The length of that fiber also plays a role in how long your sheets will last, and how much it will start to pill. “The number of threads, the length of the fiber is an important factor in durability,” says Akshay Bahl, CEO of Delara's house. “Long-term cotton, such as Egyptian, Pima, or Supima Cotton, creates stronger, soft, and longer sheets with less exposed ends of fiber, reducing posting over time. In contrast, short staple cotton tends to break faster, leading to more rough textures and less energy.”
Temperature check
Photo: Nena Farrell
I can tell you all day about how long, the lower number of sheets of bed beds are probably softer and longer. These factors can take some time for you to see, especially if you buy something like linen that will soften over time. But you will probably notice something right away if you buy high thread count sheets: heat maintenance.
As Rhodes mentioned, this is a pretty straightforward concept. “Fewer yarns mean the sheet is lighter weight, which provides a cooler sleep experience,” he said. More threads mean less room to escape heat, leading to more heat confined inside the sheet and around your body.
The number of threads is not the only aspect that affects heat maintenance when it comes to sheets. The style of weaving can make the threads of those threads, even the number, vary in how much heat and air are. For example, cotton, has two popular weaving-percale styles, which is a style of a thread, and sateen, which is a three (sometimes four!)-over-one thread style to make it rugged. Sateen is usually the hotter sheet when comparing cotton styles (unless you add flannel to the mix) because of that weaving. The material also plays a major role. Linen keeps less heat than cotton, for example, so heavier linen sheets can still be more stunning than a heavy sateen sheet.
Is there a best number of threads, you may wonder? You hear different advice based on different opinions and what kind of fabric you buy. When it comes to testing and rating cotton and bamboo sheets, I always prefer thread counts between 200 and 400, with a 300 number of threads that usually my sweet place, especially for Cooling sheet. However, my best advice is to read our reviews of different sheet styles, such as Lino and BambooTo get a better idea of how warm and soft every set of sheet is to see what works for you.
However, there is definitely a worst number. “Anything over 800+ is often driven by marketing and may be involved in multi-ply threads than higher quality single-ply fibers,” Bahl said.
