Demand for cooling pads, sheets surge in Korea amid heatwave

Welcron Co.’s Cooling bedding items. [Courtesy of Welcron]

South Korean bedding firms are seeing a rise in the popularity of cooling pads and sheets as the country goes through the hottest month of the year both during the day and night.

According to Allerman, Korea’s No.1 bedding manufacturer, on Monday, sales of cooling bedding products soared by more than 50 percent between August 1 and 15 compared to a year ago.

“We saw a 58 percent surge in the sales volume of cooling materials products and 18 percent in the sales,” said an unnamed official from Allerman. “The surge is attributed to our efforts to diversify design and product categories.”

The brand adopted high-performance polyethylene fiber, known as CoolTough, a bedding fiber with enhanced cooling features, to its products.

Evezary, another bedding maker in Korea, is also seeing growing popularity in cooling beds and sheets.

Sales of cooling bedding materials surged 150 percent between June 1 and 18 from a year ago. The company’s bedding offerings, namely Coolpas and Coldline, are designed to lower skin surface temperature by 3 degrees Celsius.

Cooling materials, ranging from sheets to toppers and pillows, are designed to lower skin temperatures as they are made of cooling fibers capable of higher heat conductivity. To keep the body cooler, the fabric absorbs the moisture on the skin’s surface to ensure that the body‘s heat is conveyed through the material.

Welcron Co., an industrial fiber maker that runs the bedding brand Sesa Living, has focused on marketing for cooling bedding items.

“The company expanded its production volume by 30 percent, but the products made this year have been sold out,” according to the fiber maker.

Daemyung Sonoseason Co. said that its bedding brand Sonoseason is also enjoying a notable upswing in the sales of its cooling sheets.

After experiencing an impressive 330 percent surge in sales in May, which was approximately four times higher than the previous month, summer sales have more than doubled compared to the same period last year.

“Over the past 3 months from June to August, as compared to the same months last year, we’ve seen a 447 percent increase in sales volume and a remarkable 369 percent increase in sales,” said an official from the company.

The flagship item Graphinol Functional Bedding is manufactured using a mix of cooling fiber and novel material Graphinol. The high-performance, new material has its highly antibiotic and deodorant function, with enhanced durability. Its cooling ability is 3 times better than other brands made from ordinary cooling materials.

The surging popularity of cooling materials has also affected the mattress industry.

Simmons Bedding Co. reported that sales of its N32 Regular Topper, a slim mattress topper designed to fit over a mattress, grew by over 20 percent in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter.

The N32 Regular Topper is designed to prevent night sweats by using vegetable materials that keep the body cooler for the surface of the topper.

Ace Bed Corp.’s Microcare Cooling Pad saw a 67 percent surge in sales during the first half. The product ensures a cooling effect using a fiber emitting heat rapidly.