Kaymed Beds in with Mega Deal

KAYMED, the family-owned mattress company based in Dublin, is aiming for turnover of 50m in the current year on the back of strong growth in North America, director David Woolfson told the Irish Independent. Exports could reach 35m this year, he added.KAYMED, the family-owned mattress company based in Dublin, is aiming for turnover of 50m in the current year on the back of strong growth in North America, director David Woolfson told the .

Exports could reach 35m this year, he added.Speaking on his return from signing a mega-deal with a Canadian group of that name, Mr Woolfson said the specialist mattress business was growing by 10pc to 15pc per year.The Woolfson family have been in the mattress business since 1898 when David's great-grandfather established the business in Bride St and Fenian St in Dublin's north inner city.

"The Woolfsons were in the flock business trading in materials for stuffing pillows and mattresses including horse-hair," he said."We make the whole mattress from scratch - we even make the springs to our own designs."Kaymed still retains attention to the basics of the business with a manufacturing facility in Kilcullen, Co Kildare.

With some of its mattresses costing 3,000 each and brands including Odearest and King Koil, Kaymed is in the upper end of the bedding market."Arnotts is our major outlet in Ireland. Our top-of-the-range products have been selected for luxury hotels and spas such as The K Club, The G Hotel, Monart, Dromoland Castle and Doonbeg golf resort, and we also supply Jordans of New England in the US.

"That's a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary and we were successful in extending our reach to other parts of the BH group," he said.The US expansion has led to the setting up of an assembly and distribution facility in South Carolina, while Kaymed is due to move into a 3,000 sq ft permanent showroom at Las Vegas World Market in early November.The deal with independent furniture retail group Mega sees the Canadian group being appointed as the exclusive distributor of Kaymed products in Canada.

The event was facilitated by Enterprise Ireland, the Irish export trade body, and the Canadian World Trade Center.The company employs over 400 people across three Irish manufacturing locations and four UK and US-based distribution and showroom facilities.Kaymed's technical expertise is derived from over 40 years experience supplying pressure-relieving mattresses to the healthcare sector.

Indeed, it is from here that the brand name Kaymed originates. And the mattresses are extremely comfortable, making them the bed of choice here.Kaymed developed the AirLayer, for which the company received the FIRA (Furniture Industry Research Association) Innovation Award 2005 in the British Houses of Parliament.

The AirLayer is a microclimate control layer which works in balance with an individual's body to promote a comfortable environment, whether the room is warm or cold.Memory Foam mattresses are the fastest-growing retail bedding category worldwide and these innovations have placed Kaymed at the forefront of the market.Kaymed is the memory foam bedding division of Kayfoam Woolfson, a family business founded in Ireland in 1898 by the grandfather of the current chairman, Solomon Woolfson.

The company has been led by four generations of the Woolfson family, with David Woolfson the current Kaymed director.