High Quality Bed Linen at a good price?

[kronik]

Originally Posted by Duveen

GQ - Did you learn about Venus Rising on this forum? In the other thread I saw what looked like a series of spam posts from a random forumite about those sheets. Do you (or does someone you know) have direct experience with those sheets?

My first set of luxury sheets was purchased from Venus Rising. Though they gave me the impression the quality of the sheets is on the same level as Sferra Bros, they aren't. That isn't to say they're bad sheets, but I suppose that's why they're not branded "Sferra..", more like a diffusion line of sorts.

I anticipate making a purchase from gimmecoffee; I'll report back.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by kronik

My first set of luxury sheets was purchased from Venus Rising. Though they gave me the impression the quality of the sheets is on the same level as Sferra Bros, they aren't. That isn't to say they're bad sheets, but I suppose that's why they're not branded "Sferra..", more like a diffusion line of sorts.

I anticipate making a purchase from gimmecoffee; I'll report back.

I assume it was you the initially posted about them? I did read about them for the first time on this forum. I'll probably go local when i purchase my new sheets because then i can feel the fabric before I purchase. I don't want to be disappointed again so i'm just gonna suck it up and spend the money.

The on thing that rung true on the VR website is that you shouldn't buy in to the idea that a higher thread-count is always better. There are lots of crappy, 1000TC egyptian cotton sheets out there. Often times a 400 can feel nicer than a 600, and a 600 nicer than a 1000. That's all that should matter, not some semi-abstract number that's arrived at by manipulating the variables in an attempt to trick consumers.

 

[kronik]

Originally Posted by GQgeek

I assume it was you the initially posted about them? I did read about them for the first time on this forum. I'll probably go local when i purchase my new sheets because then i can feel the fabric before I purchase. I don't want to be disappointed again so i'm just gonna suck it up and spend the money.

The on thing that rung true on the VR website is that you shouldn't buy in to the idea that a higher thread-count is always better. There are lots of crappy, 1000TC egyptian cotton sheets out there. Often times a 400 can feel nicer than a 600, and a 600 nicer than a 1000. That's all that should matter, not some semi-abstract number that's arrived at by manipulating the variables in an attempt to trick consumers.

No, I didn't intially post about them; I bought them before I joined SF about a year and a half ago.

That is absolutely correct in regards to manipulation of thread count - Sferra Bros. actually uses long-staple EC, for a 1-ply 1020TC.. there are not many "legitimate" 1000+ TCs out there.. most would be like a 250TC, 4x ply, 500TC, 2x ply.. etc. There is a difference. I would strongly advise at least purchasing your first set in person, and then looking for deals after you know precisely what it is that you're looking for.

 

[Duveen]

It was not Kronik, it was a guy with only two posts called "Copythat". He said mainly that Overstock.com is bad and Venus Rising is good. Seemed suspicious that this was his only comment...

 

[kronik]

So...

Comically enough, I was in the market for a duvet (purchased from Emissary @ Tysons Galleria). I purchased one, branded SDH. It was the Traviata styling. Turns out.. SDH purchased Ygle, and this had a "Ygle" copyright statement on the label.. I will COMPLETELY back pej up on this one.. beautiful, beautiful work. Sferra is still my favorite for "plain" sheets, I think I've found a new one for the more ornate.

Duvet and shams were approx. 900 bucks, combined.. I need to find them on sale.

 

[GQgeek]

That's actually not a bad price if it's top-end quality. Shams can be ridiculously expensive and the duvet cover alone for some high-end brands is 1k bucks.

I just got a sheet set for my new queen bed (was on a double before). I ended up going with the store label of a little boutique here in montreal. They contract out to a firm in italy to make them. The ones I purchased were just plain white with a hem stitch. The sheet set was 650 and the duvet cover was 550. I'm not sure what the shams cost b/c I haven't purchased them yet.

I've felt better at the super high-end, but these were quite nice, 410TC egyptian cotton. They had washed samples so you could feel how they'd turn-out after a few washings and they were very soft and pliable, unlike some of those cheap 1k TC pretenders. I'll probably revisit bedding down the road but i'm on a budget right now

Now if only my damned mattress would arrive so i can stop sleeping on the floor.

 

[marcodalondra]

A long time since the last reply, but as I have spent a great deal of time researching the subject and spending a bit of money in the process, here is my bit of experience.

I first became interested in luxury bedding, linens and towels after visiting few boutique hotels in New York few years ago but as I was still fresh from Uni I was not really ready to upgrade at home...

Anyway, I recently decided to review all my bedding/towel situation and here is what I found:

First the material, it must be 100% cotton, actually long staple cotton. Egyptian(also known as MAKO) is the absolute N.1 but Supima/Pima is a good alternative.

Thread count is important, but must be linked to the material above and woven by a respectable factory.

Anything above 200TC gives you already a soft sheet. I have found 400tc to be the best as when you increase above that, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain (at 540 was already too complicated).

I have 4 sets so far (duvet Cover, Fitted sheets and pillowcases), the first is a Marks & Spencer's Autograph 400TC Egyptian Cotton set woven in Pakistan, the second a secondary brand (Catherine something) 400TC Egyptian Cotton woven in Egypt, one that I bought from Costco here in UK is a Pima Cotton 540TC and the last is from an Italian Factory that makes set for designers, which I managed to buy off ebay Italy, again 400TC woven in Italy, one sateen.

For what I have found so far, Pratesi, Bellora and Frette are all great Italian Brands as Yves Delorme is a great French alternative. There is another great brand that only sells to 4-5 stars hotel which I am try to source but it looks difficult (more later).

Some of the things sold in US as Italian (e.g Sferra, Anichini etc), do not actually exist in Italy and may well be stuff that is manufactured by one of the above manufacturers and sold by a different name. Frette 200TC seams to be an entry line, but try to compare their 400-600tc with the competition and then tell me that these are not good.

So I have contacted the factories in Italy but they told me to be trading only with hotels/restaurant or big retailers. There may be a chance to buy a small bulk from them, but personally I would only need max 3 set and do not want to start a business selling the rest off ebay... however it could be an idea if we can get together and make one order as the price per unit could be almost half of what retailers here in the UK offer for stuff made in India or Pakistan.

Anyway, what else did I find? I have bathrobes and towels from Frette (bough very cheaply in Italy) and towels from Yves Delorme (bought from Selfridges in London) and are great, actually incredible. But I have also other 100% Egyptian cotton towels bought at Costco UK which are very good.

Pillows and duvet: Brinkhaus seams to be the top brand but have not experience with them. Instead I have experienced the products by Northern Feather ( NF Canada and NF Ireland were the same company but not sure it is still the case), both in hotels and now at home and have to say to be top class. As Natural filling, in order from best to good, Siberian goose down, Hungarian Goose down, white goose down and Goose Feather and Down are the choices. Clusterfil Ballfibre seams to be the best synthetic alternative to down (I have two great pillows filled with that material). I would recommend both standard and square pillows (26" x 26"). Northern Feather sells in the UK under three brands, "Night Flight", "Irish dreams" and "Comfort Zone".

In terms of beds, Vi-spring is the top choice in UK and most probably superior to other brands. (John Lewis carries some affordable model from them)

Sealy and Simmons are two top US brand that supply many top hotels (e.g Sheraton and Westin famous beds). However these seams to be manufactured in the UK under some sort of license agreements, using some of the same patented technology but not all models.

Sealy Ultra Luxe Pillow top models are great and probably what I will go for. Simmons' Beautyrest, which I would have considered as an alternative, are not available in the UK.

Some of the above can be easily researched further by googling...

Let me know if you are also interested in getting affordable Italian woven sheets directly from the factory as we could together achieve that.

 

[marcodalondra]

Forgot to mention, to find Norther Feather products you may need to google with one of the three brand name mentioned above

 

[dkzzzz]

Sferra , Charter Club.

Just stay away from Italian luxury crap unless you can spend 700 on a set of sheets.

 

[jakejake]

Any opinions on Mirabello sheets? How are they compared to Frette's?

 

[Roy]

Originally Posted by jakejake

Any opinions on Mirabello sheets? How are they compared to Frette's?

Mirabello is excellent! They really can't be compared to Frette's higher lines, but the price quality/ratio is excellent. Personally I like their designs as well.


I am thinking of setting up an international webshop for luxury bed and bath products. I have a small chain of bedstores in the Netherlands in the absolute top of the market. We even offer MTM bedding products. Brands I carry are Mirabello, Signoria di Firenze, Christian Fischbacher, Slabbinck (this is every bit as good as Frette with the possibility of creating your own design!). Do you guys think there is any use in developing a website for this type of product?

 

[Artisan Fan]

Originally Posted by Valeriek

In my opinion the very best sheets ever made are Comphy Co brand. They are retailed by a company called RuVal. www.ruvalonline.com. They ship any where around the world. I fell in love with them at the spa at the four seasons and have slept on nothing else ever since. You can sometimes get them at the gift shop at the spa at the Ritz Carlton, the Four Seasons or the Wynn hotels in Vegas, but you will pay much higher prices than getting them online at RuVal.

Pretty reasonable prices.

 

[HORNS]

Check Garnet Hill.

 

[username79]

Tuesday Morning

500/600tc Sferra hotel collection $99/$149, solid white.

 

[Roy]

I started preparations for my online linenshop. Would anybody be interested in an application that allows you choose from 300TC/600TC , 11 base colors, 36 patterns, en 36 colors to create the patterns. You could even use your own texts:

In this one you could have your own initials in sort of an abstract way, the example spells SH