Generations of Kiwi Comfort: Pioneering Sustainable Sleep
For nearly a century, The Comfort Group, better known to Kiwis as Sleepyhead, has been at the forefront of New Zealand’s bedding industry. Starting out in a humble tin shed and growing into Australasia’s largest mattress manufacturer, our family-owned business has supported New Zealand’s sleep for over four generations.
A Commitment to New Zealand-Made Quality
At the heart of The Comfort Group’s success is our unwavering dedication to employing local people, using local materials and manufacturing our beds locally. This gives us complete control over material and manufacturing quality – a level of oversight you can only achieve with local operations.
Felicity Turner, Head of Marketing and fourth generation Turner, explains: “We are hugely committed to being New Zealand made. We want to have complete control over everything that we’re manufacturing, from the springs to the foam to all of the different raw materials and components that we put into our mattresses. You just can’t do that when you’re manufacturing offshore”.
Sustainable Manufacturing Practices
Our commitment to sustainability is woven into every aspect of our production process.
We use advanced German technology at our Otahuhu plant to produce foam in a more environmentally friendly manner than traditional methods. The air that gets cycled back into the environment during this production process is in better condition than when it comes into the plant!
And we recycle foam offcuts, uplifted underlay from local installations, and end-of-life mattresses into brand-new carpet underlay, minimizing waste and environmental impact. We use recyclable soft plastics in our packaging, and our eco-friendly underlay can be almost infinitely recycled, which means we divert a lot of waste from local landfill.
Four Generations of Comfort Innovation
The Turner family’s commitment to Sleepyhead has been a driving force behind our success. From Sidney Turner manufacturing mattresses in the 1930s, to current owners and third-generation Turners Craig and Graeme, to the great-grandchildren who work here, each generation has been passionate about growth and improvement. “What gets me out of bed in the morning is the energy to come in and keep this thing going, making it better than it was yesterday and bigger than it was the day before that,” says Felicity Turner.
New Zealand’s Most Trusted Bed Brand
This continued dedication to quality and sustainability has been rewarded with unbeatable brand loyalty from New Zealand consumers. We’re proud that Sleepyhead has been named New Zealand’s most trusted bed brand for eleven consecutive years, a testament to our commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction.
Defining the Future of Sustainable Sleep
As we approach our 90th year in business, we’re not slowing down. With manufacturing facilities across New Zealand and Australia and a product range that includes iconic brands including Sleepyhead, SleepMaker, and Dunlop Foams, we’re continuing to innovate and expand. We’re currently building a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Ohinewai that will improve our manufacturing capacity and provide more employment, and eventually housing, opportunities for locals.
“Our people are the reason for every piece of success this business has ever had. We have people that have been working in the business for 50 years. Once people come into this business and find their place, they see the difference they can make, and it just has such a huge impact on their lives.”
Our focus remains on creating exceptional sleep experiences while building a sustainable future. We are committed to producing New Zealand-made products, investing in environmentally friendly technologies, and developing our local workforce, ensuring that our legacy of quality and innovation will continue to bring joy to future generations of Kiwi sleepers.
So here’s to nearly 90 years of sweet dreams, and many more to come!
