How Kip&Co plans to disrupt Australia’s mattress industry, in style

When Alex McCabe, Kate Heppell and Hayley Pannekoecke founded colourful lifestyle brand Kip&Co in 2010, they never imagined one day they would be designing and selling customisable mattresses too. 

In fact, Heppell says the trio didn’t have a business plan or “five-year strategy”. 

“We simply knew we wanted to start a business together that was creative and flexible,” she tells SmartCompany. 

The founders have certainly done that, attracting a loyal following for their range of bright and fun bedding, apparel and homewares.

That range has included two collaborations with Indigenous artists in remote parts of Australia (the second of which was launched this week), as well as collections with the likes of Ken Done, Mirka Mora, May Gibbs, and even popular drink bottle brand Frank Green. 

And now 13 years later, Kip&Co is making a play to shake up the mattress sector with its locally made mattresses, which went on sale at the end of August. 

“I think we’re disrupting the whole industry,” says Heppell when asked which brands Kip&Co sees as its competitors. 

“Whether that’s cheap foam ‘in a box’ mattresses that may be convenient but are not built to last and so end up in landfill at a much faster rate, or ‘higher end’ mattresses that are functional but lack any originality or fun in design.”

“Functional but fun” mattresses

Heppell’s claim is based on the Kip&Co mattresses’ three key points of difference.

First, the products are made-to-order and customisable. Buyers can choose five different firmness options for their mattress, based on an interchangeable layer system that can be adapted as their sleep needs change. Each side of the mattress can also have a different level of firmness, which the brand says will not only improve sleep quality but help relationships too. 

Heppell explains the idea of a mattress that evolves with you throughout your life stages was sparked when co-founder Hayley Pannekoecke’s husband Jimmy started shift work as a fireman and they found their sleep patterns changing. 

Kip&Co’s new collection. Source: Supplied

“Hayley and her husband Jimmy are high-school sweethearts,” she explains. 

“Having spent decades together (they were literally sweet 16) from young adults through pregnancy to now children, they knew better than anyone that your mattress needs to change over time.”

The adaptability of the mattress also fits with Kip&Co’s focus on sustainability, says Heppell, who says Kip&Co uses 90% locally made materials for the product – including the box it is delivered in. 

The mattresses themselves are made locally in Melbourne, from fabric that is made from 100% local and recycled materials, says Kip&Co, and the foam used has a Global GreenTag GreenRate Level A and OEKO-TEX standard 100 certification. The company says the mattress has also been designed to lose minimal height over a 10-year period, so as to minimise product waste from needing to replace it. 

Thirdly, like Kip&Co’s bright and bold bedding and homewares, the mattresses themselves come in colourful designs as the brand says it’s also “breaking the white bedding trend”. 

The children-sized mattresses are priced from $1,249 and the adult-sized mattresses are priced from $2,899. Each mattress has a 120-night guarantee and 20-year warranty. 

More product categories on the way

Kip&Co sold “quite a few” mattresses on the day they launched, says Heppell, which she believes illustrates that consumers trust the brand “to create products that are high quality, sustainable and beautifully designed”. 

The three founders are passionate about new product development, she says, which is why they add new products to their ranges each season. Entering the lighting category will be the next cap off the rack and Heppell says “there’s plenty more just around the corner”. 

“Product development is one of the things that the three of us love the most and keeps us inspired and motivated,” she says. 

These new products will unlock more growth for Kip&Co, which currently sells one item every two minutes and has 2,500 products in its range. There are more collaborations in store for the next 12 months, says Heppell, including one with an “iconic Australian brand”, and the founders hope to visit their long-term suppliers in India too. 

Kip&Co is now a multimillion-dollar brand and a much bigger business than the one the founders invested $30,000 in creating over a decade ago. 

Heppell says her advice to entrepreneurs who are starting out in their journey is simply: “give it a go”. 

“Too often people get tied up in knots trying to get everything perfect before they launch, but your business will never be ‘perfect’. 

“It’s a continuously evolving beast and the only way to improve it is to start.”