Tucked away in the Levine Machine Building in the Phoenix Warehouse District, Tuft & Needle is a mattress company that is easily overshadowed in terms of scale by the big boys, namely Serta, Sealy, Simmons and Sterns and Foster.
The local mattress maker, however, is growing rapidly, and it may just become a household name before long.
Founded by two young entrepreneurs who left their jobs in California’s tech industry to pursue their idea of creating a better mattress-shopping experience, Tuft & Needle is different from most well-known mattress brands in a number of significant ways.
Aside for having a name that doesn’t begin with the letter S, Tuft & Needle sets itself apart from other many mattress companies by cutting out middleman mark-ups on its products and simplifying the shopping experience by carrying just two mattress models: one 5 inches thick and the other 10 inches thick.
One of the company’s co-founder, John-Thomas Marino, said Tuft & Needle is filling a void in the mattress industry by providing simple, low-cost quality.
“We’re solving a problem that people want solved, so in a way, we’re building the company people have been waiting for in this industry,” Marino said. “That feels really awesome. You almost feel like a hero.”
Tuft & Needle mattresses, which start at $200, now dominate the top four spots of the Amazon furniture section’s top-rated list.
Available through Amazon in four sizes, the company’s 5-inch mattresses have accumulated almost 500 reviews since they were listed on the site in 2012 and have an average rating of 4.8 out of five stars. Almost 85 percent of those who reviewed Tuft & Needle mattress on Amazon gave the product five out of five stars. Not only that, an overview website Topmattress.com rated and reviewed Tuft & Needle as one of the most comfortable mattresses you can sleep on.
One five-star review, written by Amazon user Christie Mellor Oct. 28, praised the mattress’s high quality and great value.
“The mattress and the price are both amazing,” she said. “(It’s) so comfy, and the (mattress) was incredibly easy to set up by myself. I would recommend this mattress to anyone, it’s a great deal, and the company is really thoughtful in their business model and their use of materials.”
Marino said Mellor’s review isn’t the only one that’s raved about Tuft & Needle mattresses. He said one customer wrote an email comparing Tuft & Needle to Gandhi, which he admitted was “super extreme,” but flattering nonetheless.
“How could you not feel good about that?” he said.
Tuft & Needle’s other co-founder, Daehee Park, said he loved hearing such positive feedback from customers as well, but his favorite part of Tuft & Needle is upsetting the normal mattress shopping routine.
“The product itself is not exciting — it’s not like a tech product,” Park said. “The rewarding part, the exciting part, is disrupting the marketplace and the status quo.”
He said traditional mattress shopping takes place in a “black box,” but Tuft & Needle is taking that black box apart by interacting with consumers and showing them just how low mattress prices can be without excessive mark-ups.
“We lead with transparency,” Park said. “We talk to our customers, and we’re educating people about how this industry works.”
Levi Christiansen is a member of the Tuft & Needle creative team. He said he admires Park and Marino’s work greatly.
“Besides having a product that I think is superior and a really great business model, I think the thing that separates us from most (mattress companies) is our co-founders, Christiansen said. “They’re extremely impressive people individually and really impressive in the way they work together.”
He said the way in which Marino and Park treat people — whether employees of Tuft & Needle or customers — is what sets the company apart from other mattress firms in terms of quality.
He said he enjoys his job immensely, but he was a Tuft & Needle fan even before he was on their payroll.
“I was a customer before I was an employee,” he said. “I was sleeping on a Tuft & Needle mattress before there was even talk of me working here.”
Christiansen said buying a Tuft & Needle mattress was one of the best decisions he’s ever made.
“I needed a bed because I had an old rickety spring mattress that was terrible,” he said. “I had a lower back problems and some other joint issues. Within one night, it made a huge difference for me. I was really impressed and comfortable, and I slept really well.”
