine App in the hands of a talented designer. Appropriately, one “bed” was viewable in 3-D, but only when visitors donned a virtual-reality headset.
(Introduction) Machinery makers roll out innovations, components suppliers focus on airflow, gel and the phase-change craze
Rocking and ‘rolling’ in the machinery hall
(You are here) Art meets tech in ticking showrooms
Beneath the covers: Trends in springs, foam and latex
Putting it all together with adhesives
The Business Journal for the Sleep Products Industry
A complete replica of the print magazine
bedtimesmagazine.com © 2001-2022 International Sleep Products Association
This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.