The Eclipse brand is 120 years old this year. To mark this milestone, North Brunswick, New Jersey-based Bedding Industries of America will debut an Anniversary Deluxe model in a choice of three firmness levels later in 2025.
Eclipse’s history began in 1905, when it was created by brothers Max and Sam Weisglass in Brooklyn, New York. At the time, the company was called U.S. Cabinet and Bed Co. and was known for providing bunk beds to the military during World War I and World War II, said Stuart Carlitz, BIA executive chair.
Through the years, the company grew to be one of the largest manufacturers in the United States, Carlitz said. “In the 1950s and 1960s, Eclipse was in every major department store. In the Northeast, they were sold at Macy’s, Lit Brothers, Gimbels, Strawbridge’s and Wanamaker’s,” he added. “They had factories around the country, including out West.”
In 1976, the Edwards family-owned National Mattress Co., known as Namaco, purchased Eclipse with the hope of growing it back into a powerhouse brand.
“They ran the company successfully for many years,” Carlitz said. Then, in the late 1990s, the Edwards family put out a notice that they were going to cease operations.
Carlitz called the family and “long story short, 30 days later, I owned the brand,” he said.
Gerald Gershaw, founder of Therapedic International, helped Carlitz in the early days with licensing, and today, Eclipse is one of the largest licensing groups, with more than 50 factories worldwide.
Recent additions to the Eclipse brand include the hand-tufted Eclipse Ice line, available in split-head queen and king sizes, and Eclipse Curve, with pressure-relieving components and a core designed to work well with adjustable bases.
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