Bed makers race to sell cooler sleep as scorching summer looms

The bed industry has moved early into its summer selling season. Cool duvets, chilled pads, body pillows designed to be held while sleeping, and mattresses that track heart rate and restlessness have all entered the market. With heat arriving earlier than usual and a high likelihood of extreme temperatures this summer, how cold and comfortable a night's sleep can be has emerged as the industry's new competitive battleground.

According to bedding industry sources, Simmons is leading with two summer cooling products: its "All Season Cooling Set" and "Mattress Cooling Pad." The All Season Cooling Set pairs a cooling pillowcase with a single-layer duvet. The side that touches the skin uses a cooling fabric, while the reverse uses cotton, allowing users to flip it depending on the season or personal preference. The company pitches the product as a way to lower the perceived temperature of your bed without replacing the mattress.

Sales of the All Season Cooling Set surged 175 percent in the third week of May compared with the week before. The Mattress Cooling Pad more than doubled in sales during the second week of April from the prior week. The bed industry has traditionally treated spring and fall — driven by moving and wedding-season demand — as its peak periods, but summer bedding replacement is increasingly carving out its own market.

The Korea Meteorological Administration forecasts temperatures from June through August will run above the seasonal average. The probability of above-normal temperatures is 60 percent for both June and July, and 50 percent for August. Rainfall is also expected to be heavier than usual in June and July, pointing to more hot, humid nights ahead. That outlook is precisely why bed and bedding makers are pushing cooling-fabric products to the front of their lineups.

ACE Bed is also seeing strong momentum in its cooling lineup. Sales of its cooling products jumped 161.1 percent in the third week of May compared with the prior week. Its flagship item is the "Microcare Cooling Pad," which uses Kolon's cooling yarn "Forpe." The company says the pad lowers skin-contact temperature by roughly 6.3 degrees Celsius and also emphasizes its moisture-wicking and breathability properties.

Sales of the "Cooling Body Pillow" — a long pillow designed to be held while sleeping — have also climbed. ACE Bed said sales of the product from January through April this year rose 71.7 percent from the same period a year earlier. The company highlights its full-body feel, high elasticity and smooth texture as key selling points. "Summer bedding is no longer seen as a seasonal accessory but as a product that transforms the sleep environment," an industry official said.

Orders this month for two Hyundai Livart mattresses featuring German-made Saxony wool — the "Ensleep Liberta Mattress" and the "Ensleep Estellestar Mattress" — rose more than 20 percent from last month. Saxony wool regulates temperature, which the company says creates a more comfortable sleeping environment.

Hyundai Livart said the material absorbs moisture equivalent to 30 percent of its own weight without feeling wet and releases that moisture efficiently, helping maintain sleep quality in the humid conditions typical of Korean summers.

The cooling competition is also spilling into a battle of material specifications. A metric frequently cited in the bedding industry is Q-max, which measures how quickly heat transfers from skin to fabric at the moment of contact. A higher Q-max value means the fabric feels cooler to the touch. However, the actual sensation varies depending on fabric structure, post-wash performance, breathability and perspiration management.

Kyungdong Navien announced Wednesday the launch of its 2026 "Navien Sleep Mat Four Seasons," a new product line with significantly improved temperature control and ease of use. The lineup comes in two variants: the "Air" model and the "Pro" model. In cooling mode, the Air draws in room air chilled by a fan in the Sleep Hub unit and circulates it through water. The Pro applies Peltier semiconductor cooling technology to lower the water temperature directly before circulating it.

The Pro model features enhanced left-right independent temperature control, enabling precise adjustment in both heating and cooling modes. An "AI Sleep Mode," co-developed with AI sleep technology firm Aseep, analyzes sleep stages based on breathing sounds and automatically adjusts the mat's temperature. Additional features include a bedding-dry mode that uses 45-degree hot water to remove moisture, an automatic water-drain function, and automatic UV sterilization that eliminates 99.9 percent of microorganisms in the water.

The shift is visible on online living platforms as well. An analysis of three weeks of search data in May by home furnishings platform Ohouse showed that searches for "cooling duvet set" rose 249 percent from April. Searches for "cooling pad" climbed 234 percent and "cooling duvet" 220 percent. Even searches for "cool mat" — outside the bedding category — were up 153 percent. Consumers are getting ahead of the heat, shopping for summer bedding before the tropical nights have even begun.

Coway has broadened its focus to overall sleep management. The company's sleep and healing care brand Berex is leading this year with three series: the R Series stretching motion bed, the M Series massage mattress and the S Series sleep-sensor mattress. The Berex sleep-sensor mattress tracks sleep duration, breathing, heart rate and restlessness without requiring any wearable device.

The Berex R Series offers up to 81 configurations through combinations of functions, sizes, headboards and colors under the "Berex Sleep System 81" concept. Beds are no longer just furniture for lying down but devices that adapt to each person's sleep habits and physical condition. Coway recently unveiled its "BED TASTE SOCIETY" campaign, putting individual sleep preferences at the center of its brand message.