If it’s a single, definitive piece of evidence linking AlexiCool to Serta and Simmons that you are seeking, I doubt that you’ll find it. That said, you’re also unlikely to have found AlexiCool identified as the cooling technology used in other bedding brands either. Have you? If you search the bedding companies themselves, you’re likely to meet a dead end.
What I have found, after researching this on and off for over a year, is that the bedding industry is fiercely competitive, that multiple, seemingly independent brands can have the same parent company and that the identity of supply chain companies is rarely revealed (certainly not at the retail end of the chain). I’ve also found that there is a constant invention of new trademarks, presumably the work of marketing departments tasked with making their mattresses sound ever newer, comfier, sexier, more solidly engineered and more high-tech.
Just some of the trademarks registered for cooling tech in bedding that I’ve found – TempTouch, TempActiv, iComfort Advancecool, Tempwise, Cool Reaction, Evertemp, Evercool, Cool Reaction, MicroCool+, Cool Elegance, Cool Balance, Coolform, InfiniCool, Chill, Reaction Material, Aircool, My Climate, Sleep Climate, Fire and Ice, Dryice, Blackice, Platinumice, Climateright Surface, Surfacecool, Dualcool, CoolX, Cool Comfort, Cool Touch, Cool Air, ChiliGel Cool Gel, Sleep Fresh, Cool Sense, Ice-tech, Iso-Cool…..And all of these names probably represent just a handful of cooling technologies, which the mattress companies have subsequently rebadged.
Hence, I’ve come to the conclusion that if you want to find where all that AlexiCool is going, you have to put together multiple pieces of information from multiple sources, sifting, sorting and matching until you arrive at an answer that you are satisfied with.
In October 2016, Alexium announced that it had signed a sales agreement with two separate U.S.-based major producers and finishers of mattress fabrics for joint supply to one of the largest mattress brands in the world. Sales were expected to commence immediately, revenues were expected to exceed US$3 million per year and the end bedding products were to be sold primarily in the United States.
Hard evidence in the form of cash receipts from AlexiCool sales during the 12 month period October 2016 -September 2017 (est. ~$17 million - i.e ~70% of $24 million), suggests that the company's October announcement wasn't BS and that sales ultimately exceeded the company's initial predictions.
Alexium has specifically stated that it supplies Alexicool to
“the single largest producer of mattress fabrics in the world” to service
“one of the largest mattress brands in the world”.
The two major mattress companies in the US, where the end products were primarily to be sold, are Serta Simmons, which has 39% of the market and Tempur Sealy, with 32%. These two companies own the top 4 mattress companies in the United States – Serta, Tempur-pedic, Simmons and Sealy. The next largest company is reported to hold only 5% of the market (
these figures come from Tempur Sealy).
Putting together the above two paragraphs, this indicates to me that Alexium is supplying AlexiCool to either Serta Simmons or Tempur Sealy.
As explained in previous posts, I believe that there is strong evidence that Serta Simmons is using AlexiCool.
One piece of evidence is that Alexium stated in
last February’s newsletter that Alexicool was incorporated on several beds at last January’s Las Vegas Market, including a major relaunch of one of the biggest mattress manufacturers's top selling models
. I note that in today’s newsletter it states that the 2017 Las Vegas Market was a primary contributing factor to Alexium’s rapid expansion into Phase Change Materials (PCM). It was at last year’s Las Vegas Market that bedding major Serta
relaunched its iComfort memory foam line featuring new Tempactiv cooling technology.
A second piece of evidence which points to AlexiCool being rebadged as TempActiv in Serta mattresses comes through association with Mattress Firm. America’s largest mattress retailer,
Mattress Firm, which has 25% of the US mattress market, ceased sales of all Tempur Sealy mattresses in early April last year after a pricing dispute and simultaneously increased its Serta Simmons offering
to help plug the 40% hole that would make in its sales.
In April, Mattress Firm added the new Serta iComfort memory foam mattresses with TempActiv to its range. This was supported by
a promotional campaign which featured Apple’s Steve Wozniak. The mattresses were promoted as having “temperature regulating technology infused directly into the cover” which “dissipates heat away from the mattress.” All but the cheapest line in the range also featured a cooling Tempactiv Gel memory foam layer. Therefore, I think it’s unlikely to be a coincidence that
Alexium stated that it had significantly increased business in the wake of retailing giant Mattress Firm altering its offering in April 2017.
Adding to my belief that Serta Simmons uses AlexiCool is the evidence I've found that Tempur Sealy
doesn’t use it.
Tempur Sealy is reported to use rival cooling technology, Outlast, which it has rebadged as
Chill Cooling Technology.
With respect to whether the bed accessory lines being launched by both Serta and Simmons at this year’s Las Vegas Market incorporate AlexiCool, I’ve already given the reasons for my thinking
here. I also note the company
flagged last February that it was ”actively pursuing other Home Furnishing opportunities like pillows and top of bed applications”, noting that “Alexicool's easy application allows us to work with many suppliers of these components to increase our penetration into the cooling market.” Also, in today’s newsletter, Dirk states that feedback from this year’s Las Vegas Market indicates that 2018 will outperform 2017 and he refers to “dramatic expansion of our Alexicool product line within the bedding market “. Clearly, AlexiCool is hiding somewhere in multiple, high-selling products being displayed at the Market!
As I’ve previously stated, this is simply my research and my opinion. Everyone is free to do their own research and form their own opinions. But I hope I’ve demonstrated that I haven’t just pulled my opinion out of my hat or my rear end……
I'd welcome anyone who has an alternative view to put up a solid, evidence-based case, (mentioning something other than the shareprice, Nick Clark or Gavin Rezos), that explains why and where my reasoning is wrong and where the hell all that AlexiCool is going.
(20min delay)