Your Cart is Empty
Your Cart is Empty
October 12, 2021 3 min read
Thinking of buying a weighted blanket for your loved one this Christmas? Here is a brief overview of this manufacturing segment. Weighted blankets started in the first decade of the 2000s as a solution for sensory issues in a market mainly focused on the Autism Spectrum, including ADD/ADHD, Aspergers and Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). By 2012, there were 2-3 large manufacturers of weighted blankets in the US. Between 2010 and 2016 it was discovered that weighted blankets were also helpful in treating other disorders including Insomnia, Anxiety, Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) and PTSD. This was researched by various medical and academic groups, which resulted in market popularity, growing press and more awareness about the value of a weighted blanket (lauded because you don’t have to take a pill, it’s a natural sleep and calming solution). Many people who buy these blankets absolutely rave about how well they work and what a life changer it has been for them.
In 2017, a company hit Kickstarter with a weighted blanket campaign that raised over $3M in a month by people who were willing to buy a weighted blanket from a company that was promising the product (which was being made offshore) in Oct/Nov of 2017. All of them are still waiting for their weighted blanket since funding the company.
The Kickstarter campaign was very successful with national media, landing mentions on The Today Show, Martha Stewart, Elle, Huffpost and other major news outlets. One could say that the rage is started. Whereas five years ago very few people knew what a weighted blanket was, this recent media has built a wide awareness about weighted blankets.
What does this mean for someone who will want to buy a weighted blanket for this Christmas?
Most people will see a gift idea and tuck it away in mind for future reference to buy for the holiday. A weighted blanket is a 2+ hour manufacturing process which will create the following result during Christmas shopping: most manufacturers and retailers will run out of product before the main shopping holiday in 2017.
Laura LeMond of Mosaic Weighted Blankets shares: “We stopped taking order Dec 3rd of 2016 with a 2000 order backlog due by Christmas it was nuts! I had people offering to pay double the price of the weighted blanket, because they had promised it as a gift. I had one mother in law who was crying to me because she said she promised her new daughter in law one for Christmas and had forgotten to order it in November. Another customer shared that she had called every major weighted blanket supplier including those on Etsy and everyone was sold out by Dec 3rd, she was going to have to buy something else for her husband, she was so upset and frustrated.”
And Christmas 2017 promises to be an even hotter weighted blanket retail market than last year.
Like spinners ,which are predicted to be a high demand seller for Christmas 2017,and which is a gift item that also treats sensory needs for focus and relaxation, weighted blankets are going to be scarce to gone nationwide if you decide to start shopping for one on Dec 15th.
What is the successful solution if you want a weighted blanket this year? “Order early, even order in the summer/fall and hide the gift until December when you can just pull it out and wrap it.” Says LeMond, owner of Mosaic Weighted Blankets, encouraging shoppers to jump in now. This is guaranteed to cause everyone less stress for the holiday in the “high demand” weighted blanket market.
“It might not seem like a big deal during the summer, but when the holiday comes and you cannot find what you know your parent/spouse/relative/kid/friend wants because everyone has been talking about it all year, it becomes a really big deal, this is what our customer service has experienced during the last few holidays.”, says LeMond.
Weighted blankets are a great sensory sleep and relaxation solution for better downtime. For more information and to order early for the 2017 holiday (with over 65 fabric choices and custom sizes) go to www.mosaicweightedblankets.com.
