Having built significant industry experience through leadership roles at Relyon and Horatio Myer & Co, Chris Tattersall joined the fledgling Woolroom business as MD in 2012. Best known for its natural wool bedding essentials, Woolroom reported its strongest performance to date in 2024-25, the business having doubled in size since 2021 – in part thanks to an all-encompassing strategy to put woollen bedding front of mind …
How did Woolroom come about?
Woolroom was founded in 2008 by Jo Dawson. As a fourth-generation wool merchant, he was acutely aware of the benefits of wool but felt that this wasn't being sold to consumers very effectively. By starting Woolroom, he was able to increase the value of wool to consumers and, in turn, drive up the price farmers are paid for their wool.
Would you say you’re a retailer at heart? A manufacturer? Or something else?
We would call ourselves sleep experts and retailers. We've taken our internal knowledge and expertise around sleep and built that into a range of products. Design, development, marketing and distribution of better, natural sleep are our core areas of expertise.
We take our keen understanding of the consumer and their challenges around sleep and translate this into natural solutions through the amazing qualities of wool – supported by strong research, digital marketing and logistics.
How have your previous bed industry experiences informed your approach?
Being involved in the sleep world and having an understanding of the market prior to joining the company helped me move Woolroom into a more disruptive space.
It's not just about one product – it's about how the whole bed set-up performs to provide solutions for sleep. Using a holistic approach, we acknowledge that it's not just about comfort or tog/warmth, but also factors such as moisture management and allergies, all in service of delivering the ultimate night's sleep.
Would you say you take a unique approach to bedding retail?
We're challenging the usual approach of consumers buying each bedding item in isolation. Instead, we want them to invest in the whole package – with a bedding bundle, mattress and bedlinen.
What are your star products?
Our star product is the Standen mattress, designed for the perfect balance of support and all-natural comfort that creates a naturally cooling, breathable, and luxuriously soft sleep surface. The deluxe mattress topper is also a top performer as it allows consumers to add an extra layer of comfort to an old or too-firm mattress, as well as the deluxe pillow which is incredibly versatile due to its adjustable filling.
Do you stock any bedding brands?
Everything is Woolroom branded. We believe our expertise should be built into the range itself, so we're selective about every product we offer, down to the fibres we use and how the products are constructed.
How has the conversation around sleep and wellbeing evolved in favour of wool as a bedding component?
Without a doubt, people are far more conscious about health and wellness now than they've ever been before, especially post-Covid. This includes an increased awareness that sleep lays a strong foundation for overall health, and evidence shows that consumers are happy to pay the premium for more conscious purchases. Whether it's a shift for sustainability, temperature regulation or even flame retardancy, wool comes out on top every time.
Are there any barriers preventing people from choosing wool?
There are two main challenges we must overcome. Firstly, preconceptions of wool still exist, so ensuring consumers understand that wool isn't the itchy, hot, difficult-to-care-for material they think it is, is key.
Secondly, we are directly competing against synthetic bedding companies that blind the market with engineering and science, without addressing temperature regulation as the real challenge a customer might face. It really highlights why education is so important.
Alongside your day job, you’ve been helping the International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) promote wool as a bedding component. How did you get involved in that initiative, and how closely are its aims aligned with Woolroom’s?
The IWTO brings together individuals from across the world to highlight the qualities of wool for use in different products, be that insulation, carpets or bedding. We not only get involved in research – such as the recent study with Bangor University – but also share knowledge across sectors such as interiors and apparel.
The Bangor University study found that wool is the ultimate bedding fibre for quality sleep, regulating temperature and managing moisture more effectively than any down, feather-and-down and synthetic alternatives currently available on the UK market. Wool duvets provide 30% better insulation than feather-and-down duvets, 25% better insulation that synthetic duvets, and 17% better insulation than down duvets.
What other organisations are you aligned to?
Alongside the IWTO, I'm also involved with Campaign for Wool which works to promote the amazing qualities of wool, especially during Wool Month in October.
For me, both these affiliations are simply about converting people across the world to buy wool rather than just growing the Woolroom brand. If I can gain knowledge in the process, then that's a bonus.
How does Wool ID, your product traceability programme, work? Is it different to those used elsewhere in the industry?
Nobody else in the wool industry does what Woolroom does. Every product we sell has a lot number attached, so consumers can search this through a page on the Woolroom website and see the farm, location and producer behind it. Others may have traceable wool, but they lack the ability to communicate and showcase that traceability the way we do.
Why are transparency and traceability so important in the bedding industry?
It's a need ultimately driven by consumers. Knowing where a product comes from makes them feel good about their purchase, so traceability is the ultimate solution. At Woolroom, we are only able to purchase wool from about 60% of UK farms, as we select our wool from Farm Assured farms in the UK. Each of the farms we source from is independently audited, giving customers the assurance that their products meet the strictest animal welfare standards in the world – something that is unique to Woolroom.
How much does Wool ID and Woolroom’s general focus on provenance and ethical sourcing resonate with those who shop with you?
According to our latest customer survey results, carried out with roughly 500 respondents in June 2026, 88% said natural materials were extremely or very important to them, with 20% choosing wool bedding due to the use of British wool.
I think regardless of whether they come to us with a level of knowledge or not, shoppers are surprised at the detail we are able to provide through our Wool ID programme. Education is key to what we do and all of that can happen right on our site.
Are you critical of any particular approaches across the wider sector?
I'm critical of those who talk about where their wool comes from but can't back it up. I welcome healthy competition, especially when it raises standards across the wool industry, but you need to be able to substantiate what you tell customers.
What’s the current scope of your export activities, and what’s next on that agenda?
We’re proud to have won our second King’s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category for 2026 earlier this year. Currently, 62% of our product is exported, with the biggest markets being the US and Canada and the smallest, Iceland. We also have a growing business in China.
What's next? We're hoping that 2027 sees us branch into the EU.
Is there anything else in Woolroom’s pipeline we should know about?
Our main focus currently is ensuring we are achieving best practice in ecommerce and optimising customer experience. Part of this will be logistics and distribution focused, extending the next-day delivery cut-off and enabling weekend deliveries.
This interview featured in Furniture News' 2026 Bed Buyer supplement.
Pictured: Chris Tattersall – outstanding in his field
