The mattress giant that never sleeps: this is how Pikolin has grown

BarcelonaIn the early hours of November 29, 1996, a car was speeding down the A2, the highway that connects Barcelona with Zaragoza. In the back seat was 73-year-old Alfonso Soláns Serrano, founder of the Pikolin luxury car empire and president of Real Zaragoza, which was still competing in the First Division at the time. He was feeling ill. He had traveled to the Catalan capital to undergo a minor dental procedure at a clinic, but before reaching the operating room, his condition worsened. On the advice of the private doctor who had accompanied him, he decided to return home. They never arrived: at 3:00 a.m., right on the road, the doctor declared him dead.

Soláns was born in Zaragoza on November 23, 1923. Over time, he had become one of the most influential figures in the Aragonese club scene, both due to the influence of his company and his involvement in politics and sporting events. In 1992, when Real Zaragoza became a public limited company, Soláns assumed its presidency. He started with 51% of the shares and, with subsequent increases, came to control virtually the entire capital.

But Soláns's fame cannot be explained without the Pikolin mattress brand. Before setting up his own workshop, he had already learned the trade working, at just 17 years old, in his father's bed factory. In 1948, he decided to take the plunge and start a small bed frame repair shop. From there, a giant in the sleep sector emerged. The brand was a pioneer in exporting to Arab countries and opened up markets in the United States with brands like Sunlay and Springwall. Today, more than seven decades later, Pikolin has an annual turnover of 522 million euros, has a workforce of nearly 3,000 workers, operates in eight countries, and maintains ten production plants spread between Europe and Southeast Asia. How did Soláns achieve this?

An awake man

It all began in 1948 in a small shop in Zaragoza with seven workers. Alfonso Soláns manufactured metal beds and bed bases under his own name. The business grew, and in 1955, he decided to launch a brand: Pikolin. Over time, the company abandoned that initial workshop and moved into one of the largest production plants in the world. The new factory, on the Logroño highway, opened in 1973, coinciding with the project's 25th anniversary.

From then on, Pikolin began seeking partnerships. In 1984, it introduced the Normablock system, an innovative spring block developed in collaboration with the American company Leggett & Platt. A year later, it created the Bed's chain, which grew to have more than 200 points of sale throughout Spain and is still quite active in Catalonia. In 1988, the group opened its own subsidiary in Portugal.

The entry into the 1990s marked the beginning of a process of international expansion. Pikolin reached agreements with brands such as Bultex, Serta, and Epeda, and in 2002 created Cofel, an alliance with the Belgian company Recticel, which came to control five factories in France alone. Later, the group acquired historic brands such as Sema and Dunlopillo, opened offices in China, and strengthened its presence in Southeast Asia, Italy, and Brazil.

In 2017, Pikolin completed its logistics expansion with the launch of a large complex on the outskirts of Zaragoza. With an investment of €50 million, it became one of the largest mattress production centers in Southern Europe: the plant covers 85,000 square meters.

In 2023, the company celebrated 75 years of history as a key player in the sleep sector in Spain and France, considered the second-largest European group in the sector. That year, Álvaro Soláns—the founder's successor—took over as president of Pikolin, while Alfonso Soláns—the founder's son—became honorary president. With new generations at the helm and an increasingly demanding market, the group strives to maintain a balance between global scale and local roots. The challenge is no longer to grow as before, but to adapt, consolidate positions, and stay awake in a sector that never stops moving.