Gardner Mattress

Factory-direct natural-materials mattresses from the original Salem plant.

Approved

Founded: 1933
Website: gardnermattress.com
HQ: USA
Manufacturing: USA
Ownership type: Family-owned
Status since: 2026-07-08

Ownership

Founded by Alan J. Gardner in 1933. Grandson Gardner P. Sisk joined in 1972, bought the company through a pension arrangement a few years later, and remains president alongside his son Kirk.

Why Approved

Family succession by internal buyout, no outside capital, and the factory is the same building the founder bought with his wife's dowry. The approved pattern.

Reversibility

What would change our verdict

Sale outside the family. Closure of the Salem factory.

Read the full investigation

Investigation · May 14, 2026

Your Mattress Got Worse On Purpose

The world's largest mattress manufacturer just bought America's largest mattress retailer for $4 billion. The FTC voted 5-0 to block it. A federal judge agreed the merger would let the manufacturer push rivals off the retailer's showroom floor, then approved it anyway. 75% of that floor is now contractually permitted to be the manufacturer's own brands. The same company sells the same Sealy mattress under four different names at four different stores so you can't comparison shop, and writes 20-year warranties designed to void if you stain them.

Read the full investigation

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