In the mattress business, as in other durable goods and retail trends, there is the desire to affiliate branding with a big name. The celebrity brand might be a designer, a movie star, or some "expert".
Laura Ashley brand was something women desired ten years ago. Twenty years ago her bright scarves were fresh and lovely. Today the brand has evaporated the flowery English countryside it once came to represent.
King Koil's Laura Ashley brand has nothing that relates to Laura Ashley style. I wish they would have used her bright fabrics on the quilting or even the rails. Instead, there is dulled down prints and plastic feeling fabrics. The name sounds nice, and King Koil is kind enough to the consumer to keep the label titles simple. There is Laura Ashley Luxury and Laura Ashley Elite with slight differences in the amount of materials used in construction, but large jumps in price.
Steel, latex, foam, wood, cotton are the commodity components in the mattress industry. The rising price of oil correlates to all the component costs (besides the cost of delivery and utilities). This creates a struggle to keep the cost of the final product to a certain price point. Manufacturers are searching for solutions in cheaper materials and efficiencies. Unfortunately in these troubled economic times consumers do not want to pay more for their new mattress.
How does a consumer know what is the difference between an Elite and a Luxury? A customer can visit a store and rest upon a bed for minutes, but often they are uncomfortable doing this with a sales person hovering over them.
A consumer should wear comfortable clothing, take time to feel and roll over on the beds, take notes and ask questions. Avoid purchasing for the designer name, find a bed in your price range that has a warranty you will trust and take your time.
