Claire Watkin, CEO at The Fine Bedding Company, reflects on a positive 2025, fuelling new year optimism in sustainable sleep.
Bedding manufacturer and distributor The Fine Bedding Company experienced an “incredibly positive” 2025, which included its biggest product launch – the HoneyFoam™ Pillow. “We’ve continued to see real enthusiasm from our customers and retail partners for products that combine sleep innovation with genuine sustainability,” Claire said.
“One of the main highlights was our biggest launch of the year, the HoneyFoam™ Pillow, which has been incredibly well received. Born from a long-standing aim to meet the increasing demand for personalised sleep and tackle the environmental challenges of standard memory foam – it’s a fully adjustable memory foam pillow that adapts to you and evolves with you as your preferences change over time – designed to be the last pillow you’ll ever need!”
From products to brand, the business has also seen big success from Night Lark. “A major part of our brand success this year has come from Night Lark. We’ve really focused on expanding our presence, and the response has been fantastic. Our seasonal, trend-led designs continue to really resonate with our customers, offering something fresh, relevant and stylish, paired with the ease and convenience of our signature Night Lark Coverless Duvet – removing the need for fiddly fastenings and covers. People have really been responding well to the simplicity of being able to just wash it, dry it and pop it straight back on the bed. It’s been a real highlight watching the brand grow and reach new audiences.
“On top of this, we recently achieved a B Corp re-certification, improving overall B Impact Score from 84.3 in 2022 to an impressive 112.6 in 2025, and alongside this also completed our first EcoVadis assessment, earning a Bronze Medal. We’re incredibly proud of both achievements, which mark important milestones in our sustainability journey.”
Alongside product and brand development, The Fine Bedding Company has also refreshed its board, welcoming Craig Reeve as Sales Director, David Abbott as its new Brand & Marketing Director, Lee Braddock as Supply Chain Director and Matt Frier as CFO. “These appointments really mark a big step forward for us and reflect our ambition to strengthen the business further,” Claire added.
The company has also been busy further strengthening its supply chain. Amid rising cost pressures, particularly around raw materials, and growing expectations around chemical, social and environmental compliance, the business has extended is sustainability standards further down the supply chain as key priority. “One of the bigger challenges has been extending our sustainability standards further down the supply chain, especially with finishing mills in regions where environmental and social oversight hasn’t always been a priority,” Claire continued.
“To address this, we work very closely and collaboratively with our suppliers, taking the time to assess where improvements can be made and supporting progress in areas such as chemical use, environmental impact, working conditions and quality. By building long-term relationships and focusing on steady improvement rather than quick fixes, we’ve been able to make measurable progress in creating a more resilient and responsible supply chain.
“Our Estonian eco-factory (which celebrated its 25-year anniversary during 2025) has played a huge role in helping us remain resilient. It runs on 100% renewable energy, operates with zero waste and is flexible enough to adapt as the market shifts. We’ve also invested in energy-efficient systems so we can stay ahead of sustainability targets and expectations.”
In keeping with investments across the business, The Fine Bedding Company has focussed on projects that push it further towards circularity. One of the most exciting developments has been its trial exploring how it can recycle end-of-life duvets back into a ‘popcorn’ style fibre that can be fed back into the supply chain as an alternative to using recycled bottles. “It’s still early days, but the trial has already given us valuable insight into what a closed-loop system could look like for us in the future,” Claire revealed.
“Our upgrades to a new Night Lark printing setup have also made a real difference. Our setup is designed to be flexible and agile, allowing us to turn around printed fabrics quickly and respond to trends with much shorter lead times. This has played a big role in the success of our seasonal and trend-led designs, helping us stay relevant to what our customers are looking for while also keeping production efficient.
“We’ve also invested heavily in new materials development, including the installation of a new production line to manufacture HoneyFoam™, a material developed in collaboration with one of our suppliers. The foam has around a 50% lower carbon footprint than traditional foam. Working very closely with our suppliers, we’ve developed a biomass balance product, replacing fossil fuel-based raw materials with 37% renewable alternatives – such as waste by-products from vegetable oil and other industries – right from the start of production. It’s one of the most exciting innovations we’ve brought to market and really reflects our focus on solutions that push our sustainability efforts to the next level.”
The investments have also stretched externally too, with the company announcing a partnership with US sleep brand BEDGEAR® midway through 2025 that was later launched at Bed Show back in September. The collaboration marked BEDGEAR’s strategic entry into the UK and a further expansion into Ireland, with The Fine Bedding Company serving as a distributor of BEDGEAR products across the territories. “This partnership aligns with our commitment to delivering high-quality, innovative sleep solutions,” Claire stated. “BEDGEAR’s focus on personalisation and Performance® is unlike anything currently in our market, and we look forward to shaping the future of sleep together.”
The partnership comes at a time of growing consumer interest in wellness and personalised solutions, making it a timely link-up for both brands. Furthermore, consumers are also becoming much more vigilant about what they’re buying, as Claire explains: “People are looking for products that are durable, traceable, responsibly made and actually improve their sleep quality. They also want honesty, especially around sustainability claims.
“We’ve seen strong growth in demand for premium sleep solutions, more personalised products and ranges that have clear and measurable environmental credentials – like our HoneyFoam™ Pillow and Return To Nature range. Sleep itself has become a bigger priority in people’s wellbeing routines and that shift is creating a lot of opportunity for us, both in education and innovation. We’ve also been seeing many customers discover the brand for the first time through hotel stays, something that we’re seeing often in Trustpilot reviews. Experiencing the products in a hotel environment builds instant trust, and when people have a great night’s sleep away from home, they often want to bring that same quality of sleep back with them.”
Looking to the year ahead, 2026 will see more “exciting plans” come to fore. “We’re amplifying our retail presence with new in-store sleep spaces alongside key retail partners and creating more immersive ways for customers to experience our products,” Claire added. “We’re also exploring the launch of a new customer initiative called 1912 Partnership, which is still in development but has the potential to offer exclusive benefits, content and support to help people get even more out of their sleep. There’s a lot in the pipeline and our team is excited about what’s ahead.
“We’re incredibly proud of the people behind our products, from our long serving teams in Estonia to our partners and retailers who have supported us. Innovation is at the heart of our family business and has been for over a century, but what really keeps us moving forward is the belief that better sleep and better sustainability can, and absolutely should, go hand in hand.”
