Next to a window where you can see the lake, two people hold hands
Stitching the mattress for a period of time
By way of 1 feet-honored
Long sewing needle back and forth through the frame.
Nearby, one worker filled the pillowcase with pure wool, while another connected the mattress spring one by one to the grid.
But this is not a quaint museum of bedding.
This is the factory of Acadia Vivetique sleep systems, which produces mattresses, box springs, pillows, quilts and other sleep products
Stylish way made of natural fabrics and filling materials.
Vivetique 31,000-no polyurethane foam at all, the most common filling of modern mattresses by farsquare-
From the foot factory opposite the quarry (thus the man-made lake)
In an inconspicuous Industrial Park, there are manufacturers, public storage equipment and several strip clubs.
Scott Carwile, 47, quipped: \"foam is a dirty word here . \"
He owns the company with his twin brother Steve.
Although Carwiles said they are committed to the ecological cause, their decision to specialize in natural materials is more about making themselves famous in a highly competitive industry.
\"If you only have a pebble, you can\'t deal with Gelia directly with his marketing funds.
\"We have to choose a good, strong niche market,\" Steve said . \".
It seems to be working.
Vivetique\'s sales rose 36% last year to about $6 million, when the mattress industry was a bit static: the number of mattresses sold in the United StatesS.
Rose 1 last year.
5%, according to the International Sleep product Assn.
Revenue grew by 7.
5%, which reflects the rise in expensive mattresses.
Still, Vivetique\'s performance is not as good as that of Sealy Corp. , the industry leader . .
Annual income is over $1. 5 billion.
David Perry, a bedding editor for Furniture/Today\'s trade publication, said that the trend of natural mattresses, while small, appears to be true.
\"The industry has been trying out some isolated natural cases for years, but has not had much success,\" Perry said . \".
\"But now you have whole foods and hybrid cars.
As we move forward, it may be a growing sport.
\"Nature often means high
Price, Vivetique is no exception.
According to the International Sleep Products Group, although the average mattress price is about $400, Vivetique\'s queen size mattress starts at $1,200, up to $10,000.
A large part of the price premium is due to the manual production of natural material mattresses that cannot withstand assembly line machinery.
While it takes about 8 minutes to make a mattress in a modern factory, it takes about 45 minutes, Steve said.
Ryan Trainer, executive vice president of sleep products group, said demand for high-end products has been increasing.
\"As people grow older, people will have sleep problems,\" he said . \"
\"In the long run, it\'s cheaper to buy a good mattress than to buy drugs.
\"In addition, the novelty of bedding is also very popular.
\"It\'s like people buy a new car every few years,\" the coach said . \".
\"There\'s a temptation, a sexy one in the new sleep solution.
\"Cathy straw, a retired television producer living in Encino, about 18 months ago, bought a Vivetique mattress and box spring shortly after she and her husband moved into a new home.
\"When we first got together, he had a very soft bed and we had been meeting in the middle,\" said 52-year-old straw . \".
They bought a natural bed for $4,000 from Mary Cordaro, North Hollywood
Consultant on environmental and allergy issues.
She has a row of bed covers made by Vivetique with her private label on them.
About 30% of Vivetique\'s products are made for retailers. -
Usually promote yourself to someone who is sensitive to environmental issues. -
Write your name on the product.
\"The bed is very comfortable in the body,\" said Straw . \".
\"Mentally, it\'s comfortable to know that it\'s good for us.
\"There is no accepted scientific research that suggests that sleeping on a mainstream mattress can cause harm.
But Straw feels safer.
\"As the environment gets so bad, there are some things that we feel are safe for,\" she said . \".
\"Carwiles is at the mayor of Temple, where their father works at a box spring factory in Alhambra, where he often accepts family projects.
In 1976, when the twins were in high school, he, with their help, started a company in the garage that made mattresses.
\"Everything is handmade,\" Steve said . \"
\"We do it once a week.
\"Six months later, they created enough demand to move the business to five months later --car garage.
A year later, they came to the San Gabriel store.
In 1983, the venerable Crown City mattress company, founded in Pasadena in 1917, closed down and Carwiles bought the name and hired some employees.
A few people have been in Crown City for so long that they remember the days before humanity --made foam.
\"They taught us how to make cotton beds,\" said Steve, who became president in 1990 and re-started producing non-foam beds for a small portion of the company\'s production.
Eight years later, when the twins bought their father, almost all the products were made of natural materials.
They changed their names to more exotic ones.
The grandiose \"Vivetique \"---
It consists of a marketing company.
The move to the factory was in 2005.
Currently, they produce 12,000 mattresses and other products every year.
33-time employees.
Even in this sterile space, there is a sense of home.
On a bed outside the main office, a puppy named Scruffy curled up in a wool prototype --
Quilt.
\"Our idea is to get it dirty and see how well it\'s washed,\" Scott said.
\"There are two other dogs in the factory, including a skinny gray weimarana dog, who never leaves Steve\'s side.
The only large machine is the one that cleans and stretches raw hair and cotton.
Steve said the company has been profitable for years when he and his brother own the company, but he declined to say how much.
None of them graduated from college, but they took a business course at the City College of Pasadena to help them deal with corporate finance.
Steve said one of their best business moves was to close their retail store in San Gabriel seven years ago.
\"We don\'t want to compete with retailers, including many mothers and popular clothing for wholesale mattresses,\" he said . \".
\"As soon as we closed the door, the wholesale business took off.
\"Carwiles aims to move beyond boutique sellers to the mainstream of mattress retail.
But they are not going to change their manufacturing method, which hasn\'t changed much since they and their dad made mattresses in the garage.
\"We will get more production space and hire more people,\" Steve said . \".
We will still do it by hand. \"*david. colker@latimes.
