Letter to the Editor

Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 12/6/2004 12:00:00 AM

To the editor: Recently, Home Textiles Today published an issue that paid tribute to 25 people who helped shape the industry favorably during the past 25 years. There was one omission — namely, Ephraim Bloch of Perfect Fit Industries Inc., who created, invented and pioneered more accomplishments in the domestics industry than all of the people mentioned combined.

Until 1976, mattress pads were a “nothing” item — two pieces of cloth with a mediocre filling that supposedly protected the top of the mattress. He created the Bed Sack, introduced in 1976 — quilted the sides for a perfect fit and increased the quality of the cover and filling. He dressed up the package and doubled the retail price.

He introduced the all-size program. The result was that stores like A&S and Macy's could run ads saying “Only A&S can fit 95 percent of the beds in the U.S.”

He was the real pioneer in the non-allergenic vinyl mattress cover business. He also pioneered the growth of foam items, waterbed items, satin pillow covers and countless other products.

Ephraim Bloch was a master packager who saw the package as a silent salesman. He also believed that the package needed to be so informative that all people could fully understand the advantages and composition of the item. He did the same with seconds and #1 irregulars, making the package look like it was Wamsutta Supercale. No one else did that. Seconds flew off the counter.

Ephraim was a gambler, creator and inventor. And he was fearless. But unlike most gamblers, he did not die broke. Perfect Fit was sold to Charterhouse in the 1980s for a record price.

— Alvin L. Levine, Former Perfect Fit executive