8 Years ago, when we brought our first home, I researched in to buying a new set of sheets, Everyone including my Mum was going on about Egyptian cotton, having a high thread count and making sure they were a sateen cotton.
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So I went down to my local blue & Yellow home-ware shed, and brought my first set, and no doubt it was Thursday they were 40% OFF...
I remember spending $300 or $400 a a set that lasted me less than a year...so since then I've made it my whole life's mission to find a decent pair of sheets. (yes I do love my bed)
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Firstly Cotton.. Cotton is in fact a very environmentally damaging crop. It’s water intensive and grown in places that water is a precious source and the land would be better off being used for agriculture. It requires Liters of chemical additives, like pesticides, bleaches and dyes. The Cotton pant is very hard on soil and for each kilo of cotton, ( about enough to produce two men's shirts) a Kg of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer is used. It is one of the worst greenhouse gas contributors.
So when your sleeping in cotton sheets its made up from about 30% terrifically bad chemicals.
So if you need to sleep on cotton, use organic cotton. It has no Chemicals. Growing Organic is still terribly water intensive.
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So after many hours of researching and trying out sheets... I came to the conclusion that nothing, no other fiber on earth can beat Linen - 100% Pure woven Linen.
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It is made from a flax plant, grown in the Northern France / Belgium Area. Its Sustainable, It leaves less of a footprint than cotton. A crop of Flax need 30% less water than a cotton crop and its a very hardy crop resulting in minimal pesticides.
I bet many of you who are not currently sleeping in Linen, will be thinking linen is crumply, "Don't you have to Iron it?" I get asked this question everyday... But I believe once you sleep in Linen nothing else will matter... we need to change - embrace its rumpled elegance, learn to love the relaxed Linen look.
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