Tuft & Needle

Tuft & Needle
Brand
Industry
Founded July 19, 2012 (2012-07-19)
Founders
  • Daehee Park
  • John-Thomas Marino
Headquarters Phoenix, Arizona, United States
Number of locations
 4 stores (2018)
Area served
 United States
Products Mattresses
Revenue Increase $170M (2017)
Owner Serta Simmons
Website tuftandneedle.com

Tuft & Needle (stylized as TUFT&NEEDLE, often simply T&N) is an American direct to consumer mattress and bedding brand owned by Serta Simmons. The company was founded on July 19, 2012 by Daehee Park and John-Thomas Marino in Phoenix, Arizona. On August 21, 2018, Serta Simmons acquired Tuft & Needle, which continues to operate as a separate brand.[1]

History

Tuft & Needle started as an e-commerce and manufacturing company founded on July 19, 2012 by Daehee Park and John-Thomas Marino.[2] Both Daehee Park and John-Thomas Marino (often known as JT) met via the entrepreneur program at Pennsylvania State University.[3] After JT and his wife overpaid for a substandard mattress, Park had the idea of creating a vertically-integrated e-commerce mattress company that optimized the cost of a mattress and simplified the buying experience.[4] The company was co-founded on July 19, 2012 by Park and Marino with $3,000 each of their personal savings.

They 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.[5] 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.[6] The company also opened its first "brick-and-mortar" showroom at Phoenix in December,[7] which was made as "an experiment" and was available by appointment only.[8]

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.[9] The company also had an alleged 150% sales increase after a partnership with Google, with $40 million in sales from 2015.[10] In 2015, Tuft & Needle grew to over 100 employees and earned over $100 million in revenue.

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

In 2017, the company had $170 million in sales.[14]

As of August 23rd, 2018, Tuft and Needle announced a merger with mattresses giant Serta Simmons.[15]

Products

The company currently offers mattresses ranging from twin to California King to be shipped in small box (a maximum box size of 18 in x 18 in x 44 in or 46cm x 46cm x 112cm). The shipping and business model is usually direct-to-consumer and the foam is made with a custom-made, in-house polyurethane foam called T&N Adaptive Foam.[16] It is density proprietary, as it has 7" of 1.8 lbs/ft of the foam support and is made in the United States.[17] The mattress by itself is refundable and, in doing so, will be donated to a local charity or nonprofit and the mattress is covered with a 10-year warranty.[18] 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.[19]

Retail presence

As of August 2018, Tuft & Needle operated three retail stores with an additional two stores under construction.[20] Their products are also stocked at select Lowe's and Crate & Barrel locations in the United States.[21]

Reception

The company has received press from Business Insider,[22] Marketing Land,[23] The Arizona Republic[24] Consumer Reports,[25] Forbes,[12] Phoenix Business Journal,[26] Bloomberg[27] and Wired.[28]

References

  1. ↑ Feldman, Amy (21 August 2018). "Mattress Upstart Tuft & Needle Agrees To Merge With Serta Simmons In Big Win For Cofounders Daehee Park And JT Marino". Forbes. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  2. ↑ "Our Story". Tuft & Needle. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  3. ↑ Rop, Aaron (16 May 2014). "Tempe online mattress company thrives". Arizona Central. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via USA Today.
  4. ↑ Rop, Aaron (16 May 2014). "Tempe online mattress company thrives". Arizona Central. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via USA Today.
  5. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ "Heard on Campus: Daehee Park, co-founder of Tuft & Needle". Penn State News. Pennsylvania State University. 11 April 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  7. ↑ Doerfler, Sue (26 December 2014). "Online mattress store opens Phoenix showroom". Arizona Central. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  8. ↑ Brown, Brandon (19 December 2014). "Online mattress retailer opens showroom in downtown Phoenix". Phoenix Business Journal. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  9. ↑ Goth, Brenna (8 December 2015). "Phoenix startup to fill historic Grand Avenue building". Arizona Central. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via USA Today.
  10. ↑ Berthene, April (1 November 2016). "Tuft & Needle credits Google for a 150% sales increase". InternetRetailer.com. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via Vertical Web Media.
  11. ↑ "Tuft & Needle Recent Activity". AngelList. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  12. 1 2 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. ↑ Hirsch, Lauren (21 August 2018). "Serta Simmons to merge with Tuft & Needle". CNBC. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  15. ↑ "Serta Simmons Bedding, LLC To Merge With Tuft & Needle" (Press release). 21 August 2018.
  16. ↑ "Tuft and Needle Review". The Mattress Nerd. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  17. ↑ "Unbiased Tuft & Needle Mattress Review & Ratings". Sleep Like The Dead. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  18. ↑ "FAQ, Shipping, Returns & Warranty | Tuft & Needle". Tuft & Needle. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  19. ↑ "There's no place like home away from home". Aistream. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  20. ↑ "Our stores". Tuft & Needle. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  21. ↑ 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.
  22. ↑ "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.
  23. ↑ "Brick-and-mortar revitalizing omnichannel success". Marketing Land. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  24. ↑ "Tuft and Needle sees explosive growth in mattress sales". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  25. ↑ "If You're Looking for a Bed in a Box, You've Got More Options". Consumer Reports. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  26. ↑ "Scottsdale group buys historic Phoenix hardware store for new Tuft & Needle HQ". bizjournals.com. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  27. ↑ Stock, Kyle (12 March 2015). "New Startups Aren't Keeping Big Mattress Up at Night". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  28. ↑ "Inside WeLive, WeWork's Dorm-Style Take on Urban Housing". Wired. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
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