Egyptian Cotton Sheets: Truth in Advertising
October 21st, 2008 . by The Linen Doctor
Because Egyptian cotton has a luxury cachet, many customers ask if a sheet or duvet cover they are interested in is made from that type of cotton. The Egyptian government is making that information more accessible by recently launching an initiative that would lead to the licensing of 100 percent Egyptian-cotton home fashions to make sure that products labeled 100% Egyptian cotton really are. “Much of the Egyptian cotton used around the world is actually a blend, even though it says only ‘Egyptian cotton’ on the packaging,” according to Cotton Egypt Association executive director Sahar Mounir. “We’re looking to license the name ‘Egyptian cotton,’ and we have created a logo that can be used only on products that are 100 percent Egyptian cotton.” Mounir said Cotton Egypt has established a testing and monitoring program to ensure that a product labeled 100 percent Egyptian cotton really is.
We always educate our customers by pointing out that there are different qualities of Egyptian cotton and that the spinning, weaving, and finishing processes also determine the quality and feel of any cotton sheeting product.
Egyptian cotton is considered the best because it produces the longest, smoothest threads of any of the types of cotton. It is based on a longer fiber and is softer and more durable than other cottons. Blends or derivatives can be any combination of Egyptian cotton and some other cotton not grown in Egypt. According to Fairchild’s Dictionary of Textiles, “the U.S. has crossed Egyptian cotton with American cotton since 1903.”
75 percent of exported Egyptian cotton is inferior to American Pima cotton, according to Matt Laughlin, executive vice president of the Supima Association of America. Laughlin says, “it’s not as long, it’s not as fine, and it doesn’t hold up as well. They dilute the quality.” The Supima Associate licenses their products and has their own logo.
We actually test our competitions high thread count sheets and cases, so we really know what something will feel like after washing and ironing. We invite customers to feel a sheet or duvet cover before they buy it and tell them that we guarantee that it will feel the same after many washings. We do stock sheets with thread counts of up to 1020 and also offer 300-count sheets that feel better than many others with a higher thread count.
Always make sure that you can return a sheet or duvet cover if it does not feel as good or hold up as long as you expected. We are always happy to send you a swatch of any of our sheeting fabrics so you can feel the quality for yourself before buying.

It’s always exciting to go New York for any reason and today I’m off to New York for the annual gift show, which includes a home section. All of our main vendors will be showing either at the Javits, the Piers, in permanent showrooms.
Besides seeing new introductions, it’s always great to see the people you talk to on the phone all year long, as well as comparing notes with other retailers. This year should be especially interesting since most vendors and retailers consider this past year as being a very challenging one and I am curious to see how they handled it.
When I go to this show a few times every year, it’s more to look for display ideas and see design and color trends that are developing. When Shelley, the home accessory and gift buyer, and I went on July 27, we specifically went looking for things to go with the sheet pattern, “Hera” by Yves Delorme, that we will be featuring in our Christmas window.
We get this question all of the time. The main reason is that mattresses are no longer a standard size and most are much thicker now than in the past since the “high profile” mattresses are considered more luxurious. A very common complaint years ago was the fitted sheets were too tight or didn’t have long enough sides to completely cover their mattress. And certainly now long enough to have bit of tuck under to prevent the fitted sheet from riding up the mattress and coming “undone.”
When I first started in the business in the 70’s, full was a much more common size, but not so much anymore. People now want a wider mattress so they have the luxury of more width and now spend more time in their bedrooms since so many have either a television or even a whole entertainment center in their bedrooms. I’ve never seen a statistic on which rooms people watch the 10 o’clock news or Leno or Letterman, but I have a hunch a fair number are watching from their beds.
“Lowell,”
The guys have more interesting sheets. Mr. Big has a set with 1” appliqué
on the face and on the edge of the sham, black on grey, similar to Matouk’s Legato, which has three rows rather than two, sitting in front of plain light grey solid. At least I think they’re light grey. They could also be white, hard to tell. He also has a silk quilt with rows of quilting near the edge, like Kumi Kookoon’s “Classic Silk Throw.”
Out in California, we get to see two of Samantha’s hunk’s sheets. The first is a rather conservative tone-on-tone small plaid, like Christian Fischbacher’s “Batist Web.” The second set looks like zebra stripes, except blue on a white ground. We don’t have any pattern like that at Scheuer Linens but they must be out there somewhere. Too bad we don’t get to see any of Samantha’s bed linens since I suspect they would be more interesting than plain white.
When my father died in 1982, I was suddenly in charge of the store. I was really scared. Even though I had worked at the store for 11 years at that point, I really didn’t know exactly what to do. I could sell, do basic bookkeeping, and do shipping and receiving. I always seemed to have lots of ideas to suggest to my father, but when I assumed control, I was not so sure I could successfully implement those ideas. There was no training program, no manual or written guidelines for buying, and there were things my father (pictured on the right, with his parents, Rosel and Fred, and his wife, Leonore, at the store’s opening in 1953) did that I had never done, like going to Madeira, Portugal on a buying trip.
I am the third generation of my family to run Scheuer Linens and George Matouk, Jr. (pictured on the left, with his father, George Sr.), is the third generation of his family to run Matouk. In 1929, John Matouk founded a company whose “mission was to give American homemakers ready access to the world’s finest, most luxurious linens.” My grandparents started in 1937 by selling fine linens in customers’ homes. There was no Scheuer Linens store in those days. As both companies evolved and grew, both stayed committed to having the very finest quality linens and never compromised on quality or service.