Once upon a mattress: The Steinhafels "Dreams" factory in Milwaukee

By Stephanie Graham Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Sep 15, 2017 at 2:00 PM

It’s a basic fact – most of us don’t get enough sleep. Between work, family, friends, events, Netflix binging and everything in between, we just don’t! That’s why it’s so important to make sure those precious hours are spent on a quality mattress – that won’t cause you additional stress by costing thousands of dollars.

That’s where Steinhafels "Dreams" mattresses come in! You probably don’t know it, but Steinhafels has its own factory direct mattress line – being made right here in Milwaukee (New Berlin to be exact).

As Wisconsin’s #1 Tempur-Pedic dealer, we know that a comfortable, therapeutic mattress is a top priority for many customers – and it doesn’t get much better than a Tempur! Eddie Saldana is a manager and mattress expert at our new Madison East Superstore. He explains, "It’s all about quality and durability. The Tempur Adapt is denser than any other foam, and responds differently depending on weight and body temperature. Tempur also offers temperature regulating versions of their mattresses – so if you happen to be a warm sleeper, the mattress will help cool you off."

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While Tempurs are a top of the line product, it’s very important we provide our customers with a wide range of style, price and brand options. Having the "Dreams" brand here at Steinhafels allows us to offer a factory-direct mattress option, avoiding the middleman and some of the overhead costs of the bigger brands.

We recently toured the Dreams factory with our buddy Carolynn Buser, OnMilwaukee’s Facebook Live extraordinaire! It was interesting to get a behind the scenes look at how a mattress is made.

Dave Lappe is an owner and the general manager at Steinhafels Bedding Inc. The mattress factory has been housed at MidAmerica Bedding in New Berlin for about 11 years. Lappe points out, "There’s a lot of technology in the beds, but at the end of the day, inside, it’s really just sewing, cutting, gluing and stapling."

The staff is a close-knit group of 25 skilled workers. Lappe says, "We still try to do things here more from a family standpoint. We’ll do lunches, a pseudo holiday party ... you know, being smaller, we have the flexibility to be able to do stuff like that and we take advantage of it every chance we get."

As we tour the factory, Lappe stops to show us some of the highlights – like the giant sewing machines, piles of wood for foundations and the different layers of foam found inside various mattresses. It was also neat to learn about the factory’s efforts to source local materials and recycle as much waste as possible.

Walking through the factory helps to illustrate what "factory-direct" truly means! The simple fact is that Steinhafels can sell "Dreams" items at a discount price because there is no middle-man. The mattresses and bedding products go right from this factory to our 18 stores across the area! What does that mean for customers? Lappe explains, "It comes down to the no middle-man markup story. You know, the brands have a lot of things they put into the bed that you don’t readily get a benefit from, like the advertising. It helps, but we can do it in a lot more economical fashion. You know, this is an old furniture warehouse, and it’s a family-owned location, so overhead is very low."

Lappe was also excited to tell us that Dreams is working on a new lineup for Steinhafels – but couldn’t share the secret details yet!

So if you’re in the market for a new mattress, or just want to do a little research and see what’s out there, stop by any of our Steinhafels Superstores or Mattress Stores. Our skilled mattress experts will be happy to assist you. Your "Dreams" of a new mattress may just become a reality – for a fraction of the cost of the big name brands!