Sleep Big

THE HOUSE

Considering that they spend about a third of their lives in them--and a rather enjoyable third at that--men and women are surprisingly stodgy about their beds. Their resistance to change in sleeping styles has long been the despair of the bed business; despite much smart and sexy advertising, there has been little growth in unit sales or dollar vol ume for the past decade. But there was rejoicing last week at the National Association of Bedding Manufacturers' convention in Chicago. A bed trend is under way--toward sleeping big.

About 10% of all mattresses sold last year in the U.S. were supersize-- double the total of three years ago--and in 1964 the big-bed business is bigger than ever. Partly, the reason is that Americans in general keep getting bigger.

The proportion of U.S. men 6 ft. tall, or over, has increased since 1900 from 4% to 20% , and the average Miss America contestant, only 5 ft. tall in 1921, had sprouted to 5 ft. 6 in. by 1962. But beds are growing even faster than the people in them.

The standard double bed (on which about 80% of U.S. adults do their tossing and turning) is 75 in. by 54 in. Most popular new size is the "King": 80 in. by 78 in. Next most popular is the "Queen": 80 in. by 60 in. On the West Coast, naturally, "Superking" is the thing, 84 in. long but only 72 in. wide, and Manhattan's Sleep Center sells a bed called "Emperor" which is 7 ft. long and 7 ft. wide.

Bedmakers hope that people will start trading up beds as they do cars-- even though there's not much trade-in value to a secondhand mattress. Exulted Simmons Vice President John W. Hubbell last week: "Millions and millions of beds are now obsolete!"

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