5 Easy Steps for Buying Your New Sheets
Posted by Jane Tauber on
5 Easy Steps for Buying Your New Sheets
One would think buying new bed sheets would be a relatively easy process, right?
You select the color you like for your bedroom, choose cotton, cotton-poly blend or microfiber, find your mattress size and you’re all set.
If only it were that simple.
Thanks to an explosion in the variety of bedding products now available to the American consumer from around the globe, there are endless possibilities in the constructions, fabrications, origins and configurations of sheets in the marketplace.
Sorting it all out is so complicated it can keep you awake at night.
But really there are a few simple guidelines to use the next time you’re sheet shopping. Here are five things you need to know:
1. It’s All About the Fabric
If there was one overriding factor you should look at in helping you to make your purchase, it’s the sheeting fabric itself. While there are other raw materials, cotton is by far the most popular material used in making sheets today. That’s why you should look for the best cotton you can afford. Look for extra-long-staple cotton fibers, which means the original cotton is of a higher quality than more conventional strains. And watch for cotton identified as Egyptian. Egypt does not grow enough cotton to provide goods to all the sheet makers who claim they’re using Egyptian cotton.
2. Thread Counts Don’t Count as Much
As consumers, we have been conditioned to go for higher thread count sheets…even if we didn’t always know what that meant. Originally, it had to do with the number of “yarns" in a square inch of cloth but the measurement has become so distorted and misleading, it’s no longer a fair measure. Don’t be afraid of a product that doesn’t shout out its thread count. Feel the fabric and decide based on the hand.
3. Percale is the Secret
While there are other constructions available – and everyone sleeps differently – a percale sheet is by far the most popular product today and for good reasons. The way the fibers are woven, percale is a particularly good combination of comfort and durability. People talk about percale being cool and crisp – and they are right.
4. Sheet Sets, Match, Game
Yes, you can buy sheets individually, but the easiest way to purchase them today is in a set that includes the flat and fitted sheets plus the appropriate number and size of pillowcases. Maybe you wore Garanimals when you were a kid. Remember how easy that was?
5. Cut Out the Middleman
Back in the day, if you wanted sheets you had to go to a store…or steal them from Mom. Today, there’s a whole new group of sheet resources that design and develop their own products, often manufacturing them and selling direct to consumers online. It’s a great way to buy sheets if the websites are informative and easy to use.
Buying your new sheets shouldn’t be difficult, these simple guidelines should help make it simpler.
Pleasant dreams!