Cozy Mattress has recently launched a new model of sofa mattress at the 2009 High Point Market.

The sofa mattress now comes with a thicker foam cushion, one that’s about 8.5 inch thick. The pillow top is a lot more comfortable than standard ones and can fit into any type of sofa, while maintaining ample support. The mattress cost between $100-$150.

The introduction of the pillow-top mattress into a sleeper sofa seemed like a no-brainer to Blum’s brother, Eric Blum, who lives in Asheboro and Neil Owens, who lives in Denton, the founders of the company who started it about six years ago. Clark Rogers, the inventor of the technology used in the sleeper, also lives in the Denton area. The mattresses are made in China.

With the founders of the company nearby, Blum said it was appropriate to locate the company and its distribution center in the area. Blum has a home in Plantation, Fla., but spends much of his time in the Triad.

The market for sleeper sofas is about 1.5 million pieces a year, Blum said, down from about 3 million about a decade ago. But with more families moving in with each other and other families downsizing their living space into smaller homes, condominiums and apartments, he said he expects the market to grow.

Blum and Thomson see a lot of potential for narrow apartments in big cities in the Northeast where the sleeper sofa might even be able to be used as a full-time bed for some. They got some positive feedback from buyers in markets as far away as Canada, Israel, Russia and other Asian countries at the market.

Cozy has also been able to snuggle its way into the hospitality industry, making deals to introduce more than 3,000 of the pillow-top mattresses into the Starwood, Wyndham and Hilton hotels and Blum and Thomson are hoping to break into more chains.

More information here.