"Everything we do as manufacturers at Lady Americana affects our retail partners," says Kerry Tramel, President of the national bedding brand Lady Americana. Tramel’s and Lady Americana’s overall business philosophy starts with the needs and concerns of the retailer and their customers. "Many mattress companies start with a manufacturing perspective. They shop for components; they then determine product based on the pricing structure and the costs to make the product; then based on internal planning and business decisions, that is what ends up being their line and what they place on the retail floor. We take a whole other approach," says Tramel. "We look at the total picture from our retail partner’s perspective. We ask ourselves, ‘how does each bed we are proposing perform in relationship to the total retailer program? What works for our retail partner?’ We look at the features and benefits our retailers want to offer their customers, then we plan out, price out and build the product accordingly," says Tramel. "Retail is where it has to happen."

"We never lose sight of this. This is what Lady American stands for. We know we have to have a commitment to quality because returns and poor quality effect our partners. When retailers have quality or performance problems, they effect our Lady Americana companies. To sum it up, our Lady Americana culture is geared to make sure our retail partners and their customers are happy, satisfied and that our product lasts and performs superbly!"

Lady Americana’s retail perspective is grounded in the fact that the brand is owned by Mathis Brothers Furniture, an Oklahoma City-based furniture retailer with 8 stores spread across the Southwest from Oklahoma to the newest and largest store opening in Ontario, California. Mathis acquired Lady Americana in January 2000 from Gene Shayer and Dot Allen, who founded Lady Americana in 1982. Shayer, who had been with Spring Air and Springwall of Canada, saw an opportunity to pull together a few licensees to become an entrepreneur while creating a high value, lower cost, national brand. Mathis Brothers became Lady Americana’s 10th licensee in 1997, and in 2000 the company was approached to purchase the Lady Americana brand. Mathis executives decided that it was a good move to bring their retail experience together and the deal was completed in 2000.

Kerry Tramel started with Mathis Brothers as a retail cashier to make money for college and career plans that would have taken him elsewhere. He had no idea that he would take to retail as he did. However Tramel informs BEDROOM Magazine that he soon became a store merchandiser and launched a career that would find him 17 years with Mathis and as the CEO of Lady Americana. When Mathis Brothers acquired Lady Americana in 2000, it was agreed that Gene Shayer would stay on as transition leader for a couple of years. In January 2003 Tramel took over as President of Lady Americana and set about launching a series of product development initiatives, marketing programs and expansion of national and international licensees. Tramel informed BEDROOM that there are 12 licensees in North America (US and Canada), and 9 overseas. Overseas growth of the brand has been very gratifying to Tramel and his growth team.

Stressing the Lady Americana philosophy of being a supportive partner, Tramel notes that "We offer our programs on an ala carte basis. It is very, very important that we remain flexible to our local markets and that our local factories are able to meet their customers’ needs. We are supportive rather than dictatorial," emphasizes Tramel.

Some of the details of the Lady Americana product line are featured in this issue of BEDROOM; however, two innovative programs deserve a mention because they reflect Tramel’s vision for a superior, customer needs-driven product. The first is the brand new Visco Kidz Program. "These beds are dynamite," says Tramel. "This a fun and functional 5 SKU bed line that allows retailers to offer parents the opportunity to buy a superior sleep product for their kids." Specially formulated with a layer of visco-elastic foam that responds to body temperature and weight, the products contour to the shape of the child’s body. These mattresses offer temperature responsive support and comfort for the kids, come in bright colors, and they are fire, bacteria and allergy resistant. Tramel chuckles and exclaims, "They are designed for kids! They come in Barry Blue, Penny Pink, LuLu Lavender, Gilbert Green and Oscar Orange." Noting the retail price point of $249 for a visco-elastic twin mattress, Tramel asks, "What kid wouldn’t want a bed like our Visco Kidz beds, and what a smart thing for parents to purchase such a bed for the little person that means the most to them?"

Lady Americana’s Casa Cristina^® Bedding Collection, launched in conjunction with Cristina Saralegui, the Emmy^® Award winning television journalist often referred to as the "Latin Oprah", is the second innovation worth noting here. Featured in several previous reports in BEDROOM Magazine, the Casa Cristina line was originally launched to attract and meet the needs of the fast growing Latino/Hispanic marketplace in the U.S. Casa Cristina has outperformed the company expectations and has proven to be so popular with retailers that the line is now being marketed beyond the targeted community. "This program has done extremely well," says Tramel. "To a large degree it is because of Christina’s level of participation. She is very involved with choosing fabrics, determining comfort levels and overall aesthetic appeal. She is popular and extremely well received with the Latino market. Her attention to detail has helped us create a product line that crosses over to other smart, savvy consumers," says Tramel.

This editor suspects that much of Lady Americana’s success is the result of hard work, determination and leadership by a man who gives to his industry as a manufacturer (Kerry Tramel is presently the Chairman of the International Sleep Products Association ISPA) but who at the same time never stops being a retailer at heart. It is this first-hand customer knowledge, awareness from a retailer’s perspective that makes Tramel and his company unique and moving forward on a successful track.