Interview: Meet sustainable bedding company Scooms

A few years ago, founders Jonathan & Emily moved their family back to Surrey from California, where Jonathan had been working for a digital health start-up company. They needed new duvets, pillows and bed linen, but it was impossible to find the quality they wanted.

With this gap in the market, they decided to create their own ideal environmentally-friendly, sustainably sourced duvet, pillow and bed linen set. As Emily is allergic to dust mites, a key USP was that it had to be suitable for dust mite allergy sufferers too.

Here we share more about their brand – scooms…

Tell us more about your background…

Emily and I ran an online rewards programme together for over 10 years, before I was offered a role to lead a digital health start-up in California in 2010″, says Jonathan. “It was an amazing opportunity and the whole family moved to Silicone Valley for two years. The project did really well, winning an award from NASA and I even got to do a TedEx talk!

We came back to the UK and from 2012, Jonathan worked for several other internet businesses across the online retail and B2B sectors, but we always felt the pull to set up our own business”, adds Emily. “We began working on the idea of ‘scooms’ in 2016, having noticed how complicated it seemed to be trying to find high-quality, natural bedding that wasn’t covered in plastic. It always seemed very natural for us to run our own business together!

How did scooms come about and why?

When we moved back to the UK from California, we needed new duvets, pillows and bed linen, but we found the bedding market really confusing and it was impossible to work out which products were best and which accreditations were important. We decided to create our own range of environmentally friendly, sustainably sourced duvets, pillows and bed linen that we felt were the best of the best on the market. As Emily is allergic to dust mites, we had to make sure the entire range would be suitable for dust mite allergy sufferers too.

Why was it important for you to bring a simplified product offering to the market?

There is so much choice in the bedding market and so many claims, it seemed beyond confusing. We wanted to cut through the blizzard of claims and counterclaims, to offer the products we believed were the best quality, with the right accreditations, and all at a fair price. We really want people to be able to buy well and buy once. We launched scooms with just two products, the perfect duvet and pillow, to ensure that we got them right for our customers before we developed anything more.

How did the products come about?

We wanted to create our ideal duvet, pillow and bed linen set which would improve the quality of sleep for our customers. We agreed that our products not only had to be the best quality but practical and easy to use, made from the best natural materials, long-lasting and evergreen. They also needed to be environmentally friendly, from the products themselves to the packaging they would be delivered in.

Customer service is also really important and we consider it a part of the product. We answer the phones ourselves so that we get to speak to our customers, deal with their queries, find out what they think of our products and service and give advice where we can. We also provide next day UK delivery across the entire range.

How did you decide on the final range for scooms?

We started with the development of our duvet and spent a lot of time researching and meeting with the best suppliers. We visited the suppliers we most wanted to work with, and whose products and manufacturing process came with all the right accreditations. We chose goose down as the best filling (there’s a LOT of science behind why it’s the best) and experimented with different blends to get the right balance of down and feather.

We then researched the perfect duvet construction and the best 100% cotton casing. We developed our ideal ‘sleeping under a cloud’ duvet with the NoMite anti-allergen standard, so that Emily and our customers with dust mite allergies could rest more easily at night.

We worked with the same supplier to produce our perfect goose down and feather pillows and after trying out various combinations, we decided on an inner core made from 85% feather and 15% down and outer chambers made of 90% down and 10% feather. The result was a pillow that we’re very proud of, that’s wonderfully supportive and comfortable, whilst being breathable and dust mite allergy resistant too.

The next step was to find the perfect bed linen to complement our duvets and pillows. We were determined to source the best possible cotton for our bedding, which meant Egyptian cotton. Our bedding is made with 100% pure Egyptian cotton and comes with the authentic Egyptian cotton trademark. The same attention to detail went into every element of our bed linen, from the large, easy-to-use buttons on our duvet covers to the elegant marrow stitch piping on our classic Oxford pillowcases.

What challenges did you face when bringing a simplified bedding offer to the market?

Our biggest challenge was finding top quality manufacturers who wouldn’t cut any corners. Developing the right balanced mix of materials was also difficult. We had to really cut through the confusing bedding jargon to make our offer clear and spent as much time as we could researching materials, exploring construction techniques, examining sleeping preferences and just talking to people – and in time, scooms was born!

We’ve really focused on making sure shopping with scooms is simple and stress-free. It’s why we offer free next-day delivery over £25 and a 60-night duvet and bed linen trial so customers can snooze with their duvet or bedding and make sure it’s right for them. Showing customers why our products are better than many of the established brands has been key.

Why is focusing on sustainable products and packing solutions so important to you?

Focusing on sustainability is important to us as we want to break away from the ‘fast interiors’ style of shopping where people buy, dispose of and replace products regularly. Not only do we all need to be taking care of our environment, it’s also better for our health to use products and packaging that are environmentally friendly.

This is why our entire range is free from harsh chemicals and toxins, free from single use plastics and delivered in reusable and recyclable packaging. We only work with suppliers who guarantee Okeo-Tex 100 certification for our products. Ultimately, less choice equals less waste and we’re focused on providing products that are evergreen – great products that are designed to last. We are really proud of all the scooms products we have created.

What’s next for scooms?

We’re very excited for the year ahead as we have an array of new products launching now, including our 100% natural candles and diffusers, a firmer pillow range, Mulberry silk pillowcases, cotton mattress protectors and Hungarian goose down and feather mattress toppers. We’re always reviewing new products to complement our bedding and bath ranges, as well as looking at ways to  make sure our current products are just right for our customers.

Visit scooms.com to view the full range and find out more.

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