BELDEN — The founders of a Mississippi company that makes custom-fit jeans are trying their hand in the multibillion-dollar bedding and mattress industry.
Blue Delta Jeans co-founders Josh West and Nick Weaver are among the investors in Sandman Bedding, a maker of mattresses, mattress toppers and pillows, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported. The company is renovating a facility near Belden, representing a $2.3 million investment. Operations are expected to start in January, and the company expects to employ 25 people within a few months.
Sandman Bedding will manufacture products for e-commerce and retail, and develop its direct-to-consumer mattress product under the Nest and Wild brand. Sandman Bedding also will design and manufacture sleep products for other brands across the U.S.
“The infrastructure, skilled workforce and robust supply of materials in north Mississippi will allow us to develop and scale high-quality mattress products,” said Sandman Bedding CEO Brandon Jamison.
Jamison attended high school with West and Weaver and has worked in the bedding and mattress industry nearly two decades.
“We’re always interested in development of brands, so we started talking about it,” West said. “Brandon knows the foam world, so we thought what if we could build a Blue Delta-style mattress, a high-end mattress, in north Mississippi.”
The mattress industry is valued at about $20 billion annually, and has long been dominated by large companies like Tempur-Sealy, Serta-Simmons and Beautyrest. Sandman hopes to carve a niche of its own.
“Lots of brands are made from the same factories, but we’re going to do our own manufacturing,” West said. “We call the shots and design from the ground up and control the manufacturing ourselves.”
Mississippi Development Authority is providing a $75,000 grant to help with building and infrastructure improvements. MDA also certified the company for the Advantage Jobs Rebate Program, which is for eligible businesses that create new jobs exceeding the average annual wage of the state or county in which the company locates or expands.
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