Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Area company sells mattresses online
Nuvanna founder believes his years in the chemical industry prepared him to come up with a better sleep product
Alvaro Vaselli has started Nuvanna, an online mattress company in Chadds Ford, Delaware County.
Alvaro Vaselli is quite certain that anyone who has purchased a mattress in their lifetime has had a less than satisfying experience.
“It’s a terrible experience for the customer,” said the 52-yearold native of Brazil who now lives in Pocopson. “You go in and there are 50 different mattresses ranging from $500 to $5,000 and when you ask them why the difference, they don’t know. Then, after you lie down on one after five minutes, they start pressuring you to buy. The bottom line, it’s a terrible experience.”
That is why Vaselli, a 20-plus year veteran of the chemical industry who worked with many of the top mattress companies over the years, has started Nuvanna, an online mattress selling company with an office in Chadds Ford, Delaware County.
Vaselli called his website, www.nuvanna.com, a “no pressure” way of buying the right mattress. Customers have 100 nights to sleep on their new purchase before deciding whether to keep it. Those that are returned will be donated to the Salvation Army or another charity. The site went live on Jan. 27.
“That’s the beauty of it, you have 100 nights, not five minutes, to decide,” Vaselli said.
And the market is huge: Mattress sales are a $16-billion-ayear business with 20 million of them purchased each year, Nuvanna’s founder and CEO said.
There are a few other online mattress retailers, but it is still a relatively open market.
“And now you have the aspect of people (especially millennials) getting more and more comfortable with buying online,” Vaselli said. “If you can even do a very small percentage of the ($16 billion) market, that’s pretty good.”
Speaking at his Wilmington Pike offices recently, Vaselli said he decided he wanted to get off the corporate treadmill to spend more time with family and friends and doing things he enjoyed. He is bringing that philosophy to his new company.
“For many years I lived by that philosophy that many live by in the corporate world: work hard, work hard, work hard and wait for the rewards in the future,” Vaselli related. “That was a mistake. Four or five years ago I decided to rebalance my life. I feel so much more complete now.
“I would like to bring that to my customers,” he said. “The whole concept is if you sleep better you will live a better life and if you live a better life you will sleep better.”
Vaselli said his expertise in the materials science and sleep sectors gives Nuvanna an edge in developing high-performance products. Vaselli holds a degree in production and mechanical engineering, and has worked for Dow, Arco Chemical (now LyondellBasell), Foamex/FXI and Tredegar Film Products.
“I leveraged 20 years of experience,” said Vaselli.
Nuvanna’s mattresses are made in California and the textiles are formulated in North Carolina.
There are two main sleep disrupters that come from mattresses, Vaselli said: heat and motion.
“Our mattress addresses both,” he said. “It’s how you engineer the (three layers) that is the key.”
Nuvanna’s top layer uses a comfort foam that cradles the consumer’s entire body and closes gaps between the mattress and the body. The material actively draws body heat into the mattress, where gel particles work with high-density foam to disperse heat away from the body.
A second layer is built for motion absorption, so sleepers won’t be disturbed by their partners’ movement. A third layer provides progressive support for the entire system, preventing the user from sinking. The mattress core is wrapped in a moisture-wicking, breathable cover made with Tencel, which Nuvanna says is “more absorbent than cotton, softer than silk and cooler than linen.”
As far as future products, Vacelli said he could see pillows, foundations or meditation materials.
The company has five full-time employees and a team of about 20 who are
working to get the word out about Nuvanna on social media.
“As we ramp up, I’ll look at products that take that extra step and help people live a better life,” said Vacelli, who hopes the company
can reach $100 million in annual sales in five years.