About Re Pillow Co.
I originally intended to delete and rewrite the following content because its colloquial style and unprofessional nature seemed out of place on the website. However, several customers expressed their strong liking for this page and urged me to keep it. Therefore, the original text is preserved in its entirety. This article, "About Re Pillow Co.," was written in mid-2021.
My name is Leung Lai Hang, I am 24 years old, and I am just a very ordinary young man.
A little background: My family has been in the bedding business in Hong Kong since my grandfather's time in the 1950s, producing everything from duvets to pillows – it's a family business. Take a look at some old photos of our shop:
Storefront exterior: quilts, pillows, duvet covers, bedsheets, etc. on the left. At the time, they also offered qipao rental services.
This family business has been in Hong Kong for over 60 years, and I can be considered the third generation of bedding experts. (But we are not rich; it's just a small business.)
I never had much involvement in the business myself, but the following incident led me to start a "pillow project" – a journey to find the perfect pillow.
Let's rewind to January of last year. At that time, I still knew nothing special about pillows...
Origin: It was actually time to change my pillow... but choosing a pillow is really annoying...
When the pandemic started, I was looking for a new pillow because the one I was using often caused my shoulders and neck to ache when I woke up. When I went into department stores and shops at the time, I found that there were so many types of pillows. The same brand could have several different models, different pillow heights, and different core materials. And this one had its advantages, and that one had its advantages, making it very difficult to choose. The sales assistant at the department store told me to lie down and try it, but I could only try each one for ten or twenty seconds, which really didn't tell me much.
And in the market, I found two that were similar, but one was a bit too soft, and the other, I don't know why, didn't seem to have enough filling and was a bit too flat.
Oh, yes, thank you very much for taking the time to read this far, because according to website data, very few people click into this page. In this day and age, no one likes to read long articles.
At that time, I probably knew what kind of pillow texture I liked, but I just couldn't find one that was exactly to my liking.
If you've ever tried to buy a pillow, you'll definitely understand what I mean.
Every pillow on the market claims to be comfortable, but does that mean every one is comfortable? I want to say, no.
It's not that I couldn't buy one; I even thought about just buying one within my budget, assuming I would get used to it after sleeping on it for a while. But I didn't really want to just buy a pillow that I wasn't particularly fond of... After all, a pillow can be used for a period of time, so it's a kind of investment.
Finally?
The whole pillow-buying thing fell by the wayside. I don't know if you're like this, but sometimes you'll have a period where you suddenly really want to buy something, and you'll keep looking at those things, but in the end, you don't actually buy them, and the matter just gets put aside.
That's how I put aside buying a pillow, and it just so happened that I had another old, flat pillow at home, so I stacked the two together and slept on them.
I thought that would be the end of the pillow matter, but it turns out it was just the beginning.
Why Re Pillow, a Hong Kong brand?
The few months that followed, where I slept with stacked pillows, were arguably the worst period of sleep I've ever experienced.
I still clearly remember waking up in the middle of the night due to poor sleep and being unable to fall back asleep. All I could do was sit up, turn on the lights, and work.
Sometimes I wake up at 1 or 2 AM, sometimes as early as 4 or 5 AM, and can't go back to sleep. Yes, my handwriting isn't great...
It's true that poor sleep leads to low energy. A bigger impact of consistently poor sleep each night is that it also worsens my mood and temper. This was subconscious; at the time, I just felt like everything was going wrong.
Later, I discovered that using the wrong pillow not only causes neck pain but also significantly diminishes sleep quality, affecting everything I do.
I'm telling you this because I've truly experienced it. I know that helpless feeling of staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night.
I don't want the same thing to happen to you.
I also understand how difficult it is to choose a good pillow on the market.
(If I had bought a pillow at the department store back in January, none of the above would have happened.)
So, I decided to start a "Pillow Project." Leveraging my family's many years of experience in bedding, I aim to research and produce a comfortable, durable, Hong Kong-made pillow with transparent production processes and guaranteed quality.
Executing this plan will certainly not be easy, but I believe it's something that needs to be done.
The Quest for the Perfect Pillow
I started by researching the different materials used in pillows on the market. I also bought many pillows from various brands, made of different materials, and of different types, to try them out and dissect them for study.
If pillows had a life of their own, they would surely hate me, because I've "murdered" many of them from different countries. To be precise, 34 of them.
Space pillows, memory foam pillows, pearl pillows, down pillows, breathable pillows, synthetic fiber pillows, hotel pillows, neck support pillows, bamboo charcoal pillows...
I constantly researched, asked different people, looked online at what other companies were doing, bought their products, and understood the pros and cons of various pillow materials.
I can confidently say that I've tried 90% of the pillows on the market, especially the more expensive ones (over a thousand dollars), and some of them are quite good. But among the more affordable options, there really isn't a single pillow that is both comfortable and durable.
Through continuous research, I found suitable materials and combined them in specific proportions to create the first generation CloudPok™ core, which is unique in the market. This forms the foundation of Re Pillow.
Later, I remembered how much my friends and I love to binge-watch shows, scroll on our phones, eat, and drink in bed. So I started thinking about how to better protect the pillow.
Because with so many activities happening on the bed, it's easy to accidentally make a mess.
Additionally, over time, natural perspiration during sleep can lead to sweat stains on the pillow.
Then I finally found a material ——— NANOTEX®.
NANOTEX® is a leading global fabric technology company, founded in 1998 by Dr. David Soane, former Associate Department Head of Chemical Engineering at UC Berkeley, California, and a group of scientists. They specialize in researching and replicating the waterproof and breathable surfaces of animals and plants in nature, as well as various nanotechnology applications to alter fabric performance. Today, NANOTEX® is a top company in the fabric technology industry, with patented technology used by major brands such as Nike, Lululemon, Calvin Klein, and Hermès.
I remember that the cost at the time was indeed very high for me, and I had to sign various cooperation agreements and send fabrics for testing. But I felt it was worth it.
Go big or go home. This is my product, and if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it best.
At that time, I also conducted an experiment with my high school classmates:
Throughout the entire process of research, material selection, and production of prototypes, I shared my journey with friends around me. Sometimes, I even asked friends to help test my prototypes. As I continued, more and more friends became interested, so I started small-batch production of Re Pillow to sell to them, marking the first step of my entrepreneurial dream in Hong Kong.
Later, more and more people found it very effective, better than the pillows available in the market. So, through word of mouth, more and more pillows were sold. This is the story of the Hong Kong brand, Re Pillow Co.
After the first 100 Re Pillow pillows were sold, I started to think more seriously about how to improve and develop this venture.
A Small Vision
In August 2021, I launched Re Pillow 2, an even better version of the Re Pillow, improving upon the shortcomings of its predecessor.
Currently, my goal is to establish our own high-quality bedding brand, what I would describe as a "very adventurous dream."
Born and raised here, through Re Pillow Co., I hope to build something that will leave a legacy for Hong Kong and the next generation.
Hong Kong is a very special place. Behind the Grade A offices, many people here live very difficult lives every day. The wealth disparity in Hong Kong is notoriously high globally. Of course, many reasons contribute to this problem, but one significant factor is Hong Kong's tendency to favor academically successful individuals. For young people with average academic performance, the path to upward mobility is extremely difficult. If there were more local Hong Kong manufacturing companies, this wealth gap might be narrowed. Manufacturing industries would create a series of middle-tier positions, such as supervisors, product development, testing, sales, advertising creativity, and so on. These positions demand creativity, hard work, social and interpersonal awareness, and do not require high academic qualifications. Yet, they offer avenues for upward mobility and skills that can be readily transferred to other companies or even abroad, providing more diverse career options and improving the lives of motivated individuals. Another advantage of Hong Kong is its internationalization and relatively comprehensive intellectual property protection. Well-made products, in the long run, can use Hong Kong as a base to gain international recognition, thereby rectifying the social stratification issues brought about by its past role as an "international financial center."
If you are young, I want to tell you something personally: the future belongs to us. I know you might feel hopeless at this moment. But as long as we persevere, we will eventually reach a better future. I know it sounds cliché and like a grand principle, and I don't like hearing these things either. But if we truly believe, truly believe together, it will become real. This is our era. If not today, then tomorrow. And one day, you and I will grow old, and a new generation of young people will gradually take on important roles in society. We will also step back; the wheel of time will keep turning, with new waves pushing forward the old.
Re, signifies "re-do" and "reform." I believe that together, we can bring about change in many aspects.
This is the era that belongs to our generation. Don't give up.
Thank you to my family. If you're reading this, though I rarely speak up, I want to say that I truly love you all.
Founder, Ray Leung
August 2, 2021
This pillow is the result of extensive research. If you're interested, click the button below to learn more:
Click here to learn about Re Pillow 2
Values of Re Pillow Co.
- Community: Re Pillow Co. sees us as one community. Re Pillow Co. is not just a bedding company or a local Hong Kong brand; it is a community for those who believe in dreams.
- Sincerity: We are daily users of our own products. Every day, we think about what kind of bedding and products we want, and then we work to bring them to life.
- Vision: No matter what we do, we must be true to our own vision and respect the decisions of others. We are here to transform concepts into reality. There is no goal too far-fetched, nor any ideal too insignificant.
Postscript: I believe that by reading this far, you can feel that Re Pillow Co. is truly different from other bedding companies. Honestly, yes, we really don't want to be like them. I've bought many terrible pillows on the market myself, and this past year, I've heard from many customers who also bought many completely useless, uncomfortable, and expensive pillows. I think this is wrong, utterly wrong. Making money is fine, but if you charge a certain price, you must provide corresponding quality. For you, it might be just a transaction, an opportunity to make money, but for the customer, it's about their sleep every night. I truly don't think this is right. I know other companies are reading this, and I hope you'll think about it too.
I am a lucky kid to have the opportunity to research and produce a truly good pillow, one that genuinely starts from the user's perspective, in such an unreasonable market. Thank you for reading this far. Perhaps you'll want to try my pillow, perhaps not. Either way, thank you for being a part of Re Pillow Co.'s "adventurous Hong Kong entrepreneurial dream."