Bed Sheet Review

Bed sheet durability and quality

The best guide to bed sheets comes from Consumer Reports, which ranks sheets based on the results of independent tests for attributes like strength and shrinkage. The report was updated in 2008. One of the strengths of Consumer Reports is that it includes bed sheets that are lacking in quality rather than just listing top performers. The accompanying buyer's guide, which covers topics like fabric choice and thread count, provides some useful insight into getting past industry hype and choosing good sheets for a reasonable price.

Allergy Buyers Club is another site that tests and rates bed sheets, but unlike Consumer Reports, it includes only positive reviews. Because Allergy Buyers Club sells the sheets itself, it should also be considered a less-objective source of information. On the other hand, the product reviews themselves include detailed specifications and some discussion of pros and cons. Linenplace.com has a similar but less-detailed ranking of the bed sheets it sells. One advantage of its review, though, is that it includes more commonly available products. Green Guide, a website that focuses on sustainable energy and conservation, includes product comparisons and rankings based on eco-friendliness. Details are given for each sheet, but few negatives are mentioned, and many of the bed sheets that receive high rankings are expensive and obscure.

User reviews at sites like Amazon.com and Buzzillions don't match expert advice, but they do provide a user's perspective on bed sheets and can be a good source of information on how the sheets actually perform under everyday use.

Good Housekeeping has two reviews on bedding, one entirely positive and one mostly negative. Their first report simply recommends a few of the best winter bedding items, including one flannel sheet set. The second report takes manufacturers to task for what it calls "thread count inflation." According to Good Housekeeping, its independent testing revealed exaggerated thread counts advertised by several popular bedding retailers and manufacturers. Editors report that thread counts are often exaggerated by more than 150 percent.

The issue of thread count has made it to the courts as well. According to Home Textiles Today, an industry trade magazine, Bed Bath & Beyond agreed at the end of 2007 to abide by the Federal Trade Commission's thread-count labeling standard in which the number of yarns per square inch, rather than the number of plies, is counted. As part of the class-action settlement, the company provided rebates or refunds.

Thread-count inflation is just one of the quality issues affecting bed sheets; another is the use of overly delicate or otherwise unsuitable fabrics or fibers. Cuddledown calls its Heirloom Italian Voile Bedding (*est. $340 for a queen set) "so light it's translucent." Reviewers, however, point out that the fabric, besides being prone to shrinkage, is sheer enough to reveal the less decorative pillows and mattress pads that the sheets are designed to cover.