1899 to 1960

The Gold Bond Story: Comfort In A 3rd Century

People in the late 1800's were much like we are today. Folks needed their rest after a long day's work. Good sleep has always been the goal for centuries. But a really comfortable mattress? That was a fairly novel idea back in times when mattresses were mostly known as "lumpy".

In 1899, Gold Bond began making mattresses in a four-story brick building a stone's throw from the Connecticut River in Hartford. There were no national mattress brands back then, just small shops turning out bicycles, firearms, machinery, and a myriad of other products along the same riverbank.

1960 to 1995

Boom Times

Hartford was the richest city in the nation, peopled by legends: writer Mark Twain, financier Jay Gould, gun maker Samuel Colt, and home to corporations such as Aetna and The Travelers insurance companies. Later, across the river, Pratt & Whitney would make engines that'd power the world's commercial and military aircraft. Those were exciting days, a good night's sleep was essential.

Gold Bond's founder Isador Naboicheck began manufacturing mattresses that in several decades would earn a reputation as the region's most comfortable. "Comfort and consistency," he told his friends, "this is what we do." With his wife Rebecca at his side, he started something truly enduring.

By the end of World War II, what became America's great consumer society burst on the scene and Gold Bond was delivering mattresses throughout the East, adding prestigious establishments, leading universities and posh hotels to their clientele. By then, the company had been blending its own cotton for 30 years and a "GOLD BOND" mattress had become an essential bedroom centerpiece. The quality was obvious to fussy homemakers. The comfort was welcomed by weary executives and hardworking tradesmen.

Still hand made today just like in the 1950s

Families Work Here

Gold Bond workers would introduce their kids to their boss,"Mr. Naboicheck," who might offer a promising youngster a position with the growing company. Everyone knew Mr. Naboicheck's own sons "Butch" and "Lou," and son in law "Max" were by then working at the factory — Gold Bond was always a family-oriented business. The factory was in its fifth decade now, and had grown into the country's largest independent mattress maker. Company trucks rolled with greater frequency and were much bigger in size. The old building on North Street became small, so the company expanded to new operations about a mile inland, closer to where most of the employees lived. They could walk to work, and put the trolley money to better use.

1995 to 21st Century

Son Learned from Father

In time, Butch succeeded his father Isadore, and the company's contract and retail business continued to grow. People knew the Gold Bond name, so they demanded it. Quality and comfort were always being refined. By now steel innerspring technologies were dominating, yet Gold Bond's pure cotton and hand-made features were beginning to stand alone. "Brand name" mattresses had by now been established by national television advertising, where folks were being taught to look for a "name" first, quality was beginning to take a back seat to more "modern" merchandising and marketing techniques, what later became known as "Madison Avenue".

"Brand names" saturated the airwaves. Gold Bond's philosophy, however, never wavered. "It would be easy to take some of the quality out of our mattress to match these fellows' advertising competition," Butch told his people in the mid 1950's, "but why remove the components that make our mattresses great, only to go and spend any savings on advertising? We're sticking to what my father started. We are going to continue to emphasize comfort and quality. Our customers expect nothing else."

The company continued its growth, and Butch's own son Bob became the third generation to step onto the factory floor. He noticed that everyone was on a first-name basis at the company. This was something he hoped to maintain as time went on, Bob recalls. Those were Bob's earliest days: answering phones, setting up machinery, loading trucks, visiting retailers, sweeping the floor, and learning front office operations. "Every employee and customer was on a first-name basis with my father. That's something special and rare today," he said.

Gold Bond's state of the art factory

World Futon Leader

Today, Gold Bond is not only known as a superior quality leader in the mattress industry, it is also world renowned for making the finest futon mattresses. And for starting something entirely new, the modern futon.

Originally a thin mat in Japan, a futon was rolled up and stashed away each morning. With vision, the futon was to become one of the home furnishings biggest superstars. Butch and Bob saw potential in the futon sofa sleeper. This would be right for bedroom, den, office, living room or guest room. It would be more comfortable and less expensive than the rollouts and sofa sleepers then popular.

So they took this thin Japanese mat — and made it plusher. Once again, comfort was essential to the success of this company. Again, as orders poured into Gold Bond, its factory became too small. So the company moved into its present 115,000 square foot operation a second mile away from the original location. As in 1898, comfort and quality would again propel the Gold Bond futon mattress into mainstream America and into a dozen other countries as well.

"We made the futon thicker. Comfort was the goal. Futons really took hold and roared into the 1980's and 1990's with no signs of slowing down," Bob says. His mantra: "If it's going into someone's living room, it must be comfortable, have eye appeal and last for at least 10 years." Gold Bond pioneered the modern futon sofa sleeper and thereby helped fuel an explosion across the nation that reverberates to this day. This in turn helps inspire the new futon frame styles and fashionable new futon covers, pillows...even window treatments...every year since. Everyone puts a futon somewhere, Bob notes.

Clockwise from top left: Dennis Ferry, Ray Andarowski, Andy Freedman, President Bob Naboicheck.

We're Staying Put

Bob's father Butch passed away recently, now Bob carries on the family tradition. Several years ago, the company added top level management: Dennis, Ray, Alan, and Andy. Bob and his wife Alice, also a Hartford native, have three children: Candace, 23, who works in the fashion industry in Manhattan; Henry, 21, who is now in college; and Alex, 17, a senior heading to college next year. Perhaps a fourth generation will take command of the company one day, Bob says.

"Gold Bond will remain in Hartford and always, I hope, be on a first name basis with customers and employees. We got our start here. We're loyal to this town even as other places make us some very tempting offers. We're staying put. It is wonderful to be able to continue in my grandfather's tradition, and maintain a leadership position with quality and comfort," he says.

"We're a family operated company. That's something of a rarity now. We compete with mass merchandisers, offshore competition, giant corporate national brands, so quality must remain our focus. If other companies cut corners, then that alone sets us apart from their products. Fewer things are being built in the USA now, and we know how costly it is to be here in Connecticut, but we have a great work force here in Hartford," Bob says. "So, we plan to stay. And no, we aren't changing. Quality and consistency are what people always require.

"It's a bit like the Connecticut River over there," he adds, "just keep on rolling and doing what you do."