The Luxury Sleep Market is Wide Awake
In 2024, consumers are looking towards luxury to help them dream – figuratively, and increasingly, literally.
The high-end sleep market is booming, fuelled by hospitality and ‘sleeptech’ brands that are providing a sleep-deprived world with everything from luxurious ‘sleep retreats’ to 5000 euro ‘smart mattresses.’
These new offerings are riding the wave of the global wellness industry, now estimated to be worth $6.3 trillion (yes, trillion). This estimate puts the industry as larger than the pharmaceutical industry, and 25% larger than its size in 2019. The fresh report from the Global Wellness Institute cites North America being the region with the highest per capita spend, at $5,768 spent per year.
The context is multifold for this stunning rise: first, the Covid-19 pandemic was a huge awakening (ha) for billions of people regarding their wellness priorities. Furthermore, key populations are aging, leading to a more elevated consciousness around the power of sleep. According to Research and Markets, the sleep market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 3.9% through 2030.
This evolution is also notable for just how global it is. The CDC reports that 37% of Americans lack sufficient sleep, a statistic that has been remarkably flat over the last decade even as Americans now increasingly seek out information about sleep, according to Google Trends. Meanwhile Mintel research reveals that 59 percent of China’s urban population are sleep deprived, as well, and Boston Consulting Group found this summer that half of the world’s workers are struggling with burnout – and what is the antidote to burnout if not truly quality sleep?
Some are now taking sleep to the extreme. Dakota Johnson told the Wall Street Journal that she sleeps for fourteen hours a night, which caused a huge spike in debate across social media. One of the most successful novels in recent years, My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, is about a young woman’s wild quest to hibernate through life’s problems.
There’s a series of new brands forming in this space today. Eight Sleep, a ‘sleep fitness’ company, wields taglines like ‘You are an athlete, sleep like one.’ Rose Los Angeles offers artisanal, organic ‘Deep Sleep’ edibles nationwide to tired Americans.
Hospitality has swiftly caught on to this market evolution too, embracing everything from on-call hypnotherapists to state-of-the-art wellness clubs. The New York Times reported this spring about the rise of sleep tourism, citing Hilton’s 2024 trend report revealing the main reason people travel is currently to ‘rest and recharge.’
Just yesterday, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts marked their entry into the sleepwear market with a new ‘hotel pajamas’ offering – “a new category and milestone in our brand’s sleep authority,” according to Senior Director of Marketing Liam McKessar.
What’s most notable for us though is how traditional luxury brands have more or less only dabbled in this universe. CELINE is one of several brands offering high-end pajamas, and Gucci had a savvy collaboration with the fitness and sleep-tracking ring ŌURA in autumn of 2022 – but why haven’t we seen a greater influx of innovation and ambition in this market from the big players?
You would think that brands renowned for the supreme comfort and quality of their materials would be a natural fit in this space – think Italian knitwear brands, French leather goods Maisons – yet they are very much underrepresented.
Increasingly, luxury consumers are looking for products that can be intertwined seamlessly into their everyday lives – they are looking beyond status symbols and aesthetic beauty to pure functionality too. Should luxury brands choose to dip their toes into this market, they’ll find a wide range of opportunities for sleek collaborations and product innovation – from digital sleep solutions à la Calm, to luxury alarm clocks like Hatch, to premiere smart sleep accessories like the masks from Manta Sleep.
In a world that’s always on, sleep might just be the ultimate luxury – and the opportunity is there for brands bold enough to dream big.
What untapped collaborations could connect the worlds of high fashion and cutting-edge sleep technology?
How might your brand align with this booming wellness movement and capture the imagination of sleep-conscious consumers?
How can luxury brands redefine rest as the ultimate status symbol?
