Why A Specialty Retailer May Be The Best Choice

In this 4 part series, we have discussed the relative pros & cons of purchasing Egyptian Cotton sheets from online auctions, discount retailers and local discount warehouses. The real question is:

When you’re shopping for 100% Egyptian Cotton Sheet Sets, is an online or local specialty retailer worth the extra money? I believe the answer is yes and here are several reasons why.

Quality:

Specialty shops stake their reputation on selling high quality products. That’s how they differentiate themselves from their less expensive competition. Because Egyptian Cotton sheets are so much more durable, you won’t need to replace them as quickly and may even save money in the long run.

Consistency:

Because specialty shops “specialize”, they establish long-term relationships with a few reliable suppliers who can supply exactly the same product month after month, year after year. If your 2 year old finds Mom’s lipstick and starts coloring on the pillowcases, you can probably get a exact replacement pillowcase from a specialty shop without having to replace the whole set. (Try doing that at your local warehouse!)

Selection:

A specialty shop is more likely to have your bed size in stock, particularly if you have one of the less popular sizes. They probably will also offer a wider range of thread counts and colors to fit your needs and budget. Specialty shops usually carry a selection of accessories designed to match their Egyptian Cotton sheet Sets including duvet covers, bed skirts and extra pillowcases.

When you consider that you spend up to 1/3 of your life in bed… you owe it to yourself… buy the best sheets you can afford. Buy 100% Egyptian Cotton sheets – the Gold Standard by which all cotton sheets are measured.

The Wholesale Warehouse Temptation 

As the US economy slows down, many consumers are changing their shopping habits and spending more time and money at the big “discount warehouse” stores. You know them… the places that are stacked floor to ceiling with pallets full of products, shopping carts that are actually freight dollies and crowds of people looking for bargains on everything including office supplies, groceries, chocolates and yes even Egyptian Cotton sheets.

 Let’s be fair: everyone wants a bargain and these stores usually have good quality products and great prices. I shop there and you probably do as well. So why shouldn’t you buy your sheets there? Let’s look at the pros and cons.

Pros: You can save time and gas by shopping in one store. You can be reasonably sure that you are getting value for your dollar. These stores value their reputation and check their competition and products carefully.

Cons:

You can only shop when the store is open (and when everyone else is shopping too.)

Supply is limited or seasonal. I’m sure you’ve experienced this with other products… you buy one and love it. By the time you get back to the store, they’re all sold out. Next year, the warehouse buyers find a new best deal from another vendor.

Limited Accessories: What if you want an extra set of pillowcases or a matching duvet cover to match your light blue 600 thread count Egyptian Cotton sheets? Do they have those in stock? Will they still have them in stock 6 months or a year later?

Ultimately the choice is yours but before you run to your local warehouse… read Part IV of this series for the advantages of buying from a specialty online retailer.

Read Product Labels

In Part I of this series, I discussed the practice of relabeling: taking a low thread count sheet set and replacing the label to make it look like the customer is buying a higher quality sheet set. An even more common practice is the use of the term Egyptian Cotton to describe sheets that are a mix of cotton species and or other fibers. Unfortunately, a product can legally say “Egyptian Cotton” with as little as 10% Egyptian Cotton content! Since the consumers have come to recognize that Egyptian Cotton is higher quality than other varieties, they could be tempted to pay more money than they should.

 Consumers should read labels carefully. If the label doesn’t say 100% Egyptian Cotton, it probably isn’t. Another clue is the distinctive logo of the Egyptian Cotton Growers Association. (Shown to the left)

Because licencing requirments for using this logo are so stringent (and expensive) most retailers do not display this logo on their websites or store fronts even if their products are genuine. If you’re buying in a bricks-and-mortar establishment; check the product packaging before you buy. If you’re shopping online, check the product label when you recieve your order. If you didn’t get what was advertised… send it back.

 So next time you’re in the market for a set of Cal King size Egyptian Cotton sheets, shop carefully by asking questions and reading labels. Getting the genuine product is worth it!

You May Not Be Getting What You Expected

I recently read an article written by a someone in the luxury linen business… someone who both manufactures and sells high quality 100% Egyptian cotton sheets and bedding products.  He quoted an excerpt from an email sent to him by a prospective customer asking why his sheets were so expensive compared to those found on eBay or in local warehouse stores.

I chuckled to myself. As an online retailer of 100% Egyptian cotton sheets, I’ve often asked myself the same question: how can people sell items on eBay for less than what I pay for them from my wholesale supplier?

The author went on to describe how he’d purchased several sets of sheets from his eBay “competition” and sent them off to a lab for analysis. After paying several hundred dollars for the lab results which included carefully counting threads under a microscope, he found out what he, (and a lot of the rest of us in the business) suspected: The sheets had been relabeled. A set that was really 200 or 300 thread count had been relabeled as 600, 800 or even 1000 thread count!

In all fairness, eBay is generally a great place to shop. I shop and sell items there myself. Most sellers are honest and ethical and eBay as ways of dealing with those who are not. Like all other shopping, Internet or otherwise, a bit of caution is in order. If a price sounds too good to be true… it probably is.

Like Luxury Hotels, Hospitals are in the business of serving their guests. Although hospital stays are often more expensive than luxury hotels, patients frequently try to forget their stays. Who wants to remember pain or sickness anyway? Why then would hospitals spend money on expensive Egyptian cotton sheet sets when they could buy sheets made from less expensive materials? Is this just one more example of waste in the American healthcare system? Hardly!

Hospitals are under intense pressure from the media, congress, taxpayers and insurance companies to cut costs. Under this pressure, they are constantly looking for ways to not only reduce initial purchase costs, but to also reduce the lifetime cost of ownership.

Hospital laundries are notoriously rough on linens, particularly due to the processes required by modern infection control standards. Normal short fiber cotton products disintegrate after only a few washings. Egyptian cotton’s long strong fibers are more resilient to this type of abuse. Although Egyptian cotton sheet sets cost more initially, they end up saving money by outliving their competition.

Luxury Hotels around the world pamper their guests with high thread count Egyptian Cotton Sheets. These hotels are far more than places to sleep, eat and have meetings. They are in the business of creating memorable experiences in an environment where were every need is supplied, every detail is attended to, and service always exceeds expectations.

Creating this environment is not easy; it requires attention to millions of details. A master chief oversees the creation of each culinary masterpiece. The Concierge must have answers for every question and resources to fill every need. Even the Bellhops, Maids and Maintenance staff are carefully trained to provide the best of everything to their guests.

Some people believe we are more likely to remember our final thoughts before going to sleep at night. Luxury hotels must believe it as well. At the end of the day, they wrap their guests in the softest most luxurious sheets in the whole word: Egyptian cotton sheets.

When I was invited to a housewarming party for one of my best friends, I instantly knew what to get her.  She and her husband had just completed their dream home and she’d found the perfect black four-poster California King sized bed for the master suite. A bed like this deserves the finest in luxury bedding so I bought her a set of Cal King Egyptian cotton sheets. 

My introduction to Egyptian cotton sheets was an accident. About 8 years ago, I had my flight home canceled due to bad weather. The airlines put us up in a 5 star hotel for the night. When I climbed into bed, I instantly noticed something different about the sheets. They were softer and thicker than normal cotton. When I asked the hotel staff, they informed me that they only used Egyptian cotton for their bedding. The following day the weather cleared and I was finally able to return home. But somehow my bed just wasn’t the same. Since then, I only use Egyptian cotton for my bed at home. I’m sure my best friend will do the same once she tries out the sheets I’m giving her.