Tuft & Needle

Tuft & Needle (stylized as TUFT&NEEDLE, often simply T&N) is an American direct-to-consumer mattress and bedding brand owned by Serta Simmons Bedding. The company was founded on July 19, 2012 by Daehee Park and John-Thomas Marino in Phoenix, Arizona.[1] On Sept. 28, 2018, Serta Simmons Bedding merged with Tuft & Needle, which continues to operate as a separate brand.[2]

Tuft & Needle
TypeBrand
Industry
FoundedJuly 19, 2012 (2012-07-19)
Founders
  • Daehee Park
  • John-Thomas Marino
Headquarters
Phoenix, Arizona
,
U.S.
Number of locations
7 stores (2018)
Area served
United States
ProductsMattresses
Revenue $170M (2017)
OwnerSerta Simmons Bedding
Websitewww.tuftandneedle.com

History

Tuft & Needle started as an e-commerce and manufacturing company founded on July 19, 2012 by Daehee Park and John-Thomas Marino.[3] Both met via the entrepreneur program at Pennsylvania State University.[4] After Marino and his wife overpaid for a substandard mattress, the two friends had the idea of creating a vertically-integrated e-commerce mattress company that optimized the cost of a mattress and simplified the buying experience.[5] The company was co-founded on July 19, 2012 by Park and Marino with $3,000 each of their personal savings.

Park and Marino grew the company to over $100 million in annual revenue with no venture funding. Within its first full year in business, the company generated $1 million in sales at the end of 2013.[6] On April 2014, Park spoke about founding a start-up and achieving success at IST Start-Up Week, which was hosted by Pennsylvania State University.[7] The company also opened its first "brick-and-mortar" showroom in the company's Phoenix HQ in December,[8] which was made as "an experiment" and was available by appointment only.[9]

Tuft & Needle acquired the premium 2-letter domain name TN.com in September 2015 for an undisclosed sum. The company established its headquarters at the historical O.S. Stapley Hardware buildings at Grand Avenue in Phoenix in December 2015, after a city grant of $300,000 was used to improve and repair the buildings by a real estate developer.[10] In 2015, Tuft & Needle grew to over 100 employees and earned over $100 million in revenue.

After turning down investment offers from venture capital investors, Park and Marino instead took out a $500,000 loan from Bond Street in 2016.[11][12] In 2016, the company launched a national billboard campaign entitled "Mattress Stores Are Greedy".[13]

In 2017, the company had $170 million in sales.[1] Tuft & Needle spent over $14 million in media during the same year.[14]

On Sept. 28, 2018, Tuft and Needle closed a merger with mattresses manufacturer Serta Simmons Bedding.[15][1] In November 2018, they also announced a partnership with Amazon to release an Amazon-exclusive mattress called "The Nod."[16][17]

Products

The company's products include mattresses, bedding and bed furniture.[1]

On their website, the company currently offers 2 models of foam mattress: the T&N Mattress and the Mint Mattress.[18] Ranging in size from twin to California King, both mattress models are shipped direct-to-consumer in small box (a maximum box size of 18 in x 18 in x 44 in or 46 cm x 46 cm x 112 cm). The foam used for mattress construction is a custom-made, in-house polyurethane foam called T&N Adaptive Foam.[19] It is density proprietary, as it has 7" of 1.8 lbs/ft of the foam support.[20] The mattresses come with a 100-night sleep trial and are donated to a local charity or nonprofit if customers decide to return the product within that timeframe. The mattresses are all covered by a 10-year warranty.[21] In 2017, the company released a contour-cut foam pillow and percale cotton sheets. In 2018, Airstream announced a collaboration with the company in the Globetrotter RV model to feature a co-branded mattress manufactured by Tuft & Needle.[22]

Retail presence

As of January, Tuft & Needle operates seven retail stores in Scottsdale, Gilbert, Seattle, Kansas City, Raleigh, Portland, and Dallas.[23] Their products are also stocked at select Lowe's, Crate & Barrel[1] and Walmart locations across the United States.[23][24]

Reception

The company has received press from Business Insider,[25] Marketing Land,[26] The Arizona Republic,[27] Consumer Reports,[28] Forbes,[12] Phoenix Business Journal,[29] Bloomberg,[30] and Wired.[31]

References
  1. Hirsch, Lauren (21 August 2018). "Serta Simmons to merge with Tuft & Needle". CNBC. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  2. LLC, Serta Simmons Bedding. "Serta Simmons Bedding And Tuft & Needle Close Merger". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2019-01-31.
  3. "Our Story". Tuft & Needle. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  4. Rop, Aaron (16 May 2014). "Tempe online mattress company thrives". Arizona Central. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via USA Today.
  5. Rop, Aaron (16 May 2014). "Tempe online mattress company thrives". Arizona Central. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via USA Today.
  6. Del Ray, Jason (5 March 2014). "How a Startup Created the No. 1 Rated Mattress on Amazon". Recode. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via Vox Media.
  7. "Heard on Campus: Daehee Park, co-founder of Tuft & Needle". Penn State News. Pennsylvania State University. 11 April 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  8. Doerfler, Sue (26 December 2014). "Online mattress store opens Phoenix showroom". Arizona Central. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  9. Brown, Brandon (19 December 2014). "Online mattress retailer opens showroom in downtown Phoenix". Phoenix Business Journal. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  10. Goth, Brenna (8 December 2015). "Phoenix startup to fill historic Grand Avenue building". Arizona Central. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via USA Today.
  11. "Tuft & Needle Recent Activity". AngelList. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  12. Feldman, Amy (15 January 2016). "How Mattress Startup Tuft & Needle Said No To VC Money, Borrowed $500K And Opened Its First Store". Forbes. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  13. "Ways Brands Develop Connections". Breakthroughbrand. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  14. Monllos, Kristina (2019-07-18). "One year after merger, Tuft & Needle is bringing a DTC approach to Serta Simmons". Digiday. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  15. LLC, Serta Simmons Bedding. "Serta Simmons Bedding And Tuft & Needle Close Merger". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2019-01-31.
  16. "Nest Bedding's newest mattress will only be sold on Amazon". Digiday. 2019-01-10. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  17. Gasparro, Annie; Stevens, Laura (2019-01-25). "Brands Invent New Lines for Only Amazon to Sell". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  18. "An Exceptional Mattress at a Fair Price + Free Delivery | Tuft & Needle". www.tuftandneedle.com. Retrieved 2019-01-31.
  19. "Tuft and Needle Review". The Mattress Nerd. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  20. "Unbiased Tuft & Needle Mattress Review & Ratings". Sleep Like The Dead. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  21. "FAQ, Shipping, Returns & Warranty | Tuft & Needle". Tuft & Needle. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  22. "There's no place like home away from home". Aistream. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  23. "Store Locations | Tuft & Needle". www.tuftandneedle.com. Retrieved 2019-01-31.
  24. Mandel, Eric (21 August 2018). "Atlanta mattress giant Serta to buy upstart e-commerce brand". Atlanta Business Chronicle. American Cities Business Journals. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  25. "We're obsessed with this online mattress company — it's more affordable and more ethical than the rest of the competition". Business Insider. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  26. "Brick-and-mortar revitalizing omnichannel success". Marketing Land. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  27. "Tuft and Needle sees explosive growth in mattress sales". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  28. "If You're Looking for a Bed in a Box, You've Got More Options". Consumer Reports. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  29. "Scottsdale group buys historic Phoenix hardware store for new Tuft & Needle HQ". bizjournals.com. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  30. Stock, Kyle (12 March 2015). "New Startups Aren't Keeping Big Mattress Up at Night". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  31. "Inside WeLive, WeWork's Dorm-Style Take on Urban Housing". Wired. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
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