Director, Springfeel
Polyurethane Foams
The Indian sleep products market is not as developed as other markets
Q When did you start and what motivated you to enter the mattress industry?
Springfeel commenced commercial operations in 1999 as a Flexible Slabstock Polyurethane Foam manufacturer. We have been supplying various grades of foam to several mattress manufacturers and observed a huge potential for good quality foam mattresses in the marketplace. Our next step was to introduce our brand of mattress under the name FINESSE which was launched in late 2011.
Q What made you focus on flexible polyether polyurethane foam products?
The Indian sleep products market is not as developed as the European, American or Japanese market which have evolved and continue to evolve. These markets are swinging towards PU foam as it offers the best cost-to-benefit proposition amongst competing products for a wide range of reasons. Under such circumstances, it becomes unnecessary to “re-invent the wheel” so to say.
Q How are your offerings different from other competitors in the mattress Industry?
We do not hesitate to challenge set patterns even though it is a long and tedious process considering the general resistance to change. Mattress cover fabric in light pale shades is a classic case for example. The launch of the Finesse product range in 2011 in pearl white shades in contrast to dark colours that were dominating across brands and price ranges within brands then. Now, the market is no longer obsessed with dark colours.
Q Your take on Mattress Circular Journey (MCJ) and how is Springfeel executing this process?
We have been interacting with our dealer and distributor to offer solutions to provide for proper recycling of the used mattress. We have incorporated the importance of educating the customer on the need for proper recycling of used mattresses in our sales training programmes with our dealer sales team. In this regard, we are closely following the initiative of ISPF with the “kabadiwala” experiment and also using this learning for our programmes.