BekaertDeslee, a leading global supplier in the mattress industry, is innovating across design, sustainability, and value proposition. In this interview with Beth English, editorial director at BedTimes magazine, Kara Pruitt dives into these exciting trends. Gain a deeper appreciation for BekaertDeslee by reading our feature; BekaertDeslee Showroom Innovation Textiles: A Look into Design, Sustainability & More.
Transcript
Beth English
Hey, it’s Beth, English, editorial director at BedTimes magazine, and I am here at BekaertDeslee in their studio. And we’re going to talk about three things. We’re going to talk about their use of artificial intelligence and design. We’re going to talk a little bit about sustainability. And then, you know, in light of our economy, we’re going to talk about value proposition.
So tell me, we saw a little bit of this at ISPA EXPO, the use of artificial intelligence. How does that help you with your designs these days?
Kara Pruitt
Yeah, so we’re using AI a lot. Really. It’s a great starting point, a great tool, and the design assistant we all wish we had sitting right beside us. You know, sometimes, as a designer, you can get a bit locked in. You just need some inspiration. So we’ve really been leaning into various ones.
Adobe Firefly has some, and Shutterstock has an AI generator. So we’re trying to take artwork that everyone has access to and create something new, something unique. Past that, you know, a lot of background work still goes on. Once the image is generated, we still have to make it knitable, weaveable and assign all of the stitches
Kara Pruitt
So, it’s a really great starting point, and it’s just another way we incorporate fresh ideas into our products.
Beth English
Well, then, tell me a little bit about some of the unique things you do with sustainability.
Kara Pruitt
Yeah. So, at BekaertDeslee, we’re a global company. Sustainability is a very much hotter topic, I would say, coming out of Europe, where our headquarters are. So we are really lucky that, you know, we have them thinking far ahead of where we are today, and we get to use those technologies and innovations that they come up with.
Zipless cover is something we’ve been really pushing. This eliminates the zipper in the cover, leaving the fabric 100% polyester or recycled polyester. So, at the end of its life, you slip it off, and it can be recycled immediately. You’re not going to have to sort it or deconstruct it in any way.
Beth English
Obviously, in today’s economy, some people are struggling. And so, how is BekaertDeslee keeping that in mind as you design?
Kara Pruitt
Yes. So we work really closely with our customers and also our internal sales team to understand what people are looking for. You know, we love to make these beautiful, flashy fabrics all day long, but that’s not the majority. Right? We have a lot of commodities. We work with our global supply and sourcing team, so we can get really, really aggressive pricing on yarns.
We can take those prices and work with our MPI team to determine the right construction to use. So we create a fabric that’s perfect for that customer’s needs, whether you know it’s high-design or something that they can run for years to come.
Beth English
So, Kara, we have some gorgeous fabrics here. Can you tell me about them?
Kara Pruitt
Of course, this is one of our newer innovations. You’ll see it has a nice, clean white with a very solid black background. So, you are going to get a stark contrast that is not available anywhere else. We are really excited about this one, our contrast construction. And we try and use it as much as possible because the outputs are beautiful.
It’s beautiful. Yes, here we have one of our woven fabrics. So, as we talk about the value proposition, you know, we can’t always bring in every yarn that we wish we could. This fabric uses four colors, and it mixes the same four colors all around to really give you any color you could imagine.
Kara Pruitt
And then this one we have here—we showed it. This is our premium field bed. So we are actually using navy Tencel with our ecru Tencel. That is a carbon-neutral yarn. So again, we are thinking about not only natural fibers but also their impact once they’re produced and put in our product.
Beth English
And it’s still beautiful.
Kara Pruitt
Yes.
Beth English
Well, thank you so much for hosting me here today. I really enjoyed it.
Read the companion feature at Mattress Fabric Innovation: BekaertDeslee’s Design Process | Beds By Design.
