Sleep should be of high quality. Architecture and bedroom design - Ron Spiegel (Photo: Elad Gonen)
Sleep. It is important for our health, we wait for it every day and really cannot do without it. In order for our sleep to be perfect, alongside a quality mattress, for most people it is important that the bedding they sleep on every night is also soft, pleasant and pampering. So just before you rush to your nearest store in order to purchase a new set of bedding - get a list of elements you need.
Type of fabric
First we will choose the type of fabric. There are a large number of substrate fabrics: cotton, polyester, polycotton (a mixture of cotton and polyester), bamboo, tensel, linen and others. Needless to say, the cotton fabric is best suited to the Israeli climate and its price is reasonable. Despite the temptation in price, I recommend not purchasing polyester bedding since with polyester bedding you will mostly sweat overnight.
Weaving density
Having chosen the type of fabric we will have to choose the weaving density. The density is usually indicated on the package by a number describing the density of threads per square inch (TC = threads count). Most of the bedding sold in Israel has a density of 220 or 144 threads per square inch. The higher the density of the threads, the softer and more pleasant the fabric and the more resistant to many washes. The new brands (especially when purchasing online) can be found with higher density and excellent quality. In Israel you can find bedding with a density of up to 500 per square inch, but I note that denser fabric is also a bit heavy and very uncomfortable when washing. High-density fabrics use longer cotton fibers that are softer and more pleasant, and low-density fabrics are woven with shorter, lower-quality fibers.
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Arad Textile's 100 percent cotton bedding (Photo: Adi Gilad)
Types of weaving
Let's move on to the types of weaving. We all know that fabrics are woven in the form of two weaves, but here too there are different options from which to choose.
- Satin weaving - Most customers are confused and sure that satin fabric is of high quality and made of cotton, but this is a mistake. The truth is that this is a weaving method that can be woven from any type of yarn. The advantage of satin weaving is the little shine seen on the fabric and the fact that it gives extra strength to the fabric.
- Perkel weaving - weaving threads in the shape of two threads as we all learned in school.
- Jersey (knitting) - In recent years we have found more and more Jersey bedding in stores that quite a few customers love and indeed their market share is growing. This is a knitted fabric, not woven and is mostly made (about 95%) of cotton fibers and a little lycra fibers which give it flexibility and stretch in offering sheets on mattresses, this fabric is very similar to cotton t-shirt fabric.
- Important to know – not all satin is cotton! Remember this especially these days, when the networks and markets try to confuse us. I come across quite a few customers who ask for satin bedding because they think satin is always cotton.
Soham Jersey bedding. High quality, lower price (Photo: PR)
price
The price of bedding is mainly affected by the type of fabric (cotton, polyester, etc.) and the density of the threads. The form of weaving has no effect on the price at all, so bedding in the form of satin or perkel weaving should have the same price, assuming that the type of fabric and the density of the threads are the same.
So how much should we pay for our bed linen? In Israel, the prices of bedding are very expensive compared to abroad. We can learn from the public reports of the large companies that home fashion is much more profitable than clothing and in general.
As I mentioned, most of the bedding sold in Israel is cotton and has a density of up to 220 and their price before discounts is usually between 600-700 NIS. I recommend buying only on deals and not paying more than NIS 300-350 per set for a double bed. You can find cheaper prices of up to 250 NIS but it is important to make sure that it is 100% cotton. I will add that for the most part, the price of Jersey bedding is about 20% cheaper than woven bedding.
Marco Abergel (Photo: PR)
The most pleasant bedding (density of 300-500 per square inch) can reach prices of up to NIS 800, but here too it is recommended to buy only on deals and not pay more than NIS 500.
Egyptian cotton - its scream?
Substrates densely exceeding 300 threads per square inch are woven into threads with long fibers. These threads were scanned and all the short fibers ("combed cotton") were removed from them - preventing the peeling and hair of the fabric.
I am asked a lot about the quality of Egyptian cotton. Indeed, Egyptian cotton is known for its quality mainly because of the fiber lengths called extra-long staple fibers, but already today you can find the quality of cotton fibers that are very similar in length to Egyptian cotton and in my opinion it is not worthwhile to pay 30% more.
An anecdote about Egyptian cotton - about 5 years ago, a huge marketing chain in the US was sued for misleading consumers when it declared on its bedding a special label that the fabric is made from Egyptian cotton, but in fact it is ordinary cotton. The lawsuit reached a settlement of many millions and falls in the stock market of quite a few suppliers. At the time, about 30% of marketers advertised that their products were made from Egyptian cotton, and in fact only less than half a percent of global consumption was so. Since then, most marketers have avoided misleading or deceiving customers. Today it is rare to find bed linen made from original Egyptian cotton and if you do, you will probably pay about 30% more for these bedding.
It is important to take care of children as well. A set of 100 percent cotton bedding by Atzmeleh (Photo: Shahar Fleischman)
Marco Abergel is an expert in textiles and cosmetics, owns an independent B2B textile business and serves as co-CEO of Rapour, an odor-based cosmetic brand designed for personal empowerment. Abergel has 30 years of management experience, previously served as COO of Israel's leading companies, including Netafim and Abed, and served as CEO of Office Textiles.
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