"Combed" cotton fibers: This refers to cotton that has been cleaned and combed to remove shorter staple fibers. The remaining longer, more stable fibers are spun into the yarn, ensuring your luxury bedding is truly lavish.
Cotton quality: Look for sheets made with high-quality cotton yarns, such as Egyptian, Pima or Supima cotton. These cottons are a better quality because they are long-stapled fibers. Long-staple cottons are known for being more supple, smooth and glossy. These fibers create sheets with a softer feel, a more lustrous shine and greater durability. Some bedding companies claim their sheets are made of Egyptian cotton, but they combine this luxury cotton with other low-quality cottons or blends. Make sure you purchase bedding that is 100% or pure Egyptian cotton.
Egyptian cotton: This type of luxury cotton fiber is grown along the Nile. Renowned as the highest-quality cotton, it is known for its smooth, glossy finish.
Fabric finishes: As the final step in sheet construction, the finishing process is considered an art form by those in the industry. Each mill prides itself in its distinctive procedure, which is a closely guarded secret from other mills. Often, a senior worker will oversee this process to ensure the high quality of the sheet. This quality impacts how a sheet will feel against your skin.
Fiber content: Our bedding is made from only the finest fibers, including cotton, silk or wool. Each of these natural fibers display unique properties that testify to the hand-crafted nature of your luxury bedding. Natural fibers easily adjust to your body's ever-changing temperature, thanks to their absorbent and porous nature.
Jacquard weaves are extremely complex to create. Produced on a jacquard loom, this weave makes it possible to create a more detailed pattern, such as floral, damask or paisley designs.
Percale-woven sheets (broadcloths): These will feel more crisp and cool, and are made to be extremely durable. In this type of weave, the cotton yarns are woven over and under each other (as with a basket weave) to produce a strong, long-lasting fabric.
Pima cotton: This type of fiber is grown in the US and South America. Pima, named after the Pima Native American tribe, is known for its smooth and silky qualities.
Sateen weaves: This type of weave provides each sheet with a lustrous sheen that will feel soft and silky against your skin. Sateen-woven sheets are typically made with combed cotton yarns, so if you look to the quality of the cotton first, you'll get a good idea of how well-made a specific sateen-woven bedding collection is. A sateen weave brings more yarns to the surface, which is what gives these sheets their silky-smooth luster.
Sheet construction: This quality is rarely, if ever, labeled on a package. Instead, determine the amount of stitches per inch used in sewing. The more stitches used, the more durable the sheet will be after multiple washings. Be alert: Some high thread count sheets are sewn with poor quality stitching. Also, look for fitted sheets with deep pockets for a precise fit on larger beds. If you decide against purchasing "shrinkage control" sheets, ask if the sheets are oversized to allow for at least some inevitable shrinkage.
Sheet weave: Sheets are woven in different styles; Frontgate luxury bedding is made of a percale weave, sateen weave or jacquard weave.
Supima: An abbreviation for "superior pima," Supima is a trademarked term used for extra-long staple Pima cotton grown solely in the US. In order for any fabric to be labeled "Supima," the item must be made of 100% pima cotton, grown in the US by a certified farmer. The Supima council monitors this very closely to ensure every Supima product meets these high criteria.
Visual attributes: Using your thumb and forefinger, move the cloth back and forth to see if the threads shift easily. If they do, the fabric isn't strong and may easily develop holes. Also make sure the fabric is evenly constructed — you don't want to have any unusually thick or thin areas where the fabric has piled or been worn away. When selecting colored or patterned sheets, check for discolorations. This is a sign of low-quality dyes and/or a poor coloring process. Finally, feel the softness of the sheet. Let your hands be the ultimate judge when sizing up sheets — if it doesn't feel right for you, it probably isn't.
Yarn size: The thinner the yarn size of the materials woven into the fabric, the softer the sheet. This quality is not often labeled on a package.
Back to top of page
Recently, the Federal Trade Commission has issued a warning to consumers not to be deceived or misled by inflated thread counts. In fact, many fine European sheets that list a 200-thread-count are just as luxurious, if not more so, than 600-thread-count sheets made with better materials.
What is thread count? The thread count in any bedding is a measure of how many yarns are woven into a square inch. Some companies use plied (or "twisted") yarns in construction, and used to boast a doubled thread count on the package. But simply relying on a thread count number does not guarantee that the fiber quality is good.
In the past, a sheet made of 250 individual 4-ply yarns would be quoted as 1,000 thread count (250 x 4), and a sheet made out of 250 single-ply yarns would be quoted as a 250 thread count. However, no matter the ply, one yarn still counts as one yarn — both of the fabrics in this example are 250-thread-count. So, while the 4-ply yarn might be more durable, it is not necessarily a better quality sheet.
Thread count is simply a measurement of the construction of the sheet. While it does matter to some degree — look for bedding with at least a 200-thread-count — there are other, more important factors to consider, such as the quality of the fabric used and the weave, or construction, of the sheet.