Buying a Sustainable Mattress? ...or a Sustainable Manufacturer?
Last week the National Bed Federation held its annual Bed Industry Awards. Not only did some of our consultants attend this prestigious evening, but our director, David Fitzsimons had the privilege of being the head judge for the most important award of the evening: the Sustainability Award.
Our team enjoying a day out interacting with clients at the Bed Industry Awards
This is what he had say about the evening:
I heard someone say, “That David Fitzsimons is quite a hunk,” as my photo went up in front of the gala dinner for the industry sustainability awards. Nice to hear, except those ego-warming words came from comedian Jo Cauldfield. Oh well! Anything for a post pandemic, mask-free laugh.
Fellow judges Professor Martin Charter and Amy Peace from Innovate UK helped me assess the applications for the 2021 Sustainability Award. From thirteen diverse entries, some demonstrated they had developed a more sustainable mattress: Millbrook Beds, for example, emphasized a design that could be disassembled for recycling in less than five minutes. Other entries highlighted the sustainability credentials of the whole business. Silentnight Group wrote how it uses science-based targets to make its carbon reduction plans credible. All three of us warmed to the Harrison Spinks approach of an innovative new springing system that reduces to four the number of materials used in its mattresses, all made in a state-of-the-art factory near Leeds.
But the real hunk on the night was Hypnos. We judged that buying a Hypnos mattress meant a more sustainable product made by a more sustainable business. Hypnos has looked at the full lifecycle of the product from the choice of sustainable material, through the manufacturing method to the recycling of used material. But let’s be clear, this isn’t a celebration of improvement. There is still a long way to go, but I for one am glad to be advising this industry on the route signs to follow.
Our technical consultants Daisy Ash and Katerina Michailidou and our senior technical consultant Vivian Shi also had the pleasure of visiting leading producers and component suppliers at the exhibition. Vivian observed that, compared to the January Furniture Show in 2019, sustainability is featured much more prominently this time around. This is a very encouraging development, and Oakdene Hollins looks forward to continuing to support the National Bed Federation and its members.
Our technical consultants Daisy Ash and Katerina Michailidou at The Bed Show