‘Linen’ is my ‘Obsession’: Pamela Lilburne Opie

Around 15 years ago Pamela Lilburne Opie moved to Dubai. She brought with her wide experience of working with leading names in the home textile space, including several home and contract linen manufacturers. During her time in Australia, she has worked with one of the country’s largest textile manufacturing groups for more than a decade, as well as with Sheridan Australia and Managed Esprit Homewares for the Middle East.

Opie arrived in Dubai with an ambition to start her own home textiles business. Soon she set up her company representing high-quality British and European brands. This company is now known as Linen Obsession. It is the exclusive distributor of 14 linen brands including Christy England, Ted Baker, Harlequin, Sanderson, Donna Karan, Morris & Co, Kauffmann Sanders of Germany, Velfont from Spain and Bedeck of Belfast.

Linen Obsession operates 35 branded areas within leading department stores across the GCC where it provides stock and staff to ensure that professional service and solutions are provided to customers. “Linen Obsession is one of the largest bedding suppliers to most major department stores, and we also have a robust export and wholesale business,” Opie stated.

“We’ve developed Christy England to become the best-selling brand in every department store it’s stocked. In fact, our brands frequently contribute to half of the bedding sales in stores and sometimes much more,” she added.

With a vision to grow the business further, in 2016 Opie launched Linen Obsession’s e-commerce website. “As per Shopify statistics, our site still ranks in the top 3% of similar sites. For understanding, the sales from Linen Obsession’s e-commerce site match or exceed its store sales in grade A malls.”

In many ways, Linen Obsession has gone against the tide. In this context, Opie said, “The trend of most websites is to run a discount or promotional strategy to drive sales volume. We, on the other hand, mainly sell products at full price. Our success is driven by high-quality products, coupled with excellent product knowledge and great customer service.

Being aware of the need to touch-and-feel products like linen, Opie launched a Linen Obsession flagship store at City Center Mirdif in November 2022.

To know more about the Linen Obsession story, join us at the Middle East Retail Forum 2023 where Pamela Lilburne Opie will be speaking. Register now!