Hudson picks new 100% cotton pillow

By Marvin Lazaro -- Home Textiles Today, 2/18/2002 12:00:00 AM

RICHMOND, VA —

Expanding from its core foam products, Hudson Industries announced last week that it will be offering a new pillow made purely from cotton.

Part of the company's Nature's Own trademarked line of products, the new 100% Cotton Pillow features 100 percent cotton fill, a 100 percent cotton cover and 100 percent cotton thread. All of the cotton is unbleached, undyed, chemical free, antimicrobial and is targeted at both consumers suffering from allergies and those who prefer natural fill.

The all-natural pillow is hand-filled. Machine-filled pillows can flatten after only a few night's use, said Lonnie Scheps, vp, sales and marketing, so in order to increase the pillow's attractiveness to consumers, as well as its comfort level, Hudson elected to hand-fill it.

"This addresses that unique customer who is not interested in buying a product that has anything artificial or chemical in it," said Scheps.

Since the pillow is a departure from the company's line of foam products, Scheps said there was some concern at the outset that the new pillow might be "a little to 'nichey' or specialized." But after testing it with a small focus group of consumers, as well as with some buyers, Hudson is convinced there is a market for it

"[The pillow] will be offered as part of our specialty pillow line," Scheps said, adding that specialty and department stores, better catalogs and upper-end merchants would be the preferred distribution channels. Following that philosophy, the pillow will be offered with a proposed opening retail price point of $24.95 for a standard. All standard pillow sizes, including a small travel pillow, will be available. After being introduced to buyers in January, Hudson has just begun shipping the new pillow to retailers.

The company has no plans to combine the 100% Cotton Pillow with any of its synthetic line, opting instead to stick with the all-natural approach.

Said Scheps, "We're absolutely convinced we have a product that's totally unique and there's nothing like it in the market today."