Bedding. 600 or 200 thread count?

[GQgeek]

I was thinking about buying some nice bedding a whiel back but i never got around to it. The new place I'm moving in to on saturday is a beautifully finished (brand new) studio apartment. It's not too small, however, it is a studio. For those that don't know that means that everythign is in the same rectangular room. This means that no matter how well i divide the space, I want the bed to look good in the space. Just to give you an idea, the apartment is in an older building that was gutted from within and completely renovated. It's got a marble fireplace, beautiful wood floors (they're a creamy color), and the kitchen is all brand new with tiled floors. I'm aiming for simple elegance.

That being said, I need to decide on 200, 300 or 600 (those are the offerings on bluefly) thread count. The 200 and 600 are both from Frette and the 300 is Bellino (which i've never heard of, but then I don't read decorating/home magazines either). The snob in me says to get the 600tc Frette sheets. Is it worth the premium? I've got some high thread count shirts, but obviously they're nowhere near 600, and the weave is probaly different anyway. If i knew of a high end store for things like this I'd go feel the difference for myself, but I don't. Any opinions here?

I'm also wondering how big the mark-up on frette is. Are bellino sheets bascially just as good as frette, but not as well known and hence much less expensive? Or is frette siginificantly better quality? Any comments on one vs. the other?

 

[LabelKing]

GQgeek:

600 count would mean that there are 600 weaves per square inch at least I can remember. And so on. It is like suit materials where there 100, 200, and etc.

Frette is a high end French bedclothing brand. One sees their ads in high end fashion, and home magazines.I am not familiar with Bellino but if if you have a Versace near you can check out their sheets. Beyond what people say about Versace their home collection is quite excellent as I have some of their products.

As for the prices I would remember that Frette 600 count sheets cost about $350,and about the low to mid hundreds.

 

[PeterMetro]

I don't think the thread count is going to affect how the bed looks. There may be subtle differences, but I think the color and pattern are going to be much more important.

 

[GQgeek]

thought i'd follow this up for anyone that's interested. I found a place in montreal that carries frette and a bunch of other nice stuff. There's no comparison between 200 (they only carried the hotel collection, which is 200tc) and 600, 600 is so much softer. I also saw some 1020 tc, but it was 4 ply, so it wasn't really any softer, however it was a thicker, crispier sheet.

I was gonna buy stuff off bluefly, but i think it's a really bad idea. Even among similar threadcounts, sheets can feel completely different (in terms of softness) and you can't feel the texture. It's much better to find a local store that carries high end stuff.

The name of the store is decor Marie-Paul for any montrealers that might be interested. It's 4918 sherbrooke w., in westmount.

 

[hermes]

frette is actually italian, along with pratesi, and barbacci, the better fine italian linen companies

yves delorme and pierre frey are the two better fine french linen makers

the mark up is high, i've been to the corporate frette hotel outlet in concoretto in italy, and the frette corporate outlets in milan and mendrissio and the product is a good 50% less than the exact same product in the stores (you're still paying several hundreds for one sheet but it helps)

 

[GQgeek]

Yep. The markup on frette is insane. Unless you want something that you can only get from frette, or have tons of cash burning a hole in your pocket, I'd suggest finding something else. Buying on bluefly or ebay just cause "it's frette", is stuipd. If i were to go with frette i'd pay the same for their 200 thread count sheets as I'm going to pay for 600 tc sheets from someone else (i think they might have been st. geneve).

Oh and about the egyptian cottont thing.. Pima cotton is basically the same thing, the only differences are the location it's grown and a lower price premium.

 

[copythat]

When i've been researching for sheets lately, i came across a brand that is the best sheets I've ever used, even though i'd originally intended to purchase either the italian pratesi or frette brands like I usually do. I've been tired of the traditional patterns by Frette and Pratesi but know they make some of the best bedding so was going to purchase anyway, but ran across information about Venus Rising Ltd on a few websites and decided to check it out. Awesome. Ordered through their site at venusrisinglimited.com but they have a lot of their popular items at reduced prices on ebay at http://stores.ebay.com/Venus-Rising-Limited where I got a blanket I won.

Everything they got is made in Italy and the sheet sets are incredible and perfect for a guy like me, because they have masculine patterns too. It's so hard to find mens styles and patterns that aren't covered in roses or floral patterns. Everyone asks me where I got my comforter cover, matches my sheets and looks killer. Also got the warmest blanket I've ever used in one of their auctions for less than half retail.

 

[wallateer]

Has anybody ever used the 1000+ threadcount sheets from somewhere like overstock.com or smartbargains.com? Are they the real deal, just not brand name? Or are they nowhere near the quality of proper 1000 threadcount sheets?

 

[Brian SD]

Originally Posted by wallateer

Has anybody ever used the 1000+ threadcount sheets from somewhere like overstock.com or smartbargains.com? Are they the real deal, just not brand name? Or are they nowhere near the quality of proper 1000 threadcount sheets?

IME, no where near.

 

[raley]

So what is the Ferrari of bedding? I figure it is probably worth it to buy a ridiculously good set of sheets, no matter the price. I mean you spend probably 1/4 to 1/3 of your day on your bed, you might as well be comfortable, right?

 

[Violinist]

Originally Posted by raley

So what is the Ferrari of bedding? I figure it is probably worth it to buy a ridiculously good set of sheets, no matter the price. I mean you spend probably 1/4 to 1/3 of your day on your bed, you might as well be comfortable, right?

Pratesi and Frette are the most well known I think.

 

[copythat]

if you want to find out how bad overstock.com sheets are, just type in 'overstock.com sheets suck' or 'overstock bedding sucks' or 'stay away from overstock' to find out how bad and how much of a nightmare their sheets and bedding is. worst bedding ever, falls apart and is rough not super soft-especially after being washed.

try venus rising limited, frette, anichini or pratesi sheets/fine linens. the venus rising sheets are about half the price of the frette or pratesi and are well worth the investment. their titan and architettura are the guys patterns-very sleek and sophisticated particularly in the gold architetura. titan is a couple colors but the white looks cleanest. frette is also good but you're looking at a lot more and the quality is equivalent with better patterns from venus rising ltd. pratesi is at least double and maybe triple price but also really nice

 

[wallateer]

That sucks. I was hoping I could score on good sheet at a sweet price. I guess that's purchase I'm gonna have to put off for a while then. Thanks anyway.

 

[homediva]

While this is way too late to help you-someone else may find it useful. First, Bellino sheets are fabulous-imo on par with Frette-maybe better. Second-thread count is very important-but by no means the only factor-always check for one ply or two ply- Two-ply1000 thread count sheets are really only 250 tc-and probably yucky-As for cotton-Pima cotton is much better than Egyptian-it is Sea Island Cotton grown by Pima Indians-hence the name. Unfortunately, people fall for advertising and many think "Egyptian Cotton" is something special, the same way "Sateen" has become popular. (Sateen is a cheaper weave that doesn't last) Look for a good quality percale-A good 200-300 tc percale will be far superior to a 600tc sateen every time.
Sheets are not created equal-don't buy expensive sheets online unless you can return them-It is unbelievable the difference there can be between companies even with identical weave, tc, type of cotton, etc.

 

[FidelCashflow]

I had to buy bedding a few weeks ago. At first i tried to decipher this whole "thread count" business (obviously the idea is higher = better). But after awhile I just said fuccit and started going by the simple test of touching the fabric and deciding what i liked. Not all fabrics are created equal just because of the number on the package are the same.

I found fabric some fabric at sears made from 600 thread count pima cotton to be exceptionally soft and lustrous, unfortunately it didn't come in the shade I wanted.