Join Dave as he talks with Tres White about what’s working for Purple and shares the story of how Purple got its name.
Transcript
Dave Perry
I tell you, I lost my shine.
Tres White
I tell you, I lost my shine.
Dave Perry
I lost my shine. I can’t get it back.
Dave Perry
Hey, it’s Dave Perry. Welcome to “Take 5 With Dave”. I am in the Purple showroom in Las Vegas with Tres White. Purple is a new exhibitor. Second Market. Why?
Tres White
You know, we’ve got a brand and it’s tough to establish consistent brand standards. So we have a bunch of wholesale partners, different things across the years and starting out as a DTC brand and not knowing, you know, front from the back as far as wholesale goes and all of our great partners that we brought on, they all started looking different. We didn’t have a way to present fixtures, we didn’t have a way to present a new product. And so it’s been a great way to kind of align the brand and create a consistent brand experience across the country.
Dave Perry
What have you learned about the Purple line from this market?
Tres White
You know, it’s actually been very well-received and we’ve worked really hard. We added a new mattress at the last market during that same lineup into this one. But it’s interesting to see how we can create a line that has a nice step-up story and really works for the salespeople. I mean, in the end, what you’ve got has to work for the salespeople and also an understanding of kind of how the technology works from one model to another. And we’ve learned a lot from our wholesale partners. We made some changes. Last market we think is working well.
Dave Perry
Give us the elevator speech on your technology.
Tres White
We’ve invented, its called a hyperelastic polymer. It’s kind of like what the scientists use it. Our founders, one of them’s a rocket scientist.
Dave Perry
A literal rocket…
Tres White
Literal, right? And so brothers. And they decided to invent a gel that would make people’s lives more comfortable in different ways. And so they started out making seat cushions for people who are in wheelchairs because bedsores are a real thing, a real problem. And so if people sit in these wheelchairs for long periods of time, if they have some that take pressure off of their backside and keep that from happening in the back of their thighs, it helps a lot.
They also did Dr. Scholl’s Insoles remember the gel and insoles from Dr. Soles. They also made a mattress actually for burn victims. And so the burn victims that could actually take the pressure points off and it also gel just naturally doesn’t sleep hot. It just keeps you at the most ideal, perfect kind of sleep temperature. And so they found that that was really helpful, too, and it just kind of started building from there to there and now it’s gone consumer.
Dave Perry
What is working for Purple these days?
Tres White
I mean, I think the lineup is working. And in fact, one thing that’s really cool is that we’ve kind of been able to expand past the mattress because the mattress obviously worked. It’s the mattress that broke the Internet, that kind of thing. We have new pillows and different kinds of things. Our new harmony pillow is working. It’s amazing. And so it has a hexagonal pattern, kind of like a honeycomb pattern over Talalay Latex, and a huge customer satisfaction. The attachment rate is off the charts with mattresses, so that’s working really well.
Dave Perry
Wow. Well, as we wrap up, let me ask you something fun. What is something about Purple people do not know?
Tres White
Oh, man, there are a lot of things Purple.
Dave Perry
Just one thing. Just one thing.
Tres White
Well, first of all, we’re from Utah and people ask where we got the name Purple. So maybe this is kind of fun. So there are two big universities in Salt Lake City. You’ve got BYU and they’re blue. University of Utah is red. One of our founders went to BYU, one went to the University of Utah. You put those, together – you get Purple.
Dave Perry
Is that a real story?
Tres White
Well you know it is. It’s the unofficial real story, I guess.
Dave Perry
I love that one. What a great story. So Tres, great being with you. Love, love the energy and excitement you’re bringing to the market. So kudos to you.
Tres White
Thanks, Dave. Blow it up.
Dave Perry
Blow it up.
Tres White
Boom.
Dave Perry
More Take 5s to come. Thanks.
