The waterbed industry has had its ups and downs over the decades. Mostly downs if youB次元官网网址檙e looking at the past 30 years.

But its most ardent supporters are buoyed by a modern wave of beds they say could shake its kitschy reputation once and for all, and maybe even bring it back into the mainstream.

Yes, the waterbed B次元官网网址� that once-groovy emblem of the subversive B次元官网网址�60s and sexy B次元官网网址�70s B次元官网网址� is not only still around, but gearing up for a comeback to mark its 50th anniversary in 2018.

B次元官网网址淢y theory is thereB次元官网网址檚 a whole generation that was spawned on a waterbed,B次元官网网址� says the bedB次元官网网址檚 inventor, Charlie Hall.

B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檙e going to swim upstream like salmon and buy another one.B次元官网网址�

The 74-year-old says heB次元官网网址檚 designed a new product for a generation that never got to experience the free-form beds the first-time around, back when his radical take on a mattress became a powerful symbol for a macrame-loving counter-culture.

A modern-day penchant for mattresses that contour and conform fits in well with the inherent properties of water, he says.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 hard to believe itB次元官网网址檚 50 years but B次元官网网址� the whole interest (now is) conforming and comfort and pillow-tops and then memory foam and all that,B次元官网网址� says Hall, reached recently by phone on a cruise ship near Santa Cruz, Mex., as he made his way to Panama.

B次元官网网址淚f you read the ads, they read like waterbed ads.B次元官网网址�

Hall, who lives on Bainbridge Island, Wash., says his new bed will debut in February. It will be B次元官网网址渧ery waveless,B次元官网网址� and the same size as a traditional mattress.

B次元官网网址淚t looks like a conventional bed (but) it has a more compliant top on it so when you lay down on it you get more of the waterbed feel, which was always distinctively different than a regular mattress,B次元官网网址� Hall says of his first new waterbed in more than 30 years.

B次元官网网址淎nd it controls temperature B次元官网网址� you can have it warmer or cooler, set it the way you want, even right and left side if you have different preferences.B次元官网网址�

Missing from his pitch is mention of any sensuous attributes B次元官网网址� the key marketing tactic that both vaulted, and possibly killed, the original waterbed.

Hall debuted his creation in 1968 at San Francisco State University where he was an industrial design student. Dubbed the B次元官网网址減leasure pit,B次元官网网址� it generated instant media attention for its promise of sexual exploits.

B次元官网网址淚t was such a curiosity, and people had never seen anything like that that moved and was compliant like that,B次元官网网址� says Hall.

The following year, he began a two-man production in Sausalito, Calif., crafting redwood frames by hand. Innerspace Environments would eventually grow to 32 retail stores in California.

But in San Francisco, they were originally sold in head shops, says Hall.

B次元官网网址淭hey would sell a bong and a waterbed. I didnB次元官网网址檛 intend it that way, but thatB次元官网网址檚 what happened,B次元官网网址� he shrugs, suspecting that too limited the market despite famous devotees including Hugh Hefner, a Smothers Brother, and a member of Jefferson Airplane.

Indeed, the bed was tailor-made for the anti-establishment of the era.

The slogan of the industry was: B次元官网网址淲e are the sleep revolution,B次元官网网址� recalls Andre Kocsis, whose Toronto company Halcyon Waterbeds launched in 1971.

B次元官网网址淭he enemy were the people who made spring beds,B次元官网网址� says the 70-year-old. B次元官网网址淲e called them B次元官网网址榙ead beds.B次元官网网址� The worst thing in the world was a dead bed.B次元官网网址�

Kocsis admits that much of the waterbed industry was amateurish, citing wanton trade shows in the early B次元官网网址�70s featuring cocaine and prostitutes.

B次元官网网址淚t was a bunch of hippies that had no business experience, that got into a product which just grew explosively. I mean, at its peak the waterbed industry was a $2-billion industry,B次元官网网址� says Kocsis, citing an oft-touted tally from the U.S. waterbed industry at the time.

B次元官网网址淭he waterbed industry was run on hypeB次元官网网址�. It was kind of like drinking the Kool-Aid. We were trying to get a product accepted that had a fair amount of resistance for a fair number of reasons.B次元官网网址�

Fears over leaks, the heavy load, ongoing maintenance and seasickness kept many from trying waterbeds out. But those who took the plunge were quick converts, says Kocsis, and generated strong word-of-mouth business.

By 1980, Kocsis says he had a staff of 300 and was doubling and tripling yearly sales: B次元官网网址淲e had a stallion that was running at full speed and all I could do was hang on.B次元官网网址�

The eventual decline would be swift, too, he says.

Appeal tapered in the late B次元官网网址�80s and early B次元官网网址�90s, just as society shifted to a new conservatism and focus on family values. The industry tried to adapt with soft-sided and waveless versions that mimicked the conventional spring mattresses, but it was hard to shake a reputation ingrained through taglines like those on one early ad: B次元官网网址淭wo things are better on a waterbed. One of them is sleeping.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淭hose things all came back to haunt the industry,B次元官网网址� says Kocsis.

Interest has admittedly plummeted since then but demand persists, insists Mike Cleaver, owner of Waterbed Gallery in Barrie, Ont. He believes the time is ripe for a comeback.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 been a long time, but the core values of sleeping on water are starting to come back to people,B次元官网网址� says Cleaver, who entered the business in 1980.

B次元官网网址淲e hear on a daily basis whatB次元官网网址檚 brought them back is their dissatisfaction with conventional mattressesB次元官网网址�. Mattresses went through the roof on pricing and very little reasoning to back it up.B次元官网网址�

He, too, blames much of the waterbedB次元官网网址檚 decline on the industry itself: B次元官网网址淭he industry self-imploded.B次元官网网址� He recalls waterbed-mania breeding an increasing number of rivals, each trying to undercut the other.

B次元官网网址淲e had some competitors advertising a $99 waterbed. ThatB次元官网网址檚 when it got out of hand,B次元官网网址� says Cleaver, suspecting cut corners further eroded reputation.

Lots of misconceptions arose, too, says Cleaver, disputing a slew of horror stories that dogged the product from Day 1.

B次元官网网址淲aterbeds didnB次元官网网址檛 go through floors, heaters werenB次元官网网址檛 bad for pregnant women B次元官网网址� and that magnetic field that was sent out was less than a clock radio,B次元官网网址� he says of claims that the heatersB次元官网网址� electromagnetic fields caused health problems.

New products are out there now and Cleaver says these modern incarnations address many long-standing complaints B次元官网网址� that waterbeds were too heavy, too big, or too cumbersome to move.

Still, Edward Leon, president of the furniture chain LeonB次元官网网址檚, doesnB次元官网网址檛 see a market, calling the waterbed B次元官网网址渧ery niche.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 see that coming back in a big way under any circumstances,B次元官网网址� says Leon, who guesses waterbeds represented about 15 per cent of overall bedding sales in Canada at its peak.

B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 always niche players in everything so if youB次元官网网址檙e the only person selling them in Toronto you might have some success with it.B次元官网网址�

Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press

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