Excerpt:
In recent years, as home furnishings have forged a formidable connection with fashion, pillows have become home front-runners for fashion cues. They signal color and decorating trends — classic, luxe, retro, ethnic or seaside. At the biannual Maison et Objets, a home style exhibition in Paris, pillows have been exciting eye candy for the last few years. It was there that we first saw extraordinary dressmaker details — edging with beautiful "passementerie," along with beads, buttons, feathers and appliques on linen, velvet, wool, felt, leather, cashmere and silk. Companies known for fine fabrics displayed couture-worthy pillows begging to be touched. Today, amazingly stylish pillows are available in retail stores from Pier 1 Imports to Anthropologie to Neiman Marcus in prices ranging from less than $20 to thousands of dollars.
Source: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/lifestyle/stories.nsf/homedecor/story/4F4DEBFF92378DA98625759400594533?OpenDocument
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Excerpt:
The soft and cuddly stuffed animals that hit the market in March are more than just another plush toy. Pull apart the Velcro and the creatures become pillows . Unzip them -- they become blankets. Known as Zoobies , the toy animals are the brainchild of J.C. and Reed Smoot, two brothers who were looking for a different kind of product. Reed Smoot lives in China and was importing stuffed animals that turned into pillows or blankets when they decided to do something on their own, said marketing director Ryan Treft. No one was making a stuffed toy that did both. Thus Zoobies was born and patented. Last February the fledgling company entered the prestigious TIA Toy Fair in New York. They hit the ground running with 12 different animals called the Safari line and in March began selling to boutiques and gift shops. But then orders from larger wholesalers began to come in and their popularity grew.
Source: Hardy, Rodger L. "Holy transformers! Stuffed animals change to pillow and blanket." Deseret News, The (Salt Lake City, UT) 30 Aug. 2007, Final, LOCAL: U05. Access World News. NewsBank. University of Texas at San Antonio, John Peace Library. San Antonio, TX. 14 Apr 2009
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Excerpt: The machine-washable polar fleece travel pillow, arm sling and blanket do what the name suggests: They make you downright cozy. The unusual part is the arm sling—or arm hammock, as the maker calls it—in which you can rest both arms in toasty comfort. This and other COZYTraveler products recently debuted in military exchanges, which make great sense. Although Marines in particular have been known to sleep sitting up when a shut-eye opportunity arises, this makes a comfy companion on military transports that most certainly were not built for passenger comfort.
Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-tc-trav-gear-0407-0412apr12,0,6875448.story
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Excerpt: But Wall Street being Wall Street, a miss by a company on as fast a track as Tempur-Pedic, with a five-year average earnings growth rate of 53%, results in more than a trip to the woodshed. Like many companies, Tempur-Pedic has blamed the weaker-than-expected results largely on the economy. Still, Tempur-Pedic investors may have something else to keep them up at night if traditional bed manufacturers, such as Sealy Corp. and Simmons Bedding Co., finally make headway with beds that don't use inner springs. This isn't the first time Tempur-Pedic has been red-flagged by yours truly because of looming competition from established brands. As recently as three years ago, I pointed out that the big bed makers attempted to ride the success of Tempur-Pedic's marketing with visco knock-offs of their own.
Source: Greenberg, Herb. “Rivals Won't Let Tempur-Pedic Rest." Wall Street Journal, The 16 Feb. 2008, Final, Weekend Investor: 1. Access World News. NewsBank. University of Texas at San Antonio, John Peace Library. San Antonio, TX. 14 Apr 2009
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Excerpt: Mattress and pillow maker Tempur-Pedic Management Inc. and a subsidiary have lodged a patent infringement suit against rival Sealy Corp., alleging that Sealy mattresses, cushions and pillows infringe two Tempur-Pedic patents for "comfort pillows." Tempur-Pedic filed the suit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, alleging in the complaint that Sealy “sought to exploit the success and reputation enjoyed...
Source: http://ip.law360.com/registrations/user_registration?article_id=93556&concurrency_check=false
Source: http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/southwest/1523879,4_6_JO13_SWALLUSION_S1.article
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