Today, the female leaders in hospitality have taken the industry by a wave with their ability to battle against every challenge and work to make their desired goals come true. One such women leader in the Indian hospitality sector is Jai Bedi, the CEO of Lino Linens. Her love and passion for quality have brought success to her and the brand as well. Adding strength to Lino, Jai is the strong support behind the company's growth. She is working on transforming the hotel linen brand into a household name, owing to her unique vision; to create minimalistic and elegant experiences in hotels, homes, events and corporate houses. In an exclusive interview with Women Entrepreneur India, Jai spoke about the eminence of the company and her journey.

Give A Brief Overview Of Lino Linens. How Is The Brand Manifesting Its Uniqueness In The Indian Industry?

Lino Linens is a premium manufacturer and designer of high-end linens. Based in Noida, the company has been providing custom-made bed and table linens to hotels, homes, restaurants and events since 1988. We manufacture, design and export fine linens globally. Our linens can be found in prestigious hotels chains worldwide and are making their way into homes.

Something that differentiates us from our contemporaries is our ability to customize linens for our B2B and B2C clients alike. We ensure that we understand our client's requirements and customize fabrics, colors, embroideries and sizing accordingly. Our products and fabrics are specially developed to have a long shelf life and withstand laundry pressures. At the same time, they must look and feel luxurious, bringing together design and quality.

In my experience, I have seen that the Indian market offers either high quality or design. Mixing the two often compromises on one aspect as it is tough to maintain both together. However, we strive to bring together, both, high quality as well as design in our products for which we have to go an extra mile and use specially developed fabrics, threads and designs. We leverage our rich decade long experience working with luxury hotels to offer comfort, quality and design in our home linens.

Walk Us Through Your Early Professional Background And How Did Your Career Scale?

My professional journey began with the Clinton Foundation. It exposed me to business operations, negotiation, market analysis and building relationships. I then shifted my focus on something more entrepreneurial and the need for an organized linen brand in India came to my notice. The supplier market in India was largely unsegmented and not branded. The opportunity made me enter the market and model my family business into a luxury home grown brand.

My family has been in the textile manufacturing industry for decades now. I joined the business to level up the business and build a brand out of it. My vision is to bring an all-encompassing luxury linen brand to the Indian market.

What Prompted You To Enter The Distinctive Niche Of Manufacturing Textile For A Wholesome Hospitality Experience?

First and foremost is the gap where the Indian market lacked professional suppliers for fine linen for hotels. I wanted to take the 20 years of legacy of my family business, combine it with high levels of service to emerge as a one-stop shop for custom linens for hospitality. All these factors gave me the push to venture into the niche.

“Lino is at the juncture of hospitality and home where luxury, comfort and quality come together in custom-made linens”

Highlight The Design And Manufacturing Process At Lino.

Being a one-stop solution for linens to hotels across the world, our focus lies in customization. Moreover, we are working on the idea of bringing hospitality inspired quality and comfort to homes apart from luxury hotels. We source the finest yarns from India and manage everything from design, cutting, stitching, embroidery, quality check, packaging to delivery.

We are vertically integrated right from the sourcing. While bespoke linens are our forte, quality is what we breathe. Stringent quality checks and safe logistics everything happens from our in-house team.

In Your Opinion What Aspects Of Your Personality And Leadership Style Have Helped You Traverse Through Your Career Journey And Rise To The Very Top?

A few things that could attribute to this are being open to opportunities, being keen on market needs, and being organized and professional in reaching the target market. As a person who has always kept my eyes open for opportunities, I now see the Indian home market evolving quickly and thus creating a demand for fine linens in the retail segment as well. We spotted that and started working on it.

Apart from this, I believe that patience is the key and my ability to build strong client relationships helps me widely.

The Ongoing Pandemic Has Been A Tough Journey For Every Business Sector. What Steps Did You Take As A Leader To Deal With The Challenges Brought About By The Covid-19 Crisis?

Hospitality was the first industries to shut down due to the pandemic. We were deeply affected because we are directly linked to hotels and restaurants. It was quite scary, but we made some tough decisions quickly to continue the business. Secondly, we expanded our target market to retail. We had to pivot into different areas to sustain and grow the business.

Suggestion To Newbies

Although hospitality is a competitive industry, there is always a huge space for creating something unique. If you think out-of-the-box and provide timely & professional services, the industry will recognize you.

Jai Bedi, CEO, Lino Linens

Jai completed honours in Mathematics and with excellent skills in business strategy, hotel management and hospitality management contributes to the development of luxury hospitality linen.