Luxury Platform MadaLuxe To Open Stores For High End Swedish Bed-Maker Hästens

MadaLuxe Group, a luxury distribution platform, has multiple operating divisions across different categories, with the one constant being it deals only in luxury products. From fashion to eyewear to time pieces, the company’s goal is to meet the luxury consumer and provide for the different ways they live their lives.

MadaLuxe embarked on a strategic partnership with Hästens, the renowned Swedish luxury bed-making company. MadaLuxe, North America’s leading luxury distributor, will open 20 Hästens stores across the United States over the next three to five years.

MadaLuxe Group’s home division has signed leases for two stores in Texas, the first of which will officially open in the prestigious Knox Henderson district in Dallas on May 4. The second location will open in Houston’s River Oaks luxury shopping district in the fall.

“We built a business and infrastructure that has expertise in the luxury space,” said Adam Freede, cofounder and CEO of MadaLuxe Group. “To some extent, we have a background that’s not in mattresses, but we are category-agnostic. We have the luxury knowhow, which applies to any category and sector. We built the infrastructure, and we have the overhead.”

Freede said Hästens is a natural extension for MadaLuxe. “Why this category,” he asked rhetorically. “There is no greater luxury than personal health and well-being. Obviously, if you don’t have that, you don’t really have any other luxury in your life.”

The focus on sleep and the pursuit of getting a good night of shut-eye, has become for some obsessive. “Every day it’s become more and more known to everybody, how important sleep is, and how you sleep,” Freede said. “There are sleep doctors out there and different things people take to sleep soundly.”

Founded in Sweden in 1852, Hästens is a sixth-generation family-owned company that makes luxurious beds and mattresses, which range in price from $40,000 to $550,000. The company’s mission is to change the way people think about and prioritize sleep, so they can enjoy a better quality of life.

Each bed is handcrafted with the utmost care and attention to detail using the finest natural materials, including sustainably sourced cotton, wool and slow-grown pine. Hästens beds are renowned for their incredible comfort and support and are viewed by celebrities, athletes and luxury consumers worldwide as the ultimate modern wellness investment.

The importance of a great mattress cannot be overstated. “From a strategic position standpoint, if you think about the time we’re heading into, one place we feel will be the least impacted by a slowdown in spending will be people spending money on themselves,” Freede said.

“Consumers may slow down on eyewear or watches or handbags, but we believe this is a diversification of how the luxury consumer will spend,” Freede added. “When there’s a downturn in the economy, to some extent, it may become a little taboo to spend money on luxury items that show off to everybody in the world what they are. Certainly buying a mattress with a price tag of $40,000 that goes up to $550,000, is in line with acquired luxury and understated luxury.

Freede compared the cost of a Hästens mattress to buying an expensive car, noting that people spend a couple hours a day in their car, but spend eight or more hours in their bed.

“If you’re a high performance athlete, there’s nothing more important than your ability to perform physically. Sure, you have to be mentally prepared to do it. Unlike the business profession, for most of us, our physical performance is not paramount, it’s our mental performance,” Freede said. “These men and women spend half a year on the road and they have to be in tip top shape.”

Celebrities who are said to favor Hästens’ Vividus model include Angelina Jolie, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. The $200,000 Vividus is completely built by hand, using natural materials such as horsetail hair, flax, cotton and Swedish pine.

“They are the absolute best in class in this space,” said Freede. “They are true artisans. Some of the craftsmen and artisans are third and fourth generation. It really is a heritage product in the truest form of artisanal luxury.”

“Our success at Hästens has always depended on our strong relationships and we’re extremely pleased to partner with the luxury experts at MadaLuxe Group to build our U.S. presence,” said Jan Ryde, executive chairman and owner of Hästens. “The power of MadaLuxe Group’s luxury platform and the team’s deep knowledge will allow us to scale our business in the U.S. and provide an elevated in-store experience to consumers seeking to improve their sleep and, in turn, their quality of life.”

“Hästens beds are truly one of a kind, providing the ultimate sleep experience to the world’s most discerning clients,” said Bradley Belen, partner and managing director of the Hästens business of MadaLuxe Group’s home division. “We’re thrilled to bring the first Hästens store to Dallas and we can’t wait to give our clientele the opportunity to experience the comfort and quality of this iconic brand for themselves.”

Freede said the partnership represents two “very ambitious family-owned companies that compliment each other really well. Like many luxury businesses, MadaLuxe has performed very well,” he said. “We’ve expanded seven-fold in the last five years, and three-fold in the last three years. We’re on a nice growth trajectory as we continue to expand category-wise. We believe firmly in the luxury space and the platform that we’ve built and we’re continuing to scale, categorically, vertically and geographically, so we believe this is just the beginning of our growth trajectory.

“We’re going to be marketing Hästens across every medium, whether it’s digital, physical, billboards, etc.,” said Freede. “This is really such a high end consumer, it’s really about high touch, curated, personalized marketing and events and very high-end brand partnerships and collaborations. It’s not a shotgun approach, it’s more hyper-focused marketing going after consumers in the right places.

“We’re going to be very consistent with the global brand aesthetic,” Freede said of the stores. “We’re going to have a pretty robust footprint in terms of showcasing the entire brand, and not just the mattresses, but all the accessories from pillow cases and sheets to robes. We’re going to go after the whole sleep lifestyle around the mattress in a pretty aggressive manner. Our store footprints in general are going to be on the larger size of the global footprint. We want to be anywhere the luxury customer is going.”