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Airy and smooth to the touch, these eco-friendly bed sheets will help you keep your cool
Slipping between smooth, soft sheets is one of the easiest ways to set yourself up for a comfortable night’s sleep. The right bedding can be the difference between waking up feeling rested and energised and smacking the snooze button multiple times before dragging yourself out of bed.
For ultimate softness, bamboo trumps cotton. Bamboo fabric is naturally smooth, which makes it feel luxuriously silky to lie on. Unlike cotton, it doesn’t contain any barbs or spurs. It’s also naturally hypo-allergenic, which makes it an excellent choice for sensitive or eczema-prone skin.
If you’re a hot sleeper or find it difficult to sleep on sticky summer nights, bamboo sheets could make a real difference, as the fabric is cooler and more breathable than cotton. It’s also the most absorbent bedding choice and can absorb sweat and wick it away from your body so you’re not waking up dripping in moisture.
Bamboo sheets are also an eco-friendly choice. The bamboo plant grows quickly without using pesticides, excessive water or care. It yields more fabric than cotton does for the space it takes up and even cleans the air while it grows. One hectare of bamboo can sequester up to 62 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, whereas the equivalent young forest sequesters 15 tonnes per year.
Compared with cotton or silk, bamboo is far more durable, as long as it’s properly cared for. If you wash it at low temperatures, swerve the tumble dryer and avoid ironing, your bedding should get softer with each wash and feel fabulous for years.
Sleeping on the job, we tested each bamboo sheet by assessing its softness, breathability and overall comfort over the course of several nights. Each was washed at a low temperature (without fabric conditioner) and tested again for softness.
We tried king-size sheets from each bedding brand and paid close attention to how deep they were and how easy they were to fit on a mattress. Extra points were given to those that stayed in place throughout the night and didn’t slide or bunch in the corners. With the cost of a king-size fitted sheet ranging from £30 to more than £100, it can be difficult to know how much to spend to find the softest, highest quality option. For that reason, we tested sheets across all price points in the quest to find ultimate comfort.
This Sloth London bedding set promises to make bedtime your favourite part of the day. The sumptuous duvet cover, fitted sheets and pillowcases certainly provide a bubble of softness – we felt enveloped in luxury. After washing at 30C, the set dried fast on an airer indoors, and stayed brilliantly white and as smooth as glass. The set is silky but not in a slide-off-everything kind of way. Although they’re only available in white, there are several choices of trim, from navy to ochre, for luxury-hotel-bedding vibes.
Everything is beautifully packaged, with the bedding contained neatly in a drawstring storage bag surrounded by an eco-friendly cardboard box.
It’s a popular bedding set for sure, and, at the moment, only the king size is in stock.
Bamboo bed linens can be expensive, but Simple & Opulence make a great budget option, including free next-day delivery for Amazon Prime subscribers. While we noticed a few loose threads on taking the sheets out of their packaging, it wasn’t enough to bother us in the night and still felt smoother than sleeping on cotton sheets. They feel cooling to the touch when you first lie on them and don’t appear as wrinkly as some of the other sheets we tested. They may not be the softest choice but no no new threads appeared after washing, making them a durable, long-lasting option at the lower end of the price scale.
Panda London’s complete bedding set was the most expensive we tested, but it is worth it if you run hot while you sleep. We found these bamboo sheets cold, not cool, to the touch – and they remained wonderfully cool even after we laid on the sheets to warm them up with body heat. The fabric is exceptionally breathable, and absorbent, too.
The set consists of a fitted sheet, two pillowcases and a duvet cover. All details have been thoughtfully considered, with buttons on the duvet cover made from raw bamboo, keeping the set completely plastic-free. There are also hidden loops inside the cover, so you can wriggle and snuggle as much as you like – and your duvet will stay put, without bunching up.
Available in five colours, all are naturally dyed, Oeko-Tex standard 100 certified and comply with the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals Group’s manufacturing restricted substances list.
Luff has taken bamboo fabric to the next level, with unique NanoWeave technology. The way the fabric is woven together makes it extra soft as well as highly anti-bacterial and anti-allergy, so your skin will enjoy the benefits. It’s exceptional at moisture-wicking, which is ideal for sensitive skin, as bacteria grow on build-up of moisture and dust mites throughout the night.
No moisture means no nasties creeping onto your skin and causing irritation. You’ll wake up with glowing, summer-ready skin all over, especially if you treat yourself to a set that includes pillowcases.
We slept extra peacefully knowing that 10 per cent of all Luff profits benefit homeless charities. They’re not just an environmentally friendly choice, but socially responsible, too.
We have to admit we were sceptical about the Ackly bedding, as it’s not 100 per cent pure bamboo. However, the mix of 65 per cent bamboo and 35 per cent long-staple cotton creates a 400 thread count with a soft and sumptuous texture. These sheets are very breathable and lightweight, making them an excellent choice for summer use or for year-round hot sleepers.
The lightness also helped when it came to making the bed, as you can simply throw a sheet over and pull down the corners without breaking a sweat. The elastic hem can accommodate mattresses up to 40cm deep, keeping the sheet in place throughout the night, no matter how much you toss and turn. We also liked the colour palette options, with shades such as rich terracotta, dove grey, and fresh sage looking like something you’d find in a Farrow & Ball catalogue.
M&S has a reputation for quality homeware, and its bamboo-blend sheets do not disappoint. Made from 70 per cent bamboo and 30 per cent cotton, they’re not quite as soft as pure bamboo sheets but they look better on the bed because they don’t wrinkle as much.
If you have a lot of beds in your house or despise the task of washing and airing bedding, these are the sheets to choose, as they’re the only ones that can be tumble dried (on medium). They can also be washed at 40C, which is 10C higher than most other bamboo sheets, so you can throw other garments into the mix while you’ve got a wash on. The sheets come in several stylish neutrals, too, so you’re guaranteed to find something to suit your bedroom’s scheme.
Paragon offers the brightest and boldest colour options, including eye-catching midnight blue and calming teal. Think dopamine dressing but for bedsheets. To ensure you’re completely satisfied with the end result, Paragon offers a colour swatch service, so you can see what your favourite colour looks like in your home before you commit to a purchase. With nine different colour options, some shoppers mix and match, choosing one shade of bamboo sheet and another for a duvet cover.
It’s very important to wash these bamboo sheets at 30C, or they could shrink in the wash, but if you follow the bedding’s care instructions you’ll find the sheets are even softer the second time you put them on your bed. Duvet covers have zippers rather than buttons, which makes it faster to make your bed, and the price is excellent given the quality. The downside is they’re not as cooling throughout the night, compared with some others we tested, but they’re still more breathable than cotton or percale sheets.
Green Bear sells bamboo clothing, socks, towels, and bath robes as well as sheets, making them a one-stop shop for all your eco-friendly household supplies. Buying a set that includes a duvet cover regulates nighttime temperature better than a sheet alone. After all, even if your sheet wicks away moisture, you’ll still wake up wet if your duvet cover is damp from sweat.
The duvet cover is zipped, avoiding plastic and making it fast to throw around the duvet. It’s also convenient to wash, as you can fasten the zipper to avoid other laundry getting trapped inside the cover. When you first lay all the items of the set on the bed they are slightly wrinkled, but once you sleep in it the creases diminish over time.
Although only the single size is in stock currently, you can sign up to be notified when other sizes become available.
Made from 60 per cent 200 thread count cotton and 40 per cent bamboo viscose, this sheet is one of the smoothest we tested. This was noticeable as soon as we opened the packet and put it on the bed. It was easy to fit over the mattress, as it’s a deep sheet, which means we didn’t need to pull and re-arrange the corners too much, but our fingers did keep sliding over the fabric.
The softness was even more noticeable when we were lying down on it. If you’re a wriggler, you’ll appreciate that there’s zero friction, so it feels like you’re gliding across the bed when you move position. We also found the sheet got even softer following washing.
Sloth London’s bamboo bedding set impressed us from the moment we saw it in the cute storage bag. Once on the bed, the butter-soft feel got us in the mood for sleep. We also liked how smooth and cooling the Luff sheets felt to lie on, thanks to the unique Nanoweave design. If low-maintenance matters more than feel, the M&S sheets were the easiest to wash and care for, and they’re still softer than cotton.
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