I’m curious why you would think that anyone but LL Bean would be the manufacturer of their sheets. I just checked out my LL Bean flannel sheets and they’re made in Portugal (not Maine) but contract manufacturing is everywhere these days. Why do you not consider LL Bean the manufacturer of their sheets? LL Bean does maintain a manufacturing facility in Brunswick, Maine and they are also a retailer (like, say, Apple) but the bulk of their catalog is manufactured overseas (also like, say, Apple). Do you consider the primary iPhone manufacturer to be Apple or Foxconn?
I’m not trying to pick a fight, it just seems weird to me. I’m interested in the logic that makes you wonder who the manufacturer of LL Bean sheets is.
No dog in this fight, but I can suggest linen if you want something that wears like iron, softens with washing though it is wicked expensive. Just keep in mind the sheet set that you might pay $1000 for will last for 50 years and just get softer as time passes. They do wrinkle, which is why you read about the servants ironing the sheets in the old British novels set in the Great Houses. I have a couple sets I got from my Grandmother’s linen closet when they were portioning out her stuff after she died. [I also scored 4 sets of table linens for 16, plain white, a lovely royal blue, a lovely deep green and a lovely garnet, and an irish lace tablecloth that looks wicked great over top of the colored linens.]
I have issues with my skin being over sensitive to wrinkles, pilling and coarse fabric so I have given up and we just use regular cotton sheets and I cover my side of the bed with a microfiber plushy oversized throw and I made a duvet cover out of a couple of matching microfiber throws.
If you want incredibly good fabric for a low cost join woot.com and wait for the sales. I have gotten 1000 threadcount long-staple egyptian cotton sheets for $59 per set (Queen sized.)
I have decided I actually prefer the 850 count though, the 1000’s are a bit heavy and stiff. I’m sure they’ll soften with wear, but the 850s feel good now and have a much softer hand.
Just be sure it says 100% cotton, as sometimes they’ll throw a polyester blend into the mix. Read carefully and you’ll get amazing deals there.
I’ve seen linen sheets for $500 but never 1K – how do you wash them, can you dry them, and what makes them sell for 5x the price of $100 sheets? You mention coarseness – is the only draw pure longevity?
Restoration Hardware’s 464-threadcount percale. The 600 is too shiny for my taste. But the 464 is perfect. I bought a bunch for the future in case they get cancelled. However, if someone knows these sheets and can recommend a similar less-expensive brand, that would be great.
Hm. Last time I priced linen sheets [king size] was about 10 years back and they were running at 1K, have not priced them lately as I have several sets. They themselves are not coarse, they are pretty much like any other 250/300 count sheet, just the threads they are made of are very strong. They get much softer [and will wrinkle] as they get washed. Not sure where you get the idea that they are coarse, with my sensitivity issues silk would feel rough - I just would prefer to preserve my linen sheets for special occasions as with a single job we are barely scraping by and I can not afford to replace them if they get damaged. One washes and dries the linen sheets same as any other sheet, washer and dryer - we tend to cold water wash and use the medium type of drying, though they are nice hung out in the breeze and then tossed in the dryer to loosen them up so they are not stiff like line dried stuff can be.
I like Hotel collection sheets. They are offered at Macy’s and occasionally places like Overstock.com. I always buy 400+ tc. I can’t stand sleeping on anything but cotton sheets.
/Hijack/ Rayon is a process, not a fiber. Some rayon is made from bamboo. Some is even made from the cotton fibers that are discarded in the cotton-fabric manufacturing process (those shrink, usually). I’m sure there are other plant fibers used. So rayon as a description on fabric is not helpful. The manufacturers of bamboo-based yarn have been forced to call their product rayon so they say bamboo rayon on the label. (I say forced because they liked calling it bamboo yarn as it sounded sort of green and natural. The process of making rayon isn’t very “green”.) //hijack//
On topic: the softest sheets I ever had ripped after less than a year of use. They were all cotton, 350 thread count, from BB&B, on sale. I wish they wore better. I have a king size bed and can’t afford to buy sheets every year.
By the way, does anyone who has a king bed use king pillows? I don’t and I hate that sheet sets always give me those useless king pillow cases. It’s nearly impossible to find separate sheets (not in sets) these days, too.
My pillows are from Amazon, buckwheat and another kind, so they never fit standard pillowcases anyways. Seems like everyone these days has different pillows, yet there aren’t commensurate cases.
I just tuck them inside and deal, especially since I tend to change the pillow cases every 3-4 days for my skin (the sheets every 6-8). So I end up having more pillow cases anyways.
Here’s my sheet update: My Target organic cotton sheets pilled after 12 months of continuous use; I’d wash them weekly on warm and dry on low and never alternate them. They began to pill, only in the center of the fitted sheet, so I suspect they were - ahem - due to adult activities rather than actual sleeping.
I purchased Lacoste Brushed Twill Sheet Set - Queen in white about 15 months ago. Have alternated a bit with the Target organic sheets, but not much. They have worn extremely well, no pilling. Brutally hot summer, so they did yellow just a bit from sweat, which was quickly corrected with bluing dye in the wash. I think the thread count is extremely deceiving on these – 250 thread count feels on par with some 800’s that my folks own.
If you’re looking for soft and smooth and cool sheets, I give 'em 5 stars. They’re not “omg soft” like flannel or some jersey sheets (NOT like the beech ones of yore). Also, they’re great for deep or pillow top mattresses. The elastic is extremely strong.
I have to say that I’ve had all kinds of sheets, but I’m a hot sleeper and my mom gave me 2 sets of PeachSkinSheets in Mint Julep and Beach Blue (love, love, love the colors!) for my birthday last year after my expensive cotton sheets started to pill :eek:. Plus, the cotton took forever to dry and came out in a wrinkled ball. I was skeptical because they were microfiber and I expected them to be hot and scratchy. Definitely not the case! They are now my favorite sheets! Super soft, and they breathe really well…like my Under Armour athletic microfiber work out clothes. They wick away moisture, dry in like 15 minutes and come out perfect with no wrinkles. It really makes sense though, because I never work out in all cotton since it absorbs sweat and sticks to me. I always reach for my athletic stuff. I think there must be different grades or quality levels of microfiber sheets…like cotton. I’ve had cheap scratchy cotton and cheap scratchy microfiber, which is why I ended up with the expensive cotton sheets in the first place. But when that pilling started, I was over it and had to throw them away. So mom got me my peach skin sheets (oh and they are “anti-pill” thank goodness) and now I’m a believer!
We just recently bought a set of sheets from Peach Skin Sheets. They are very soft and, supposedly, get softer each time they are washed. We’ve only washed ours a couple of times, so I can’t verify that part yet. We found them at a local festival and only paid about $45 for a full set of deep pocket queen sheets & pillowcases. So far, they are our favorite sheets and we have recommended them to friends. They are microfiber fabric, but look and feel like very soft cotton.
