Bedbugs: Bring 'em on!
As the weather warms up, experts predict a bedbug epidemic to sweep the U.S. These 7 companies with unique bedbug-fighting solutions are itching to solve the problem.
Three years ago, bedbugs were threatening the bottom line of bedding accessories company Cadence Keen Innovations; now they are boosting it.
At the time, bedbug infestations were hurting many of Cadence Keen Innovations' customers -- cruise ships, hotels, hospitals and retailers.
"If our customers are in trouble, we're in trouble," said Steven Gordon, the company's president. So when a cruise ship client asked the company to develop a product that could protect mattresses from bedbugs, it got busy. Soon after, it developed the Sleep Defender, a brand of polyurethane laminate encasements for pillows, mattresses and box springs.
The material is created using a tightly woven interlocking system, which means "nothing can get in and nothing can get out," said Gordon.
Cadence Keen Innovations began producing other products, which include: the Verilux CleanWave bed vac, a vacuum cleaner that uses ultra violet technology to kill bedbugs; the ActiveGuard mattress liner, which is treated with bedbug-killing chemically treated polyester fibers; and the Stop Bugging Me!-Max, an all-natural bedbug spray.
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