In 1881, cotton gin builder Daniel Haynes lived in Sealy, Texas, located west of Houston.

During 1906, after much success as an advertising executive, Earl Edwards purchased the patents and gained manufacturing knowledge from Haynes.

Its licensees were, under the terms of their licensing agreement, only supposed to sell in a designated trading area that did not conflict with those of other franchisees.

Unable to come up with the $77m award, Sealy Incorporated and all but one of the other franchisees were forced to sell to Ohio Mattress, and the company became the world's largest bedding manufacturer by sales.

In 1998 Sealy announced that it was moving from Cleveland to the High Point, North Carolina area.

"[5] In September 2012, Tempur-Pedic International (TPX) announced an agreement to purchase Sealy (NYSE:ZZ) for about US$229 million.

There are licensees operating in Australia,[8] Argentina, Bahamas, Colombia, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand and the United Kingdom.