It's all about the cotton
Creating beautiful bedding
With many ways to manufacture and market bedding, it can be difficult understanding what you're buying but there are certain attributes to look for when shopping for quality.
100% Long-staple cotton
Many different grades of cotton are grown throughout the world. The really good stuff, known as long-staple or extra long-staple cotton is sought-after, expensive and rare (3% of global production).
Longer cotton staples (fig 1) come from certain varieties of cotton plant, some from Egypt, some from Peru known as Pima (or Supima which is a branded version grown in the United States) and Australia.
The advantage to longer cotton staples, is that the resulting threads are both stronger and thinner, which in turn, allows for stronger, yet finer bedding in higher thread counts.
In thread counts above 250 threads per square inch, long-staple cotton creates crisp yet soft, luxurious bedding which lasts longer and softens with age. But in thread counts below 250, long-staple cotton can result in gaps between threads (as threads are thinner), less adhesion and a weaker sheet.
So although sheets made from long-staple cotton are acknowledged as better, striking a balance between thread count and cotton quality is also important, if a sheet is to be awarded a good grade after testing.
This is why our lower thread count Hotel range is made from medium-staple cotton, our medium thread count Luxury Hotel range is made from medium-staple and long-staple cotton, and our Limited Edition range is made from 100% long-staple Egyptian cotton.
Luxurious single-ply yarn
Weaker cotton can be strengthened by twisting or joining threads together to create what is known as a piled yarn.
High quality bedding is usually made from quality cotton spun into single-ply yarn (fig 2), which results in bedding that is both crisp and soft, and is less prone to becoming brittle or rough after repeated washing.
Because single-ply yarns aren't strengthened by the twisting together of more threads (figs 3-4) better cotton grades are required if the bedding is to last.
This is one of the many reasons high-grade cotton is sought after for beautiful, single-ply sheets. It results in sheets that feel luxurious and continue feeling luxurious after repeated washing.
All our sheets are made from single-ply yarns.
Certified bedding
Sleep well knowing our bedding is certified to the OEKO-TEX 100 Class II Standard. Product class II certifies textiles used close to the skin, such as bed linen and underwear. The OEKO-TEX 100 Standard tests beyond legal regulation in most countries, testing for known harmful but not necessarily legally regulated chemicals.
- No illegal substances
- No legally regulated substances
- No known harmful, but not legally regulated chemicals
- Product exceeds existing legislation in many countries
Â
What we sleep on at home
Christina is menopausal, and like most men, I've always slept hot. The only reason we sell the sheets we sell, is because after 15 years sleep testing sheets in a temperature controlled bedroom, these sheets did the best job of regulating temperature.
But they're not a miracle cure, sleep is complex. You can't sleep in PJs or other bed clothes and expect temperature regulating sheets like ours to work. Likewise with puffy duvets or any kind of human-made fibre like poly/cotton or rayon - or even rayon blends sold as bamboo/cotton. Avoid! And if they work for you, great. But that just means you don't struggle with temperature as much as we do.
Natural fibres like cotton or linen, woven for airflow work best but we even found linen hotter than our sheets - thickness for any reason is always hotter. This also means you have to be able to see through the sheet. The trick? Find finer sheets made from decent cotton, yarn and weaving so you still get decent wear. Hence The Hotel Sheet.
