Mattress Company Prints the Perfect Bedside Reading

How this innovative mattress company plans to live on your nightstand, instead of on your smartphone.  

Mattress company Casper, purveyors of the popular “bed in a box” design that is disrupting the traditional bedding market, has a mission that extends far beyond just selling places to sleep. The company believes that good sleep changes people for the better, and they are putting that idea into print.

Well hello, Woolly. We’ve been waiting for you.

“Most Americans aren’t getting enough sleep, and even when they are lying in bed, it’s this never-ending cycle of checking the news feed, staying on top of Twitter, nonstop Instagram. There is something really important to not just sleep, but relaxing and winding down and unplugging. And we think that’s so important to wellness and comfort,” said Lindsay Kaplan, Casper’s vice president of communications and brand engagement in an interview with WWD. “It’s a frenetic world and it’s very hard to chill out, and Woolly is a place to humorously speak to the elements of wellness that people look to find some safety in this crazy world.”

To help make that happen, they’ve launched a print magazine called Woolly, designed to be a feature on nightstands around the world. According to WWD’s Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke, while the brand takes sleep seriously, it doesn’t take itself that seriously in the process.

“The title boasts brightly colored illustrations; irreverent first-person pieces with headlines like ‘the best comfort food is all of them’ by the magazine’s editor, John DeVore, and a coloring book section where adults can celebrate accomplishments like flossing and paying bills,” Bloomgarden-Smoke explains. “It definitely offers a quirky take on wellness and, perhaps not surprisingly, owes something to McSweeney’s, the San Francisco-based publisher founded by Dave Eggers, who lent Casper expertise and support on the project.”

The print title replaces Casper’s digital content project, Winkle, which aimed to “make sleep journalism a thing,” according to Winkle’s editor Theresa Fisher. When it launched in 2015, we applauded their efforts at brand publishing and diving into lifestyle journalism – but we had our reservations.

“Congrats to the good people at Casper on making it this far with your brand publishing,” I wrote at the time. “Now finish the job. With the recent news that digital screens can disrupt healthy sleep, it’s time to take Van Winkle’s to print. You’re welcome.”

I’m not suggesting that it was our idea, but Winkle is closing down, and Woolly is their new brand publishing platform. They still have plenty of online content (so you can read all about the sleep you’re missing while you stare at a device) but this time they seem to understand the importance of downtime.

“We want it to live on your nightstand, on your coffee table. The intention was for this to be unthrow-away-able, for someone to get a copy of Woolly and not feel the pressure to read it today or tomorrow but take a moment and put your phone down and read some print,” Kaplan said.

And this makes me feel like going to bed early tonight. Well done, Woolly.