Sheets have long made a classic addition to any bedroom, which brought about a rise of numerous quality indicators throughout the years. High thread count is one such measure that traditionally represented the crème de la crème sheets.
With this obsolete measure up their sleeves, the bedding industry advertises 1000 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets as some of the softest sheets on the market. But as you are about to learn in this article, thread count has very little to do with softness or comfort, which helps sleepers understand the luxurious softness of the newly emerging bamboo sheets.
Be that as it may, the question: do bamboo sheets have a thread count arises. To give you a quick answer: yes, they do. Although their thread count typically goes as high as 500, these modern cult favourites stand up to their competition with luxurious softness.
So, now that you know that even bamboo sheets have a thread count, let’s see how it relates to their quality, some marketing ploys, and other specifics you might find helpful and interesting.
What Is Thread Count for Bamboo Sheets?
As with regular bed sheets, bamboo sheets’ thread count denotes the number of threads woven together within a square inch of a fabric where both the lengthwise threads and the width wise threads are counted. For instance, 150 lengthwise threads woven together with 150 width wise threads make a 300 thread count fabric.
Do Bamboo Bed Sheets Come With Specific Thread Count?
Yes.
The thread count of bamboo sheets is normally somewhere between 150 and 500. Everything above 500 is questionable because most manufacturers out there use marketing gimmicks to attract customers.
The Thread Count Marketing Ploys
There is no doubt that the bedding industry is booming nowadays, and as we mentioned, many manufacturers come up with marketing ploys to attract people into their stores. One such ploy is an overinflated thread count.
Let us get into more detail.
As manufacturers weave numerous strands together to produce threads, they use that to overinflate the thread count of their product. These overinflated threads typically require shorter fibres, so their products may result in more hairy, lower-quality yarns. This ultimately leads to low-end products with reduced softness.
Another marketing gimmick that manufacturers use is counting multi-ply threads. In a nutshell, this means that rather than counting individual threads, they count the number of yarns wrapped around one another to produce one thread. A separate thread can comprise more than two plies that are twisted together.
Does Higher Thread Count Mean Better Quality for Bamboo Sheets?
Not necessarily.
Even though a higher thread count is commonly considered as better quality, this isn’t always the case. Staple length is, in fact, considered a far greater indicator that determines the quality of a specific fabric. This means that the longer a specific fibre, the better the fabric quality, resulting in a soft, smooth finish. And, since bamboo fibres are naturally long, they allow long and thin threads to be woven together, which makes space for entwining numerous bamboo threads into a piece of fabric.
How to Identify Quality Bamboo Sheets With Fine Thread Count
The type of material, fibre fineness, and weave patterns can help you discern first-class sheets.
The Type of Material
Bamboo sheets can either be made of pure bamboo fabrics or come as a mixture of two or more fabrics. The most common materials include pure bamboo viscose and a fusion of bamboo with cotton.
100% Bamboo Viscose
100% bamboo viscose sheets are bedsheets that are made of pure bamboo viscose fabric. These sheets usually come with many benefits and a thread count that ranges between 200 and 500.
Bamboo Blend With Cotton
Most bamboo and cotton sheets are blends of 60% bamboo viscose and 40% cotton fabrics with their thread count depending on the manufacturer. Although these usually combine the best of two worlds—with the main focus on bamboo fabrics’ benefits—their softness is generally compromised.
Fibers Fineness
The best way to determine filtration resistance, porosity, or a fabric surface area is by looking into fibre fineness, which shows the overall performance and applications of the fibre itself. Fibre fineness is one of the most prominent fibre characteristics determining the number of fibres present in a yarn cross-section. Natural bamboo fibre, for instance, has a fineness of somewhere between 1,600 and 1,900 counts, which means it’s superior in strength to other fibres such as cotton.
The Weave Pattern
The weave pattern is yet another key aspect to look into when identifying quality bamboo sheets. It illustrates how bamboo fibres are woven together and determines their longevity, softness, and overall quality.
The most common is bamboo sateen, which is a three-yarn-over and one-yarn-under weave pattern that produces thick sheets.
Bamboo twill is a less common fabric that uses a twill line or diagonal rib to offer a tight, short, and fine weave.
Final Takeaway
Today we learned that thread count is not the only measure for good quality out there.
In fact, a higher thread count doesn’t always signify better quality, as there are numerous other indicators that suggest otherwise. With their intrinsically long staple length or superior yarn strength, bamboo fibre sheets are some of the softest fabrics on the market. The weave pattern of these newly emerging influencer favourites is just another quality indicator.
Sounding good as they may, these quality indicators mean nothing if you don’t try our high-end bamboo sheets. We warmly recommend testing them as there is a thirty-day money-back guarantee for change of mind purchases.