About Us
Hi, I am Thomas from Perfectlinens.com. My sheet business started over twenty years ago, when I was in college studying abroad. On a weekend trip to Scotland with several schoolmates, we slept in an inexpensive bed-and-breakfast that used flannel sheets. The next morning, they were all we could talk about. I purchased a pair in the local department store to take home. After I returned to the States and pulled out my flannel sheets, I fell in love with them all over again. A few months later as I prepared to graduate, I had no idea what I was going to do for a career. I loved flannel sheets but they weren’t available in America so I decided to share my discovery. I started selling flannel sheets via mail order, running small ads in the local papers. This is my ad in the Philadelphia Enquirer:
I earned about $75 per week, but that wasn't enough so for months I slept in cold rooms and starved to cover my rent. I started calling the big mail-order companies, and I must’ve gotten hung up on a million times. Finally, I got my big break when L.L. Bean put my sheets in their 1978 Christmas test circular. They wanted to test if the sales pitch I’d given them was true. I knew that this could either make me or break me. Thank goodness others loved my sheets and within two weeks my flannel sheets became L.L. Bean’s best-selling Christmas item.
The following year my sheets were being sold by Eddie Bauer, Orvis, Hor
chow’s, etc. I was still officing out of my dorm room but the business had begun. That's when I started, “Everwarm, The Friendliest Sheets in the World.” Our very first insert for a non-mailorder company, Sak’s Fifth Avenue, is below. The second picture is what we inserted with your credit card statements. The girl is my daughter and she was photographed by my wife!
After more than twenty years selling luscious cozy sheets to the biggest USA retailers, outside forces intervened. Europe adopted a new currency, the Euro, which increased 40% in value over just two years. Background: the textiles business is high volume but it works with very low margins – we fight with customers over a few cents per sheet. But our prices were increasing by a dollar or two so my customers began to explore suppliers in other countries. The flannel business eventually moved to Turkey, India and China, where it largely remains today. I lost everything and the Portuguese factory of 2000 employees was reduced to just 200. Ouch!
So then what? I needed to offer something else of value to the Market. Now, during those many years of selling, the constant pressure was to provide US retailers with lower and lower sheet prices. Quality went out the door – most retailers rarely even asked about quality. To my way thinking, the US customer wasn’t getting a fair shake. I realized I could keep working in the industry if I could reintroduce superior quality sheets to the Market.
So I started Perfectlinens.com. We are the sheet experts. We sell sheets only -- we don't sell books, apparel, shoes, etc. We shop the world for manufacturers, wholesalers and importers; we've done the traveling for your sheets. Next, and this is where we're unique, we evaluate each sheet in our FEELAB Fabric Laboratory where each sheet is analyzed down to the microscopic fiber level. Our analysis is not based on subjective personal preferences (as other websites). Instead, we utilize state-of-the-art objective tests and extensive fabric science. Only the select few sheets we identify as truly exceptional are offered on Perfectlinens.com. As it is rare to find exceptional comfort performance, our selection of superior sheets is small.
Our mission on behalf of customers is to identify sheets that deliver truly exceptional comfort. I think customers need help to make better decisions than they can with misleading threadcounts and other “fluffy" marketing. Perfectlinens.com tells customers how these superior sheets will feel to the touch after multiple washings. This is important because feeling sheets in a store is unreliable as finishes applied to make sheets feel good when new wash out after a few launderings.
Sheets are a specialty at Perfectlinens.com. We offer shoppers a way to find perfect sheets -- perfect just for them. Our tagline is: "For the Sleep of Your Dreams." I look forward to bringing you great sheets as I have for all my business life.
Thank you,
Thomas
Founder of Perfectlinens.com
