Shoptalk: Vispring

A luxury-mattress brand from England slips into town under the radar

If the sleep-industrial complex is going to the mattresses these days over the merits of memory foam and the benefits of boxed products, Vispring presides over the fray as a luxury brand that appeals to royals and the gentry. The London company opened its first two stores in the United States recently—one in Manhattan and the other in Indianapolis. Why here? A business connection (Parkside Linen owner Shandon Whistler) convinced store owner Brian Benko to look into Indy as a potential market. He says Vispring does well in cities this size and believes the product fills a gap in high-end mattress options here. Each Vispring has a 30-year guarantee and is handmade with organic materials by career craftspeople who specialize in a single task, like side-stitching. Some models have coils fabricated from skyscraper steel, which makes the brand’s adjustable beds more durable than most. The stuffing might be acclaimed Moosburger horsetail hair, which is so stiff that it’s like adding a thousand extra coils to the bed, Benko says. The showroom in Nora has six models to lie on, ranging from $6,000 to $40,000 for a king size. Plenty of customizations are available—and after 118 years in business, nothing takes the company by surprise. For a particularly extravagant customer, it once gold-plated each spring. 1760 E. 86th St., 317-548-1818, vispring.com

 

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Reaching into jars of the cashmere, wool, and horsehair used in these premium beds.