@senior chef My clients tend to invest in Egyptian cotton sheets because they’re very good quality so I have some knowledge because I’m most often the one who buys them.
I say investment because they’re hundreds of dollars. There are a couple of high end boutique style stores I shop from. Bella Linea is the best here in Nashville. Their website doesn’t list prices
Nor can you order from there. You can browse, and contact them for design services appointments…they’re local so everyone comes to the store.
For your browsing pleasure
Bella Linea
I’ve left that store, having spent over $1,500, with a king size top sheet, bottom sheet, two pillowcases, two pillow protectors…that’s it. They don’t usually even sell sets, you buy things individually.
If you want Egyptian Cotton, you can get linens at lower prices than these boutique type stores, but it will still be several hundred dollars. And if they’re not several hundred dollars then they’re not Giza cotton or other high end cotton. Also keep in mind that it tends to wrinkle much more so than its less expensive counterparts. My clients send theirs out to the dry cleaners to be washed and ironed. One wants them lightly starched too…to each his own, right?
Happy to get into many more specifics if you need more information or have questions. Meanwhile here’s some info that may help you:
You may have read or heard that sheets made from Egyptian cotton are the best. At one point, that statement might have been true. But today, when you see “Egyptian cotton” on a label it could mean that the fabric is made with high-quality cotton—or that it’s made from a lower-quality cotton that just happened to be grown in Egypt. The better approach to buying a durable and soft set of sheets is to look for those made from long-staple or extra-long-staple (ELS) cotton.
Specifically, look for labels listing long-staple Egyptian, long-staple pima, or Supima cotton. These are all very similar types of cotton, as they originate from the same species of extra-long-staple cotton, Gossypium barbadense. In the United States, Supima is the trademarked name for pima cotton, named for the Pima people of southern Arizona, who cultivated the crops at the USDA experimental station in Sacaton, Arizona. The Supima name ensures that Supima ELS cotton yarns are produced in the United States from licensed sources (and that's why labels generally don’t say “long-staple Supima” or “ELS Supima,” because to do so would be redundant.
Companies sometimes use terms like “Egyptian cotton” and “Turkish cotton” to sell lesser shorter-staple cottons grown in those countries. We talked to Mark Bagby, a representative for cotton marketer Calcot, who told us, “I wouldn’t say Egyptian, Pima, or Turk are generic names as much as they identify country of origin. Not all apparel or fabric goods made of Egyptian or Turkish cotton are ELS.”
