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The longer fibres certainly help give this bedding longevity, which is a real plus. "The key attributes to look for are that the bedding you choose is made from natural fibres that supports breathability and allows for air circulation next to the skin," Farah continues. "That will support you to have the most comfortable night’s sleep." Judging from our testing experience, we think those ranges are pretty spot-on. In our cotton sheets guide, our favorite percale set ( L.L.Bean’s 280-Thread-Count Pima Cotton Percale Sheet Set) has a 280 thread count. Both of our top sateen recommendations (the JCPenney Home 400 TC Wrinkle Guard Sheet Set from JCPenney and Cuddledown's 400 Thread Count Cotton Sateen Bedding) are 400 thread count—which, incidentally, Maher noted was her ideal number for sateen.
Our panel of 33 testers rated them exactly the same in a blind comparison for softness and feel. The durability scores were also similar in our Lab tests; the only noticeable difference was the 1,000 thread count version looked slightly less wrinkled coming out of the dryer. What’s the best thread count for sheets? Flannel: Measured in GSM. Durable, heavyweight flannel sheets are in the 170+ GSM range. Lighter flannel sheets will be less durable, but lighter and more breathable.To get the best sleep, you need high-quality sheets. To get high-quality sheets, you need a high thread count, right? Well, not necessarily.
If the sheets aren't 100% cotton with single-ply weaves, chances are thread counts are either misleading or irrelevant. Here's why thread count doesn't matter for other materials: The type of fabric and its weave makes a difference in the best thread count. Percale is also known as “plain weave” with a simple one over, one under pattern, so average-quality percale sheets may be around 180-200 thread count. By contrast, a sateen weave has a more tightly woven pattern, so average-quality sateen sheets will be closer to 250-300. Preethi Gopinath, director of the Textiles MFA program at Parsons and one of the writers of our cotton sheets guide, and Shannon Maher, chairperson and assistant professor of the Home Products Development department at the Fashion Institute of Technology, both weighed in on the best thread counts for each weave: READ NEXT: Our round-up of the best mattresses available The best sheets to buy for every recommended thread count 1. White Company Essentials Egyptian Cotton range: Best everyday thread count sheets Looking for sheets with a reasonable thread count (200-600 for most styles) will typically produce the best results. Be sure to modify your expectations somewhat depending on the material used.Flannel and knit fabrics: These are usually made with cotton, but you likely won’t come across thread counts for them. That’s because flannel sheets are sold by fabric weight and jersey-knit sheets have an entirely different construction than traditional woven sheets. For soft, breathable bedding, cotton is the go-to choice for most. But did you know that thread count isn't the only factor when it comes to quality? In fact, the thread itself is also important — and Egyptian cotton bedding is widely regarded as some of the best.
It should also be noted that many popular bed linen materials are not measured in thread counts at all. Silk, for example, is assessed by momme, a Japanese measurement which indicates the weight in pounds of a given fabric measuring 45 inches by 100 yards. Higher-thread-count sheets are made with finer (thinner) yarns. The more yarns that fit into a square inch, the smoother, denser, and more durable the fabric.
When it comes to thread count, you’d be forgiven for thinking that bigger is better – however, that isn’t always the case
Keep in mind that certain materials are not measured using thread count. Some notable ones include: Plain weave has the warp (vertical) and weft (horizontal) threads evenly alternating. In satin weave the weft threads “float” over several warp threads (usually four) at a time, resulting in smoother and more lustrous fabric. Other constructions include flannel for winter and jersey-knit sheets, which feel more like a T-shirt. Though it comes down to personal preference, our testers tend to prefer the smooth feel of sateen. When it comes to sheets, you often hear thread count tossed around as a marker of quality. People will bristle at a 200 thread count sheet but moon over a four-figured counterpart. But what really is a thread count? In which contexts does thread count really matter? Read on for everything you need to know about thread counts for sheets. What does thread count mean?
When thinking about the best thread count for sheets, it’s important to remember an age-old saying: Quality over quantity. The quality of the yarns or threads used is often more important than the quantity of threads, or thread count. We recently tested a 1,400 thread count cotton/polyester sheet set that uses one of these techniques and (not surprisingly) it wasn't a top performer. Polyester does have its own selling points – it’s stronger, more wrinkle-resistant and less expensive than cotton – but it certainly doesn’t feel as luxurious as a natural fiber. When it comes to quality, the weave of bed linens is arguably more important than the thread count itself. The two most common types of weave are percale, which uses a relatively straightforward ‘plain weave’ (one thread is woven over another thread) and secondly, sateen (where four threads are woven over one thread). Fiber content. 100% cotton is the most popular, and there are premium (i.e. “long-staple”) cottons, like Egyptian and Pima, that make the fabric even softer and more durable. Just keep in mind that these sheets may be more expensive, and there have been instances where brands mislabel regular cotton sheets as Egyptian. Gopinath and Maher agreed that good-quality sateen sheets ranged from 300 to 600 thread count. The number could creep higher, but this would create a very heavy sheet.
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When it comes to quality, this where a brand can and will inflate their figures. If they weave two strands of yarn together into a two-ply construction, then in essence, they can double the count. Now imagine that they’re using three-ply thread. The supposed amount of threads would then triple. Gopinath told us a 400 to 500 thread count for percale could reflect a denser sheet made of fine, good-quality yarns. Over 500 was “not necessary or likely,” she said. In our tests, top-rated bed sheets often have thread counts between 300 and 500. Anything above 500 isn’t necessarily better (so don’t be deceived when you see thread counts over 1,500), and on the flip side, you can still find quality sheets with thread counts under 300. On top of that, even though our tests have shown that the 300 to 500 thread count range is a sweet spot, a sheet that falls into this range isn’t guaranteed to be high quality: Again, fiber content and construction are more important.
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