Where did Levitex come from?
Levitex is the brainchild of founder James Leinhardt, who has spent 10+ years helping critically injured, chronically ill, and in-firm patients and has learnt a key fact.
Whether it comes to complex neurological patients, elite athletes, home office workers, and everyone in the middle, the impact of sleep quality, and specifically what we sleep on, can’t be underestimated.
So, James took the science that he learnt in healthcare and applied it to creating the optimum lying surface. One that considers not just comfort and pressure relief, but also support and posture. Something that’s almost a cheat to getting a good night’s sleep. He called it Levitex.
Brains behind Levitex
The Dream Team
We are passionate about improving your quality of sleep. Our mission is to tell the world about sleep posture and give everyone the tools to improve theirs.
James Leinhardt - our founder and inventor
James Leinhardt has a wealth of knowledge in nighttime postural care and has designed class-one medical devices to manage the posture for clients suffering with complex neurological illness and injury. He works with NHS trusts and social care throughout the UK and his nighttime system has reached clients as far as the Middle East and Australia. Working with client groups such as catastrophic brain injury, MS, Cerebral Palsy and Stroke survivors, James feels a social obligation and strong sense of purpose to care and improve the lives of patients in medical difficulty and the wider public.
You can also find him public speaking and on the TV to spread the message of the importance of sleep posture, or on TikTok, where his sleep positioning tips have amassed a loyal following.
James also guest lectures at Universities across the UK and US and is a Honorary Lecturer at the School of Sport and Health Sciences within the University of Central Lancashire. He is passionate about spreading the message of the importance of sleep posture as a clinical intervention to the next generations of nurses, occupational therapists and physiotherapists.
Dr Ilan Lieberman - Medical Director
Our Medical Director, Dr Ilan Lieberman works as a Pain Medicine Consultant and Clinician with The University Hospitals of South Manchester (UHSM). Between 2004 and 2014 he was the Clinical Lead for the Pain Medicine Service in UHSM. In December 2013 he was appointed as the Director of UHSM Academy, the learning and development arm of UHSM. His areas of special interest include back pain management and interventions, chronic pain syndromes after surgery, trauma, injury or infection, complex regional pain syndrome, fibromyalgia, neuropathic pain, pain management in multiple sclerosis, refractory angina pain and whiplash.
Dr Lieberman joined Levitex at the very start of the journey and has been working alongside James ever since.
Louise Rogerson - Clinical Lead
Louise Rogerson is a Chartered Physiotherapist with a special interest in Neurology and Older People, with nearly 30 years of clinical experience. Her work has included clinical service delivery in hospitals, rehab units, and in the community, as well as working as a commissioner in the NHS.
Louise joined forces with James in 2021 after following her own ‘Sleep Posture Journey’ and realising that the accepted norm in neurology was not being applied elsewhere.
Karolina Cala - Head of Marketing
Karolina is writing this and therefore finding it quite awkward to list her accomplishments in third person, but will attempt it nevertheless.
Having graduated with an MSc in Digital Marketing, she met James in a webinar during the lockdown. Endeared by his complete marketing cluelessness, she offered to send him some tips, and soon after she was roped into freelancing for Levitex. In 2021, she joined the team full time and got working on spreading the message of sleep posture far and wide. The methods for this included making James appear in front of a camera (despite his kicking and screaming). She's led the marketing strategy ever since and is likely the person behind the camera of most of the videos you may see online.
She loves travelling (38 countries visited and counting), jigsaws, Taylor Swift and her job.
Olivia Peake - EA and our office mum
Olivia was the very first to join James on his mission to tell the world about sleep posture and hasn't looked back since. As the office mum, she always comes in armed with biscuits and hugs.
Her special skills include somehow being able to manage James' calendar (not even James has ever achieved this) and liaising with freight companies so well that late deliveries tend to turn up on time when Olivia is involved.
She loves her two sons, rugby, Manchester United and the Irish.
Andreea Godeanu - Marketing Executive
Andreea is the newest Dreamer to join us. Having graduated with an MSc in Marketing and re-qualifying following her undergraduate law degree, she is passionate about reaching everyone with the message of the importance of sleep posture.
She's likely going to be the one who responds to you if you pop us a message on Instagram and she's also the brain behind many of our collaborations.
In her non-work time, Andreea enjoys jigsaws, Romanian popcorn music and thrifting.
I’ve recently encountered two patients who were in a car crash. They were struggling with neck pain, shoulder pain, whiplash and the neck feeling like it’s locking. This impacted on their quality of life and put them in an awful lot of pain – one of them with pain radiating down the left arm. This had a tremendous impact on their mood and sleep. They both say Levitex pillows are the best thing they’ve ever found – with lots of support in the right place. They’re now able to sleep through the night and the pain is virtually gone.
— Jo-Anne Webb MSc, Dip COT, ROT, FHEA
Our Journey (so far!)
2016
The formulation
James, having worked in the industry for years, realises that most sleep surfaces don't address the three issues of sleep: pressure relief, postural management and proprioception.
He starts working on a formulation with a specialist chemical engineer and soon, they strike gold.
They have a foam formulation that is pressure relieving like memory foam, but without sacrificing your postural management. The addition of proprioceptive feedback is a cherry on top.
James sets up Levitex, enlists the help of Dr Lieberman, and they get researching!
2018
Striving for perfection
The formulation needs to be perfect, so James and Jay, our specialty chemical engineer, spend a further two years making sure it's the optimum sleep surface that you know and love today.
They obtain a patent, as Levitex foam is the very first innovation in polyurethane foam since the 1960s (so we really, really don't want anyone to steal it).
First bits of research start to drip through, and they're exciting! Off the back of this, James commences research with the University of Salford.
2019
We're ready!
After 3 years of work, Levitex is ready to be introduced to the world.
We launch with a Kickstarter and smash the target by 300%.
It's the very first proof of concept that there's space for Levitex in the sleep world, and indeed that people do wish to improve their sleep posture and quality.
James and Olivia get out 100s of Kickstarter orders with a bit of help from their kids.
2020
Official launch to the world
We launch our very first website and start to tell the world about the innovation.
The original plan was to only carry Levitex in retail shops, but we-know-what put a spin on that.
Incidentally, we already had a contract in place to launch with a big sleep retailer - so we double launch with a bang.
The concept of pillows in four different sizes is new to the world, and we do our best to explain why pillows aren't one-size-fits-all.
2021
Big year for sleep!
Our help is required at Lancs Teaching Hospitals which is overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients, and we design and produce a life saving Conscious Patient Kit in two weeks (to date, this is one of our proudest moments and proof that sleep posture can save lives).
We also launch a TikTok channel that same year. The controversy of telling people to stop stomach sleeping sends us viral quickly.
The big retailer we launched with the previous year sent the same size of a Levitex pillow to all the Paralympians who went to Tokyo, so we decide to say goodbye.
Launching with Next sweetens the sorrow.
The Independent awards us our very first IndyBest Best Anti-Snore Pillow award (first of many, as we now know, but the first is always the most special).
2022
If we're trending, is sleep trendy?
We have our very first prime TV appearance on Channel4, where James teaches Steph McGovern and Russell Kane how to optimise their sleep posture.
Our sleep posture advice trends on Apple News, and James continues to divide TikTok by begging everyone not to sleep on their stomach.
House of Fraser like what they see and decide to stock us in their online store.
2023
Where there's Levitex, there's sleep posture
Dreamers, what a year this was.
The Journal of Wound Care research that we had started back in 2019 is finally published (clinical research really does take its sweet time).
James is invited to the Westminster to discuss the sleep crisis that's sweeping the UK, all the while University of Central Lancashire appoints him a Honorary Lecturer.
We start going live on TikTok to spread the message of sleep posture and build a wonderful community of people who help spread the gospel.
Our team grows yet again - this time with the addition of Louise, our clinical lead, and Andreea.
Sustainability: your sleep shouldn't harm the planet
Green Office
Levitex HQ is 100% climate positive – this includes all of our staff, as well as main subcontractors.
Levitex pillows are climate positive
For every Levitex pillow manufactured and sold from July 2021, we've offset their carbon emissions by supporting the critical growth of forests and rainforests around the world. Our pillows’ carbon emissions were calculated by Play It Green, using the full supply chain and product lifecycle.
Each pillow you buy equals to two trees planted in areas with a critical need for reforestation, like Madagascar or Kenya.
Removing all plastic from packaging
We're working on it! We've removed all plastic from our Sleep Posture Pillow packaging and are intending to be fully plastic free in the near future.
Does your team need better sleep?
At Levitex, we live and breathe sleep posture - and we want to share what we know.
We are now a certified CPD provider. Our sleep wellbeing courses have been designed to support CPD and revalidation.
We also provide corporate solutions (including webinars, in-person sleep workshops, one-on-one employee consultations and more).
We've helped the teams at HSBC, Regatta, NatWest, Allianz, England Rugby Team and more.
Discover what our courses can do for you, your staff and your team training.
We've been featured in the press!
As seen in
