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History of Sealy
In the small town of Sealy, Texas just outside of Houston, a cotton gin builder and operator by the name of Daniel Haynes responded to a request from a neighbor and built a cotton-filled mattress in 1881. The product was so favorably received that Daniel Haynes began receiving more and more requests from neighbors and relatives. Encouraged by the response, Haynes invented a machine that compressed cotton for use in mattresses and received a patent for his invention in 1889.
The acceptance for the product grew beyond the local area in Texas and began to be referred to by customers in other regions of the country as the "mattress from Sealy."
In 1906, Haynes sold all of his patents and know-how to a Texas Company that took the name of Sealy. It was in this timeframe that a young advertising executive named Earl Edwards launched Sealy on the road to national prominence. Edwards placed Sealy advertising in The Saturday Evening Post and Ladies Home Journal. Edwards ensured that Sealy registered its name, developed a trademark and gave Sealy the slogan "sleeping on a Sealy is like sleeping on a cloud".
The next major strategic move was a pivotal step in Sealy's evolution. The management of Sealy made the decision that to be successful the Company would need production facilities throughout the country. The Company had a limited amount of capital, so the Company followed the model of Coca-Cola and was the first bedding Company to seek licensees from different geographical areas. By 1920, Sealy had 28 licensed plants.
Business flourished until the Great Depression hit with full force and mattress sales declined drastically. Sealy might have become history except for the support of the eight strongest Sealy licensees, including The Ohio Mattress Company, who pooled their financial resources, paid off the debt of the licensing Company and created what was to become known as Sealy, Inc. The 1930's were tough, but these eight determined licensees survived and, in fact, introduced a new product – the Button Free Innerspring.
In 1950, the Company introduced its first Sealy Posturepedic brand mattress. In 1956, Sealy became the first Company to display and advertise king sized bedding.
The 1960's saw Sealy commission the first major research study to define the profile of the Sealy Posturepedic consumer. In 1967, Sealy Posturepedic TV commercials ran during prime time on national television; another first for the industry.
The 1970's brought major product developments and refinements. Sealy Posturepedic became high tech with a new coil in the innerspring that was specifically designed with programmed response for increased support. During the same decade, Sealy box springs became known as foundations, due to the replacement of springs with the development of the torsion bar modules.
In December 1983 Sealy purchased the Stearns & Foster Company. This firm, founded in 1846, had a long and successful history under its two founding partners, George S. Stearns and Seth C. Foster. The brand was distributed primarily east of the Mississippi River and through major department stores. The Company expanded production facilities to serve the entire country.
The 1980's saw the introduction of a new innerspring innovation - the Sealy Posturetech Coil with "sense and respond" features now used in Sealy Posturepedic mattresses.
Toward the end of the 80's a series of lawsuits between Sealy, Inc. and one of its largest licensees, The Ohio Mattress Company, was resolved. Following the settlements of these lawsuits, all but one domestic Sealy licensee was consolidated under The Ohio Mattress Company. The Corporate Headquarters were relocated from Chicago, Illinois to Cleveland, Ohio.
In April 1989, The Ohio Mattress Company, then a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange, went private and a majority interest was acquired by an investment group led by Gibbons, Goodwin Van Amerongen, a New York merchant banking firm. The Ohio Mattress Company changed its name to Sealy Corporation in 1990.
In spring of 1990, the Company initiated a series of transactions to reduce indebtedness and issued stock to an affiliate of the First Boston Company, an investment banking Company, that had financed a substantial portion of the leveraged buy out which took Sealy private. By November of 1991, First Boston owned approximately 94% of the Company's stock.
In February 1993, the First Boston affiliate sold all of its Company stock to an investment group led by Zell Chilmark Fund L.P., an investment fund based in Chicago, Illinois.
In 1994 Sealy decided to expand its International horizons with the objective of increasing its global presence. While expansion of owned and operated facilities was the number one preference, it was also decided that expansion through joint ventures, distributors, dealers, direct export and licensees would be pursued as well. As a result of this strategy, a new International Division was formed to assess world-wide opportunities, while developing a team to execute a global strategy.
Today, the Company owns and operates manufacturing and marketing operations in Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, France, Italy, Korea and Uruguay. In addition, there are twelve International licensees operating in Australia, Israel, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Saudi Arabia, Japan, New Zealand, Thailand, South Africa, Spain and the United Kingdom. Direct exporting of Sealy products are made to various other markets throughout the world.
In the mid-1990's, the Company repositioned Stearns & Foster as an upscale and luxury branded line of bedding.
In December 1997, Sealy management joined with Bain Capital, a Boston based investment capital group, to acquire approximately 90% of the Company's equity.
In early 1998, Sealy announced the strategic decision to move its Corporate Headquarters, its Corporate Training facilities and its Research & Development Center from the greater Cleveland, Ohio area to the Triad of North Carolina. The Lexington , North Carolina manufacturing facility was also relocated to the new 68 acre Corporate Complex.
During April 2004, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) and Sealy management acquired approximately 92 percent of Sealy Corporation, with existing Sealy shareholders retaining the remaining interest.
On April 7, 2006, the Sealy Corporation had its Initial Public Offering and became a publicly traded company for the first time. It is traded on the New York Stock Exchange with the stock ticker symbol: ZZ.
Today, within the United States, the Company owns and operates 17 bedding plants, 3 plants dedicated to the manufacture of innerspring and foundation component parts for use in the assembly of Sealy and Stearns & Foster mattresses and foundations, and one Latex processing plant.
Sealy, Inc. has maintained the number one market share position in North America for more than three decades and is prepared and positioned to continue its leadership in the design, manufacturing and marketing of premium bedding products.
