Black-Owned Bedding Brands That Will Elevate Your Sleep Space

Creating an allergen-free oasis has been Robin Wilson’s mission for more than 20 years. As the founder of what was once known as Robin Wilson Home, the interior designer and lifestyle expert has established herself as an authority on hypoallergenic and eco-friendly design. 

“I suffered from asthma and allergies as a child growing up in Austin, Texas,” says Wilson, who was moved by the turbulence of 2020 to refocus her design business on wellness. “So when my mentor told me to carve out a niche that mattered to me, I chose to focus on clean design.” She says she even implements “clean-design protocols” for her work sites. Her book, “Clean Design: Wellness for Your Lifestyle” (Greenleaf Book Group Press), was published in 2015.

An ambassador to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America since 2010, Wilson makes products that serve those who desire a clean design aesthetic and fulfill a real medical need that she and many African Americans understand firsthand. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, non-Hispanic Blacks were 30 percent more likely to have asthma in 2019 than non-Hispanic whites; and in 2020, they were almost three times more likely to die from asthma-related causes.

Potential sources of allergens that can lead to asthma include feathers, synthetic materials, and dyes, as well as dust mites, dander, and mold. Clean Design Home bedding is made from 100 percent Supima cotton, produced in the U.S., and then specially woven to keep mold and dust at bay. 

Zeroing in on a wellness area that she’s passionate about helped her break through the crowded category. Wilson’s commitment to hypoallergenic environments has landed her in hotel chains, and on department store shelves like Macy’s, where she sells sheets, comforters, mattresses, and other anti-allergen bedding.

Interior designers Bryan Mason and Jeanine Hays launched AphroChic in 2007 and eventually added a line of bedding after recognizing there was a gap in the market for linens that would allow people to truly represent themselves within their homes. “Whether it’s a great pillow or a lovely duvet, everything that we do at AphroChic is about the intersection of interior design and culture,” Hays says. 

That specific design sensibility, while celebrated today, once presented a challenge for the couple. When they approached corporations for licensing deals, they were often told that their bedding wouldn’t work in a mainstream context. “We tried for years,” Hays says, “and found that there wasn’t really a space for us.” But they remained persistent, eventually landing a partnership with Perigold, and subsequently Wayfair. 

AphroChic’s very distinct cultural lens of the African diaspora encompasses the essence of not only African Americans but also cultures of the Caribbean, the African continent, South America, Europe, and the Middle East. “It’s really a very global perspective on its own, and yet, it’s not one that we see presented very often,” Mason tells CR. 

Partners in business and marriage, the entrepreneurs say their bedding connects cultural elements to modern design—evident in a collection that Mason describes as “not specifically batik, but our take on it.”

The design firm’s Jumping the Broom collection, named after the African American wedding tradition, features colorful geometric broomsticks merging into a diamond-like pattern (shown below). They also play with watercolor, as seen in their “Hustle” print that draws inspiration from their home of New York City and their “Sisters Floral” which depicts the profiles of Black women in head wraps. One of their most popular patterns includes repeated silhouettes of Black women with afros.

The duo, who released the book “AphroChic: Celebrating the Legacy of the Black Family Home” (Clarkson Potter) in November of 2022, says that their designs are inspired by people and being able to give others the ability to tell their stories and represent their cultures in a way that is meaningful and more comfortable to them. “Our bedding is physically comfortable and helps people feel good,” Hays says. AphroChic sheets are a sateen weave, with a silky and smooth texture that feels different from traditional cotton. 

There’s no question that silk pillowcases offer a myriad of benefits for the hair and skin, but it took Anisha Rice’s ingenuity to offer consumers a way to have the best of both worlds—silk pillowcases and natural cotton sheets—in a single sheet set. 

“I liked sleeping on silk pillowcases for the beauty benefits, but I didn’t like having one odd-colored pillowcase on my bed,” Rice says. “I wanted to find a silk pillowcase that matched the rest of my bedding. And that was becoming a hard task.” 

From Rice’s frustration, Mismatch was born. The bedding brand launched in 2019 after being a mere idea for three years. “It took me a while to find a manufacturer that can do what I was looking to do,” Rice says. As a small business owner who was self-funded—Rice took out a home equity loan against her house to make her dream a reality—she needed to partner with a manufacturer that didn’t have a huge minimum order requirement. “Once I found one, everything just started rolling,” she says. 

Some of that momentum was due, in part, to Rice’s resourcefulness in finding programs that would help get her where she wanted to be. In 2020 she enrolled in The Workshop at Macy’s—a vendor accelerator program launched by the major shopping retailer in 2011 to help systemically minoritized groups scale their businesses through exposure and mentoring from Macy’s top executives and industry partners. The graduate of Morgan State University, a historically Black university, also participated in Goldman Sachs’ One Million Black Women business program, aimed at narrowing opportunity gaps facing Black women through investment.  

Ultimately, Rice used the knowledge she gained to take Mismatch from a small endeavor to a nationally recognized brand. Today her sheets and pillowcases made of natural fabrics and parceled in eco-friendly packaging are sold at Macys, Wayfair, Perigold, and directly to consumers on the Mismatch website.

Porsha Williams entered the bedding and linen space in 2018 knowing just how important a good night’s rest is. “No matter what you do throughout the day, I wanted to create a sheet set that would make getting into bed the best feeling in the world,” Williams says.

When the entrepreneur and media personality started contemplating the idea of starting her own brand, then doing the research to accompany her pursuits, she noticed that the bedding space was filled with soft, luxurious-feeling sheets with extremely large price tags. She, instead, wanted to offer a luxury product that everyone can afford. It took Williams a while to find the right manufacturer, but once she did, she chose to sell directly to consumers on her own retail platform, PamperedbyPorsha.com, and on Amazon.

While cotton is the most common fiber used in bedding, Williams’ sheets are a double-brushed microfiber. This material is breathable, much like cotton, but costs much less because of its synthetic nature. It also means it is softer to the touch at a fraction of the cost. Pampered by Porsha’s minimalist monochrome sheets start at $59 for a queen-size set, compared with $100 or more for brands that also consider themselves “affordable luxury.” That luxurious feel with a truly more budget-friendly price is what Williams believes makes Pampered by Porsha one of the most unique sets out there.