Tailormade Pillow

The best pillow in the world comes from Tilburg
He makes the best cushions in the world and does so with 24-carat gold. Where does he make these cushions? In Tilburg of course.

Sixteen years of innovation in one pillow

Thijs van der Hilst is originally a physiotherapist. Sixteen years ago he made his first custom-made pillow: "Nobody thinks about a pillow, but I do. I wanted to innovate and knew from my background what was needed for a good pillow." Thijs was so driven that he himself developed an algorithm for the 3D scanner with which he can measure relevant body points and thus determine the shape of the pillow. The price of such a Tailormade Pillow is around 4000 euros, "but then you also have the best pillow in the world," emphasizes Thijs, "there is so much coming together in this pillow. I've invested sixteen years of innovation in it."

Craftsmen you can only find in Tilburg

To bring this special pillow to the attention of the target group, he devised the marketing stunt: "I would make the most expensive pillow in the world. I wanted to do that with gold dust, something that could not be found anywhere else in the world. As a Tilburger, of course, I immediately thought of the Textile Museum, but at first the cooperation did not get off the ground. That's why I travelled all over the world. I searched in China, India, America, but everywhere everyone thought the same 'crazy Dutchman with a crazy idea'. In the end I made an attempt at the Textile Museum. This time we succeeded and we were the first in the world to produce gold dust. A difficult task that would never have been possible without the professionals of the Textielmuseum. The knowledge they have there is nowhere to be found in the world."

A fantastic conversation opener

Thijs presented his golden pillow, worth 52,000 euros, in May 2017 in Dubai. The golden pillow turns out to be a successful marketing stunt and a fantastic conversation opener. But also typical Tilburg. "In Dubai a man from Saudi Arabia came to me. He looked at the cover of the pillow and said: "that was made in Tilburg". He recognized the fabric of Innofa, an internationally known name in the textile world, for which he had recently travelled to Tilburg. The world is small," says Thijs.

In addition to the advantages that Tilburg offers him in the textile industry, Thijs reaps several benefits from the region. The entire business supply chain is located in Tilburg. And the logistics hotspot is also very convenient for him: "From Tilburg we transport the production directly to China, for business in Asia." In the meantime, Thijs continues to steam. With confidence, he tells us that he will continue to roll out Tailormade pillow worldwide. And he can continue to do so from his headquarters in Tilburg. 

http://www.tailormadepillow.com/ 

The product can be seen as part of the exhibition 'Tilburg makers' at Hotel Mercure, Heuvelpoort 300 in Tilburg.