"What's going on there is criminal" Employees of the faltering traditional mattress company now come clean

For decades, they stood for Swiss sleeping comfort - now Superba and Swissflex are facing the end. Following the insolvency of the operating company, employees are fighting for their livelihoods and the future of their brands.

The news from the local bedding world made headlines across the country on Tuesday: Superba and Swissflex, two traditional Swiss mattress brands, are on the verge of going out of business. The operator, Aquinos Bedding Switzerland AG, is insolvent.

"We haven't received a salary since June," says a long-standing employee in an interview with blue News. In the meantime, 70 percent of three months' wages have been paid out by social insurance. However, the situation is difficult: "There are people with us who are short of money and whose account balance is zero at the end of the month."

Around 45 people are currently employed by the operating company, most of them at the production site in Flüh SO. The administration in Büron, Lucerne, is now deserted. But there is no shortage of work: "We have full order books, but we can't produce because we don't have any raw materials," says the employee.

Opaque cash flows

A former manager confirmed this to blue News: the order backlog for Aquinos Switzerland alone amounted to over five million Swiss francs in December 2024, "but nothing could be produced because the [Portuguese] parent company did not provide the funds to procure raw materials and components to be able to produce".

Thousands of end customers and hundreds of trading partners were left out in the cold by the management in Portugal because they never received the goods they had ordered.

No wages paid for monthsTwo traditional Swiss mattress brands are on the brink of bankruptcy

The former manager also reported cash flows between the parent company and subsidiary - "without any transparency for the local management and without an accurate contractual agreement". It cannot be ruled out that applicable compliance guidelines and possibly even applicable Swiss laws were violated.

An employee of the Aquinos Group was unable to comment on the allegations over the phone to blue News. The Portuguese company initially left a written inquiry unanswered.

At the request of blue News, the Lucerne public prosecutor's office said that a complaint had been received by the "white-collar crime" department. "We are currently examining whether or not to open an investigation," says Simon Kopp, spokesman for the public prosecutor's office. Until a possible conviction, the presumption of innocence applies.

Hope of rescue

For the staff, the situation feels "insane" - but they are not surprised: "We saw it creeping up on us. Aquinos has already driven companies to ruin in other countries," says the employee. In communication with the parent company, the Swiss subsidiary was repeatedly put off with false promises. The employee says: "What goes on there is criminal. It's sad."

Meanwhile, the hope that Superba and Swissflex will continue to exist lives on. There is too much passion in the traditional brands and the customer feedback is too good. There is already an investor who has expressed interest in a takeover. The employee was not allowed to give any details to blue News at this time.

"If no solution is in sight by then, I'll be gone"

Despite the exceptional situation, he himself goes to work every day, the employee explains: "The products are my babies, I can't sit at home twiddling my thumbs." He has to comfort many customers on the phone. Around five colleagues currently meet in Flüh every day to exchange ideas.

"I believe that our brands will be saved." He has set his personal deadline for February 2026. "Then I'll be 50 years old, and if there's no solution in sight by then, I'll be gone."

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