Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Bedgear Sets International Expansion Plan
July 23,
2015 by in Business Strategy, Executive Changes, Industry 
Bedgear, supplier of performance bedding, plans to expand into Europe and the Pacific Rim this fall with the opening of a factory in China.
The factory, which will house inventory for Pacific Rim customers, will open in October. The expansion will build the brand’s global retail presence, meet the increasing international demand for performance bedding and widen its core consumer base.
“The time is right for us to scale our business beyond our current North and Central American markets,” said Eugene Alletto, founder and CEO of bedgear. “Having grown our business to more than six million consumers in just six years here in the Americas region, the appetite for our personalized, performance bedding products has proven itself and now we are seeing the beginnings of this same demand coming from international customers.”
Alletto said the company has been working over the last year to establish an infrastructure to work with its retail partners overseas.
As part of the global plan, David Crane has been named vice president of international business development. He is responsible for leading sales and building the brand overseas.
With more than 17 years of experience in the home furnishings industry, Crane most recently served as CEO of Winning Appliance, an Australian specialty appliance retailers Crane led the renovation of Winning’s flagship location and the revitalization of the company to its current market position. Prior to that, Crane was vice president of international sales and business development for La-Z-Boy, where he was responsible for growing the export market in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, and managing director of Natuzzi Oceania, where he managed all Natuzzi, Italsofa and Editions branded business in Australia and New Zealand.
“David has the international sales experience, deep local knowledge and wide expertise of the retail dynamics in these key markets necessary to build our global business,” Alletto said. “His strong combination of skills and experience will be a significant addition to our global sales team and we’re excited to have him join us.”