Malouf Home began with two newlyweds, an overpriced set of sheets and a spare bedroom full of inventory. Two decades later, it is trying to own the whole sleep system - from the fabric touching your skin to the app-controlled machinery under the mattress.
Somnigroup already makes the mattress and owns much of the store that sells it. Now the company is reaching deeper into sleep technology and the supply chain - a bet that the winner in bedding will control more than a brand name.
Sealy began with compressed cotton in a Texas workshop. Today its real product is a carefully engineered compromise - support, pressure relief and price - sold through nearly every route a mattress can take to a bedroom.