Stuffing A Comfortable Niche
There’s really no need for it, but North Americans now are in the habit of replacing their pillows every two or three years.
Which suits Nino Saad just fine.
Saad is the head of Les Accessoires Sleep Comfort Inc., a small family business that has found a niche making and stuffing pillows.
Its assembly lines can pump out 2,000 a day.
While most pillow shells are now cut and stitched in Asia, freight costs would be prohibitive if they were stuffed there as well.
That’s where Sleep Comfort comes in.
It gets shipments of empty shells from wholesalers and importers and fills them with polyester fibre at its no-frills factory in Outremont. The plumped-up pillows then get trucked to distributors for eventual sale.
They don’t just fill pillows. Cushions, pet beds, beanbags, sofa backs and chairpad covers also get stuffed at Sleep Comfort. Mostly, it’s done with polyester, although a small market remains for the high-end “natural” fill, feather and down.
In addition, Sleep Comfort has its own lines of hospital and hotel pillows, manufactured in-house and sold through distributors. The Canadian military has purchased the hotel model.
Photo by Montreal Gazette.
Jaclyn Wells on September 27th, 2009 2:59 pm
Wow…i can’t imagine replacing my pillows every 2-3 years, i replace my pillows every single year. Granted i don’t spend no $10 on each pillow (i sleep with 2 pillows), but i do replace them at the end of the year only because you can only re-fluff them so many times before they become just permanently flat.
Angela on September 28th, 2009 4:40 am
I find it amusing that I just happen to fit into that “small” market that prefers feather and down stuffed pillows. I’ve tried to fluff polyester filled pillows so they were comfortable enough for me and it would usually be hopeless after just a couple months. For that reason alone I am surprised that people who use those types of pillows don’t buy new ones more often. However, the feather and down pillows fluff easily and tend to stay fluffy for a longer period of time.
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