Ecomattress displays generous curves. This Montpellier-based company, which since 2017 has been offering a second life to mattresses discarded by hotels or bedding manufacturers, is expected to exceed 1.8 million euros in turnover this year. And there is no question, for this promising start-up with exponential growth, that infamous bedbugs will get it into trouble.
Moreover, long before these critters made the headlines, when Jérémie Adjedj, the president and founder of Ecomatelas, launched his activity, six years ago, he immediately put in place a clever process which transforms any second-hand mattress into a mattress like new. Clean, white, and guaranteed to be bug-free, like it came from a factory. But half price. “The fight against bedbugs is not new at Ecomatelas, and it is not even, for us, a current subject,” assures 20 minutes Jérémie Adjedj. We knew, from the start, that it would have represented an obvious obstacle, for our future consumers, if there was any risk of there being bedbugs, or even dust mites or bacteria, on our mattresses. »
“Each mattress undergoes triple treatment,” confides the founder of Ecomatelas
Ecomatelas has thus developed an in-house disinfection process, without chemicals, thanks to the help of researchers from theNational Institute for the Study and Control of Bed Bugs (Inelp), capable of eliminating 99.9% of bacteria and mites. And 100% bedbugs. This ultra-efficient technique, unique in France and approved by Bureau Veritas, has been the subject of a patent filed by the Montpellier start-up. Thus, each mattress reconditioned by Ecomatelas passes, for three minutes, in a large tunnel, to which no critter can resist.
“Each mattress undergoes triple treatment,” confides the founder of the Montpellier-based company. A UV projection, first for surface disinfection, then heat, at more than 80°C, for deep disinfection and to eliminate possible bedbugs, then a very high air projection flow, with a very specific angle, to remove possible mites, dust and bedbugs. And, finally, an industrial vacuum cleaner removes all these residues. » A machine that consumes much less energy than the one already used by Ecomatelas before last year. “So, since 2017, we have never had any problems with our customers,” rejoices Jérémie Adjedj.
The start-up “a little bit” impacted by the buzz around bedbugs
It must be said that the Hérault start-up benefits from two other security notches. First of all, the mattresses that it collects from hotels or bedding manufacturers are still, in almost all cases, of good, even excellent quality. And above all, Ecomatelas does not keep the mattress cover, it only keeps the interior, the foam or latex, in particular. Additional insurance, for the start-up, when we know that almost all bedbugs live their best life on mattress covers. “Already, this considerably limits the risks,” assures Jérémie Adjedj.
But if Ecomatelas fights to show that the mattresses that leave its factory are healthy, it is true that the start-up has experienced a little slack, since bedbugs have caused so much ink to flow in the editorials. “We were, it’s true, a little impacted,” laments the founder of the company. Until August, we were growing at more than 50%. And in September, we were down 25%. It coincides with all the bedbug buzz that started the second week of September. »
A completely disproportionate buzz, regrets Jérémie Adjedj. “We are not pointing the finger at anyone, but it is true that there is a real media bashing on bedbugs, which has generated a sort of psychosis, which has impacted the entire second-hand sector,” deplores the chef business. Not just us, but also clothes, in particular. But bedbugs are nothing new. There always has been. There have been a few isolated phenomena on trains or in cinemas, which created a buzz. »
There is not even, he continues, “evidence of an increase in bedbugs in recent weeks”. But we must “reassure our customers, even more than usual”.