Mattress Forum

Damask is another word for Jacquard or Jacquard weaving. It is really only done for decorative purposes, usually for duvet covers and pillow shams, bedskirts that kind of thing. Patterns can be all one colour or multitiude of colours.  I am going to use a 3rd party website that I think is well done to try and illustrate some of these examples.

http://www.snuggledown.com/s/catalog/duvet_covers/agadir/

^^ This Agadir fabric from SDH is a Jacquard (damask) fabric, the pattern in the fabric is there because of how the fabric is woven. 

http://www.snuggledown.com/s/catalog/duvet_covers/bregano_solid/

^^ This Bregano duvet cover from St. Geneve is also a Jacquard fabric. The pattern is not only woven in the fabric it comes from using differently dyed yarns. This means that the yarns are dyed individually and woven right into the fabric so it will not fade over time.

http://www.snuggledown.com/s/catalog/bonjour_of_switzerland/schlossberg_alena/

** This Alena fabric from Schlossberg is a cotton print.  It is still a pattern, but the fabric is woven in a normal percale or sateen weave, the colour is literally printed onto the cotton.  

Jacquard fabrics are much more durable than prints in terms of not having colour fading over time.  However Jacquards are not typically used for fitted sheets, flat sheets or pillowcases, as after washing the patterns usually become more pronounced in feel and are not as comfortable next to the skin as a normal weave. 

Jersey refers to another weave type that allows the cotton to be much more stretchy.  Jersey fabrics usually wear out very quickly unless very heavy, in which case they will sleep a little bit warmer.  The reason they wear out is for the same reason that most cheap cottons wear out, the weave is uneven to begin with and with further use and laundering the weak spots of the fabric can break and wear very easily.  

At the end of the day the cotton fabric which is lightest is usually the most breathable. Real egyptian cotton fabrics can be woven very finely and still have lots of strength, resulting in usually lighter and more breathable fabrics when comparing similar thread counts.  The lower the strand count the more breathable the fabric will be.  Although not typically as smooth or crisp feeling as a higher strand count sheet (which will also be a little more durable).  If you see 400TC sheets these are in all liklihood a 2 ply 200 thread count fabric, which would be using twisted yarns as illustrated in the first post I made.  600TC would probably be a 2 ply 300 thread count. Its too bad most manufacturers do not list these things as it is important to know.  But realistically if Costco or Walmart is selling it....its not REAL egyptian cotton or real pima cotton, its likely just a small percentage of the cotton fibres used in making the threads.  Price usually is the big indicator of quality. Egyptian cotton fabrics quite literally cannot be mass produced as easily as other cottons, it requires hand picking so the staples are not damaged, it is much more costly to mill.  Look for fabrics that are woven somewhere in Europe, preferably Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland...somewhere noted for producing high quality fabrics.  

Expect to see a new, upgraded Pima--Supima is a brand/advertising name for pima.  The new Pima is being test grown in Arizona(the cotton monopoly in California will not allow it to be grown here even though it was developed as a colored cotton in the late 1980's) and Argentina.  It has a staple lenght of well over 2" and can be processed using traditional machines.  Interestingly, this new cotton comes colored--mainly browns and tabacco's without any dyeing.  This is the reason it isn't allowed in california, the farm industry is afraid it will combine with the white cotton grown here and interfere with the premium prices the farmers get.  Last year's crop was purchased by a German manufacturer, all 150,000 bales.

There are many different varieties of Egyptian Cotton, if you go to cotton trading websites you can look at the specs on different cotton species, staple length, amount of light reflected, strength and weavability are all usually listed independently.  There are several species with staple lengths that go over 2", just as there are many Pima cottons with much shorter staple lengths than 1.5".  Weave type and thread count are important...but they are subjective as higher thread count does not mean more comfortable or better quality all the time, weave type is also subjective to preference.  Percales are the strongest but they wrinkle easier and are not as smooth as sateen weaves.  Cotton quality itself is objective and scientifically measurable.  

Supima or 100% American Pima Cotton does get exported to mills around the world...but I have never heard of any of the European mills using it...this doesn't mean the cotton itself isnt of very high quality...but I have just never seen or felt really high quality cotton sheets from India and Pakistan which is where most Supima cotton is being woven, note that most cotton coming from these countries isn't even Pima cotton it is almost always Upland cotton (90% of the world crop).  Im not sure who the best companies are to get something like this from....I believe Tempur in the US sells some high quality Supima Cotton sheets.  My uncle just got a set of Supima sheets and he is ecstatic about the quality of them...not sure where he got them from.

Are there any retail stores in USA where I can go and get some of these Egyptian cotton and Pima sheets?

It is hard to buy over internet when you can't see/touch the sheets. Thus I would like to go to a retail store and get them.

Thanks budgy.

I would go to manufacturer websites and look @ dealer locators to try and see who in your area is carrying the high end sheets.

St. Geneve, Sferra, SDH, Schlossberg, Matouk, PeaCock Alley...there are others too...but I am drawing blanks now

EDIT: I guess I am just saying I dont think any big box stores are trustworthy in this kind of arena...they bring in cheap products and sell them off as luxury goods.