Egyptian Cotton

In our last entry, we discussed thread count… how many threads per inch of fabric and why it was important. Thread ply is less understood. While higher thread count is usually considered better there is some discussion, even among the experts as to how to measure thread count and the argument usually centers around the term “thread ply.” Before we discuss “thread ply,” we need to define thread.

A thread is a very long thin strand of something. Nylon thread might be a single extruded piece of plastic many yards long. Other than silk, natural fibers such as cotton don’t get that long and so they need to be spun into threads. If you were to look at a thread under a microscope, you wound find that at any given point, several cotton fibers are twisted together each one overlapping the next. If you make the thread too thin, the fibers won’t overlap enough and the threads will be weak and break easily. Because Egyptian Cotton fibers are so long, it is possible to spin much smaller diameter threads without compromising the integrity of the thread.

Once you’ve spun individual fibers into threads there are at least two options:  you can weave fabric directly from these threads OR you can create stronger threads by twisting two threads together to create a 2 ply yarn and then weave the yarns together.

This is the point at which the experts start arguing: Some assert that if you twist two threads together (2 ply yarn) you can only count these yarns when advertising thread count,  others assert that a thread is a thread, and that it is perfectly legitimate to count both threads in a 2 ply yarn when advertising thread count.

So what does this mean to you? If you’re comparing two full sheet sets ; one advertised as 600 thread count single ply, the other as 600 thread count 2 ply… lets do the math:

For the single ply: 600 yarns x 1 thread/yarn = 600 threads/inch

For the 2 ply: 300 yarns x 2 threads/yarn = 600 threads/inch.

The point is that each of these sheets contains the same amount of cotton. The difference is in how it was twisted and woven together. In short, the argument between 1 ply and 2 ply is a matter of opinion not fact. What really matters is the underlying quality of the fibers themselves. Cheap short fibers create inferior fabrics no matter how they are spun and woven together. Stick to products made with 100% Egyptian Cotton and you’ll be OK.