Tuft & Needle

Tuft & Needle
Private
Industry
Founded July 19, 2012 (2012-07-19)
Founders
  • Daehee Park
  • John-Thomas Marino
Headquarters Phoenix, AZ, United States
Number of locations
 1 store (2016)
Area served
 United States
Products Mattresses
Revenue Increase $100M  (2016)
Website tuftandneedle.com

Tuft & Needle (stylized as TUFT&NEEDLE, often simply T&N) is an American e-commerce and manufacturing company founded on July 19, 2012 by Daehee Park and John-Thomas Marino[1] and based in Phoenix, Arizona. It sells and manufactures mattresses made specially from an in-house foam.

History

Both Daehee Park and John-Thomas Marino (often known as JT) met via entrepreneur engineering school in Pennsylvania State University.[2] After JT and his wife overpaid for a substandard mattress, Park had the idea of creating a manufacturing company that downsized the cost of a mattress.[3] The company was co-founded on July 19, 2012 by Park and JT with a $500,000 loan from Bond Street.[4][5] A charity that allows customers to donate money for those unable to buy a mattress, was established in December.[6]

Within January and February 2014, the company generated about $500,000 in revenue, following $1 million in sales at the end of 2013.[7] On April 2014, Park spoke about founding a start-up and achieving success at IST Start-Up Week, which was hosted by Pennsylvania State University.[8] The company also opened its first "brick-and-mortar" showroom at Phoenix in December,[9] which was made as "an experiment" and was available by appointment only.[10]

The company headquartered at the previous O.S. Stapley Hardware buildings at Grand Avenue in Phoenix in December 2015, after a city grant of $300,000 was used to improve and repair the buildings by a real estate developer.[11] The company also had an alleged 150% sales increase after a partnership with Google, with $40 million in sales from 2015.[12]

Products

The company currently offers mattresses ranging from twin to California King to be shipped in a maximum box size of 18 in × 18 in × 44 in (46 cm × 46 cm × 112 cm). The shipping and business model is usually direct-to-consumer and the foam is made with a custom-made, in-house polyurethane foam.[13] It is density proprietary, as it has 7" of 1.8 lbs/ft of the foam support and is made in the United States.[14] The mattress by itself is refundable and, in doing so, will be donated to a local charity or nonprofit and the mattress is covered with a 10-year warranty.[15]

Reception

The company has received press from Business Insider,[16] Marketing Land,[17] The Arizona Republic[18] Consumer Reports,[19] Forbes,[5] Phoenix Business Journal,[20] Bloomberg[21] and Wired.[22]

References

  1. ↑ "Our Story". Tuft & Needle. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  2. ↑ Rop, Aaron (16 May 2014). "Tempe online mattress company thrives". Arizona Central. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via USA Today.
  3. ↑ Rop, Aaron (16 May 2014). "Tempe online mattress company thrives". Arizona Central. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via USA Today.
  4. ↑ "Tuft & Needle Recent Activity". AngelList. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  5. 1 2 Feldman, Amy (15 January 2016). "How Mattress Startup Tuft & Needle Said No To VC Money, Borrowed $500K And Opened Its First Store". Forbes. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  6. ↑ Dillinger, Leo (13 December 2012). "PSU Alumnus Co-Founds "Tuft & Needle" Bed Company for Charity". Onward State. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  7. ↑ Del Ray, Jason (5 March 2014). "How a Startup Created the No. 1 Rated Mattress on Amazon". [[Recode]]. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via Vox Media.
  8. ↑ "Heard on Campus: Daehee Park, co-founder of Tuft & Needle". Penn State News. Pennsylvania State University. 11 April 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  9. ↑ Doerfler, Sue (26 December 2014). "Online mattress store opens Phoenix showroom". Arizona Central. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  10. ↑ Brown, Brandon (19 December 2014). "Online mattress retailer opens showroom in downtown Phoenix". Phoenix Business Journal. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  11. ↑ Goth, Brenna (8 December 2015). "Phoenix startup to fill historic Grand Avenue building". Arizona Central. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via USA Today.
  12. ↑ Berthene, April (1 November 2016). "Tuft & Needle credits Google for a 150% sales increase". InternetRetailer.com. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via Vertical Web Media.
  13. ↑ "Tuft and Needle Review". The Mattress Nerd. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  14. ↑ "Unbiased Tuft & Needle Mattress Review & Ratings". Sleep Like The Dead. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  15. ↑ "FAQ, Shipping, Returns & Warranty | Tuft & Needle". Tuft & Needle. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  16. ↑ "We're obsessed with this online mattress company — it's more affordable and more ethical than the rest of the competition". Business Insider. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  17. ↑ "Brick-and-mortar revitalizing omnichannel success". Marketing Land. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  18. ↑ "Tuft and Needle sees explosive growth in mattress sales". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  19. ↑ "If You're Looking for a Bed in a Box, You've Got More Options". Consumer Reports. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  20. ↑ "Scottsdale group buys historic Phoenix hardware store for new Tuft & Needle HQ". bizjournals.com. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  21. ↑ Stock, Kyle (12 March 2015). "New Startups Aren't Keeping Big Mattress Up at Night". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  22. ↑ "Inside WeLive, WeWork’s Dorm-Style Take on Urban Housing". Wired. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
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