Select Comfort

Select Comfort is a U.S.-based manufacturer that manufactures the Sleep Number and Comfortaire beds as well as foundations and bedding accessories. The company is based in Plymouth, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. In addition to its Minnesota headquarters, Select Comfort has manufacturing and distribution facilities in South Carolina and Utah. As of 2015, the company employed 3,098 people across the United States.

In 1980, the category of adjustable air-supported sleep systems was invented by a private company, Comfortaire Corporation, of South Carolina Bob Walker left Comfortaire and formed a new company in 1987 called Select Comfort. Select Comfort acquired Comfortaire in 2013.

The company's TV commercials used to feature actress Lindsay Wagner. Other endorsers include conservative radio talk show hosts Glenn Beck, Paul Harvey and Laura Ingraham; Rush Limbaugh also previously advertised the product, but the company pulled its advertising in the wake of the Rush Limbaugh–Sandra Fluke controversy.

Select Comfort was founded in 1987 by Robert "Bob" Walker and his wife JoAnn Walker. As of December 2011^[update], Select Comfort holds 23 issued or pending U.S. patents and 40 issued or pending foreign patents for its products. Select Comfort products are sold through 477 company-owned stores located across the United States; direct marketing operations; and online at sleepnumber.com. The current CEO is Shelly Ibach.

The company's signature product is the Sleep Number bed, an adjustable air mattress. The "sleep number" is a setting that adjusts the firmness of the mattress, adjusted by air pressure, with higher numbers (up to 100) denoting higher pressure and more firmness. In addition, each side of full size and larger beds has its own chamber to allow for separate adjustment. There are different models of Sleep Number beds with various features, and Select Comfort has introduced a memory foam version of the Sleep Number mattress as well.