A Chat with Jo James, Founder at Luxurious Bedding Brand: Bedfolk

At Bedfolk we’re on a mission to help people wind down well.

We’re taking a stand against the culture of busyness and championing rest with our curated collection of the highest quality and most comfortable wind-down essentials. Think super soft bedding, ridiculously comfortable duvets & pillows, and the most luxurious bath products. And there are lots more soft & comfy things to come…

We launched in 2018 and have been super busy helping people wind down ever since.
 
 

 

How did you come up with the idea for Bedfolk?

 
Our starting point was bedding and the shopping experience that my husband and I encountered when shopping for our first home. We were young professionals who, like our friends, were looking for high-quality homewares that had been made responsibly, at an affordable price.

We found ourselves standing in the aisles of department stores, bemused and overwhelmed by the selection of plastic-wrapped products in front of us. There were hundreds of duvet cover options, distinguishable only by price and industry jargon (like thread count, which turns out to be a myth). Despite being a product that people spend a third of their lives using, the shopping experience seemed outdated and broken. Right there, the idea for Bedfolk was born.

The more we researched it, the more we realised what a fragmented and underserved market it was. It felt like there was a huge opportunity for a digitally native brand, offering a curated collection of premium home quality textiles and a simple and enjoyable shopping experience.
After all, shouldn’t shopping for soft and comfy things make you feel – er – comfortable, rather than overwhelmed?
 

 

How has Bedfolk evolved over the last couple of years?

 
Hugely! For the first 3 years, we were a single-category retailer (luxury bedding, made by experts in Portugal) – we really wanted to build a reputation for quality with this core product.

By the time we launched Towels & Robes (made in the towelling mecca of Turkey), and Duvets & Pillows (plumped to perfection in Scotland), we had a really strong community of ‘comfort addicts’ who had been requesting these very products.

Our product development is painstaking as we are obsessed with every detail – our products are designed to be part of the collection long-term, so when we launch something, we want to make sure it’s the absolute best it can possibly be. This means seeking out the best mills and makers for each category and partnering with them to create a uniquely Bedfolk collection.
 

What can we hope to see from Bedfolk in the future?

 
2022 and beyond are all about expanding our product collections. Based on requests from our customers, we’ve got lots of exciting new categories launching in the next 12 months such as Loungewear and Home scent. Most recently, we launched Bedfolk Baby (one I am very excited about as I designed the collection whilst pregnant with my daughter last year).

Everything is about helping to make those tiny wind down moments in the day the very best they can be – whether that’s the comfiest PJ’s ever or an aromatherapy candle that evokes that wind-down feeling.

We’ll also be also investing in more high-quality content to inspire our community to wind down well. Our aim is to be champions of rest, taking a stand against the ‘culture of busyness’ we all live in.