In a marketplace that can be ambivalent about purchasing luxury goods, particularly among Millennials and the Gen Z set, one game-changing bedding brand—cloudten—is garnering more than its fair share of A-List attention. Beyond an array of performance athletes like tennis pro-Genie Bouchard, NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Terrell Owens, and United States Olympic gold-medalist swimmer Ryan Lochte reportedly basking in this uber-premium bedding, throngs of wealthy celebrities, international models, and musicians like Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, and Third Eye Blind are slumbering with cloudten just the same.
It’s no surprise that such high-caliber clientele are choosing to lay their heads on cloudten given the company’s sleep products are notoriously made from ethically and sustainably-crafted Egyptian Cotton—a material long-revered as the apex of bedding luxury. But, even so, all Egyptian Cotton goods are not created equal, and this company strives to go the extra mile to ensure satisfaction.
In fact, according to Zack Holland, cloudten Co-Founder, CMO and brand designer, “Even after our products are imported, they undergo a stringent hand-quality check where only the absolute best pieces are sent to customers. We never chemical-wash our small batch-crafted bedding, but instead use a proprietary system to reach what we firmly believe to be the perfect mix of soft, sturdy and cool.”
And “cool” is the right word, both literally and figuratively. While cloudten’s luxury bedding is enjoyed by people of all ages, this accessible and informal personal brand is making a notable mark. They do an especially good job of reaching young professionals who are ready to upgrade their home situation—from college-owned and parent-purchased products to easy, worthwhile, and tangible investments of their own.
As to why cloudten is resonating so well in today’s innovation-laden marketplace, surely Holland’s modern branding methodologies focused on quality content that “breaks the noise” deserves much credit. When asked for specifics on that front, he provided insight on several key strategies distinguishing the brand from others in the space. Regarding this, Holland shared the following approaches:
1. Price transparency
Our same price, any size bed model is completely unique in the industry and speaks to our desire to be authentic and honest throughout our approach. We don’t advertise our twin price, and then gouge customers for twice that amount on a normal Queen or King purchase. What you see is what you pay.
2. Streamlined selections
At cloudten, we intentionally don’t overwhelm customers with hundreds of options and design variations. Instead, we selected two different, yet incredible, material options in Percale and Sateen Egyptian Cotton, and work with five designer-selected colorways. We choose to focus on quality through a tasteful selection of options instead of simply throwing anything onto the market.
3. Image is everything
A very real difference between cloudten and other brands on the market is our youthful, modern branding and marketing choices that offer a much-needed jolt of lighthearted fun and sexiness to an otherwise dull and outdated market.
4. Redefining ingenuity
cloudten as a brand is focused on disrupting an industry whose so-called “innovators” simply took the same interior design-focused bedroom photography and placed it on Instagram. Starting with bedding but with full plans to expand to everything that speaks to “end of day comfort,” we are taking a purchase-necessity and making it a fun and involved process from social media and customer interaction to influencer collaborations.
5. Obsessive customer care
cloudten has a customer-always-first approach to customer service. It’s why we offer an industry-longest 100-night trial, where customers can return their bedding for any reason if they don’t love it (which very few choose to do). Our customer support team is world-class and available to help customers with decisions or problems 24/7 through phone, email, or chat on our site.
6. Authentic eco-consciousness
The bedding industry is definitely turning an eye to sustainability as it finally comes under the same customer demand as clothing has for a while now. Luckily, cloudten had sustainability and manufacturing ethics as a core of our business from the beginning. Produced in a facility running exclusively on clean bio-steam, never using chemicals throughout our washing process, and only working with facilities with minimum wage, maternity leave, and paid time off have been crucial to us, despite lower margins as a result.
Beyond Holland’s own branding prowess, cloudten is owned and operated by two other innovators who have greatly facilitated the company’s rapid growth and success: Co-CEO’s Margarita and Igor Poluyko. They are both veterans of the bedding industry, operating the world’s highest-selling bedding brand Mellanni Fine Linens–ostensibly Amazon’s leading bedding brand with over 40,000 positive reviews on that platform, alone. Their combined product and fulfillment knowledge, as well as an obsession with world-class customer service, perfectly complement Holland’s out-of-the-box branding style and forward-thinking marketing techniques.
Brilliant branding aside, the product must, of course, stand on its own merit…and it does. I’ve personally tested one of the company’s bedding bundles and marveled not only about the apparent quality and comfort but also, performance-wise, the temperature-control…a grave shortcoming for many sheet sets. In addition to their Percale Sheet options that are crisp, lightweight, and stonewashed for a stay-cool matte finish, on the silkier side they have an Amora Sateen Sheet Set bundle. Billed as “an entire sleep experience built for today’s true bed lover,” this all-in-one solution features soft, smooth, and weighted luxury sheets, two cool pillowcases, and a fluffy, buttery duvet cover that boast 100 percent hyper-combed, long-staple Egyptian Cotton. I personally enjoy intentional weighting of sheets, though if lighter is preferred the Percale option is a great alternative.
As to some of the company’s near-and-long-term goals, Holland revealed that, in the short term, the company aims to continue adding modern options to its customers, such assets without top sheets, while maintaining a focus on insane product quality. For the long term, he divulged that cloudten “will evolve into a brand known for everything you’d like to have near you at the end of a long day–from candles and bedtime clothing to a few other fun surprises we have in mind. We will also continue to collaborate and work with the world’s leading performance athletes and influence-wielders to push the trend-forward brand toward the forefront of modern thought.” It’s certainly a strategy that’s indubitably delivered thus far.
It’s curious that the average person spends one-third of their lives in bed—yet hesitates to make dramatic improvements to the overall experience, according to Holland. Perhaps cloudten actually challenging the stagnant ideals of an age-old industry will change that.
“We have an authentic mission at cloudten to make buying bedding fun and sexy so that can really get people excited about buying a textile product,” Holland said. In my estimation, this shrewd and sumptuous lifestyle-minded sleep brand can make this dream a reality.
