AVA INNES WINS SCOTTISH EDGE 2024: JUDGES RECOGNISE LUXURY NATURAL BEDDING COMPANY AS SCOTLAND’S NEXT GREAT EXPORT

AVA INNES WINS SCOTTISH EDGE 2024: JUDGES RECOGNISE LUXURY NATURAL BEDDING COMPANY AS SCOTLAND’S NEXT GREAT EXPORT

● The luxury bedding market is experiencing a surge in demand reaching $2.7 billion by 2027, a CAGR of 2.4% and in addition the Global Menopause Market is poised to grow to 27 billion by 2031, at a CAGR of 5.33%.

● Lack of sleep is a silent epidemic, affecting people of all ages. Brits are only getting 5.91 hours of sleep a night, down from 6.11 in 2022 and 6.19 in 2021. (Nuffield Health)

● Global trend of premium sleep: Half of consumers around the world reported a desire for more products and services to meet the need for higher-quality slumber. McKinsey (2021)

Founder Joan Johnston of Ava Innes has won the Scottish Edge Award of £65K along with the STV Growth Edge award valued at £75K for their innovative new sleep solution using cashmere guard and wool, made in the UK. [1] The unique patented Ava Innes duvet is helping customers sleep longer, more soundly and with less disturbances citing temperature-regulating benefits. The funds will be used to launch nationwide sleep trails across a diverse cohort in 2025, intended to capture biometric data to substantiate the effects of sleeping under cashmere guard. Rooted in sustainable practices, Ava Innes luxury products are all made in the UK.

In a menopause and cancer care trial Ava Innes carried out with independent testers in May 2023, over 75% of respondents reported that their sleep had improved, citing the temperature regulating properties of the duvet. Another study found that 93% of respondents were sleeping better underneath an Ava Innes duvet. One menopausal customer reported the following data independent to the study:

Before, with a feather & down duvet… After, with an Ava Innes duvet…

“Deep, restorative sleep underpins health and wellbeing. Imagine the impact of having quality sleep every night,” said Joan Johnston, founder of Ava Innes. “My vision is for Ava Innes to become the trusted market leader in sustainable luxury bedding. That includes crafting our own products with a skilled workforce that puts value on craftsmanship with human touch, bringing jobs and wealth to a regional location here in Scotland.”

“Scotland holds its own on a global stage thanks to our heritage industries rooted in natural materials, craftsmanship and a long storied tradition of character and nature. I’m making it my mission to ensure that the epitome of excellence in natural bedding becomes the newest addition to a golden list of exports that Scots have every right to be proud of.”[2]

THE HOME OF THE CASHMERE GUARD DUVET

With over 20 years experience in luxury textiles, it was Joan’s knowledge of the luxury textile industry that led her to patenting cashmere guard hair [3] and wool for a new insulating fabric. Joan holds both the UK and US patent for cashmere guard duvets, an almost unheard of achievement for a small business. This ‘forgotten luxury’ fibre, as Joan calls it, is too straight to spin into yarn, yet is still packed with all of the qualities that makes cashmere so revered. Cashmere guard is keratin-rich, hypoallergenic, anti-microbial, breathable, but most importantly it is thermoregulating. The company has plans to undertake more research on the benefits of cashmere guard. Of particular interest to Ava Innes, one study found that over wool and silk, milled cashmere guard was able to better absorb ions. In addition, cashmere and wool are also able to produce negative ions. Ions are thought to help balance the body, optimising metabolic functioning, which in turn promotes healthy sleep. More research is needed to understand the important differences between cashmere guard and wool.

Lack of sleep in the UK is a silent epidemic, affecting people of all ages but disproportionately impacting women. As the wider health conversation opens up to understand the importance of gut, metabolic, hormonal, and brain health, we’ve been missing a crucial element in the conversation: sleep. Sleep is proven to optimise metabolic function, and to increase cognitive function – with some studies linking lack of sleep to increased risk of dementia.

In addition, lack of education around best sleep practices in the UK are impacting the quality of sleep people are able to get, as well as having dire consequences for the environment. For example, polyester, the filling used for synthetic duvets, takes a staggering 700 years to decompose. Cashmere and wool take only 3-4 months to fully decompose, returning rich nitrogen back to the soil. Feather and down, long considered the premium choice for bedding, is not temperature regulating nor breathable, locking in the up to 1 litre of moisture we naturally lose (per person) overnight.

A King size All Year Round Ava Innes duvet costs £650. Available exclusively from AvaInnes.com. Each duvet is finished by hand, carefully encased in 100% certified organic cotton. The signature ‘S’ stitch on each duvet gives it premium loft and breathability, a functional design in tribute to the flowing rivers of Scotland – representing Ava Innes’s commitment to practices rooted in nature.