Published by Noozhawk in Business on November 10, 2016
CEO and co-founder Johannes Sauer founded Suissly in April after working eight years in the mattress industry. (Sam Goldman / Noozhawk photo)
One of the hardest tasks during a move is transporting one’s mattress, says Johannes Sauer.
His solution: roll it up into a vacuum-sealed bag and move it in a box.
Sauer is the CEO and co-founder of Suissly, a Santa Barbara-based mattress company that does just that.
Seven months after incorporating, Suissly is celebrating the opening of a showroom beside its 511 Olive St. headquarters.
The room resembles a bedroom that features the four types of mattresses Suissly carries, which vary in their firmness.
Sauer says the variety fits the bedding needs and preferences of 90- to 95-percent of people.
The showroom serves customer-experience and customer-service purposes, he said; if customers have a problem with their mattress, they can come in and demonstration in-person what they’re experiencing.
Suissly, which sources all of its materials in the United States, manufactures its mattresses in Denver, Colorado. Its products, which also include Egyptian cotton sheets and hypoallergenic pillows, are available only online.
Sauer began his career in his native Austria with a tech company that manufactures electronics that go into furniture, and became acquainted with American bed and mattress companies that became his clients.
“Pretty much over the last eight years that I spent in the mattress industry, I learned a lot about how things are done,” he said. “I felt there was a way to improve how you shop for mattresses and the experience that you get from it. There’s a lot more value that you can get out of it.”
Believing he could improve on current industry’s standards, Sauer opened Suissly with funding from Swiss investors, stealing away local industry employees in the process.
Suissly is also opening a second office in Switzerland.