Meet Alex Kertzer, Founder of @TheNrthrn the one and only luxury concierge service out of North America. Just three years into her brand, she has made a significant mark in the bedding industry due to her European quality, care for animals and personalized service, proving that there is no other brand like hers on the market!

Photo Credit – @MatthewPerrinPhotos

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What made you decide to open @TheNrthrn ?

After graduating from Lasalle College with a degree in fashion Marketing, I headed to the Big Apple to land a gig with a top retailer Beyond the Rack. I applied right away, as a Sample Manager – I wanted to be a buyer and wanted to be in shoes. That department wasn’t available, but home decor was. So I wend ahead and applied there. In just four months I generated a million dollars in sales. Looking at all home trends, I noticed that a lot of what was existing in the market was missing quality, care and just the right product. That’s what sparked the initial idea.

Then I worked for another brand, and again just a few months in, I blew up their sales. That’s when I thought to myself : you know what, why am I doing this for somebody else? I know how to sell, I know my products I need to go off on my own and build this for my own brand. 

What did you realize was missing when working in the bedding industry?

“The thing I realized once working in the bedding industry, is that there is no standard check for what people are selling you. Nobody is checking how many thread-counts your sheets actually have and because of that there are many discrepancies. You spend one third of your life in bed, and you’re most likely sleeping on factory made sheets coming out of China or India that are mass produced, animal-cruelty products and have terrible chemicals and compounds in them.”

The misconception about bedding is : a higher thread count equals more quality. If you look at real Italian brands like Frette and Pratesi, these real Italian seamstresses they will laug if you tell them you want a high thread count sheets. Because the higher the thread count you go, the higher the weave which means there is less breathability, it means you’ll sweat more because it is tightly woven they try to get 600 square count per square metre. It’s not better and it’s wrong. 

What qualifies as good quality bedding?

If you look at a duvet, which is what we specialize in @TheNrthn other brands will mix down with feather to lower their costs because feather is cheaper. These birds that they’re getting they pluck them, they farm them in China and the birds are not mature birds so their down clusters are smaller and they don’t have the same resilience or quality. My geese come from Poland they are elderly geese that live on a dam, they eat organic foods and they shed their down naturally once a year – that’s why they are so much fluffier.

Photo Credit – @MatthewPerrinPhotos

Where do you see TheNrthrn heading in the next few years?

I want us to be international, to work with retailers that support cruelty-free products. My goal is so have TheNrthrn brand in boutique hotels, and others luxury brands that align with our vision. We’re already hitting an international market on our online store and I want it to continue and expand.

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For more information, visit @TheNrthrn on Instagram.

Shop TheNrthrn directly here.