For a bed to be inviting, the sheets must feel like a welcoming, comfortable friend. For some, comfort is best defined as cool, crisp sheets that you would find at an upscale hotel. And, if that’s the case for you, then the Italic Slumber Percale Cotton Sheet Set should be in the running. The right sheets let your body breathe, glide and drape over the body, and ultimately, make it hard to get out of bed in the morning. There’s also the issue of fit. If you’re like me, you need a snug fit on the mattress, so you don’t wake up in a sheet stranglehold. With so many sheet options available covering a wide range of prices, I wanted to see how these Italic sheets performed. Read on to see if these sheets kept me from overheating and offered a hotel feel as advertised. I used these sheets on and off for four weeks. They went through two to four washes a week during that time. First, a confession about me is that I’m a warm sleeper. In theory, percale is the perfect fabric for people who tend to overheat while sleeping. Percale has a lighter weave than sateen or flannel, letting more body heat and moisture escape. Italic’s percale sheets also had a lot going for them because the material is made from long-staple, combed cotton. The staple is the individual cotton fiber. The longer the staple, the softer and more durable the resulting thread or fabric. The only cotton varieties longer than long-staple cotton are extra-long staples, which you find in Egyptian cotton. If you’ve looked at Egyptian cotton sheets before, you know they’re pricey. Italic keeps the price down by using long-staple combed cotton. Combed cotton has the shortest cotton fibers “combed out” or removed, leaving behind only the longest, softest staples. Percale sheets are soft, but not buttery soft like sateen sheets. They have a crisp softness. It’s almost like they feel fresh and snappy every time you get into bed. I would compare them to line-dried clothes, offering a fresh crispness. I don’t know how Italic did it, but that crispness comes with a nice drape and weight for a percale sheet. Sometimes percale sheets can almost feel like they’re floating over the body. However, these sheets fell nicely across my hips and shoulders, almost like a sateen but not quite as heavy. The sheet’s breathability got a big thumbs up from me. Sheets can’t solve all overheating problems at night, but these kept air flowing and didn’t trap heat to make things worse. This hot sleeper slept well with these sheets. When the manufacturer says they feel cool to the touch, they really do. Of course, they warm up once you get in bed, but that breathability stays with you all night. These sheets will be my go-to sheets once the summer highs start rolling in. The only real issue I had with the Italic percale sheets is the wrinkling. These lovely bedsheets are 100 percent cotton, and you can definitely tell. They come out of the dryer clean and pill-free but wrinkled like they’ve been wadded in a ball and sat on. To help pull out wrinkles, I tucked them in extra tight when making the bed. It helped, but some wrinkles won’t come out unless you iron them out.
How deep is the pocket on the fitted sheet?
The fitted sheet has a 15-inch pocket. The tallest mattresses on the market go up to 20 inches, so they won’t fit every mattress. But, the average queen falls between 12 to 15 inches in height. My mattress measures 11.5 inches, so the fitted sheet was a little big. If I put it on without extra tucking, there was some movement in the sheet during the night. A strong elastic holds the sheet in place, so it wasn’t an issue. However, I like a tight fit with my sheets, so I tucked the corners in extra far. It worked well as far as fitting the sheet on a shorter mattress.
How easy are these sheets to iron?
Wrinkling was the only real issue I had with the sheets, and, I’m not one to iron my sheets. However, I ironed them anyway to test how well the fabric responded to an iron. I put set my iron for cotton setting using medium steam. On that setting, I need to use pressure to remove the wrinkles. Even then, I could still see some wrinkles. I ironed them right out of the dryer, and those stubborn wrinkles were laughing in my face. So, if you’re finicky about wrinkles, these sheets might be an issue for you. If you’re like me, get them out of the dryer ASAP and tuck those sheets in like a burrito. It removes enough of the wrinkles that you probably won’t notice.
Are these sheets worth the price?
Italic offers high-quality bedding at a reasonable price: $75. For a 400-thread count cotton sheet of this quality, they’re worth the money. Some premium sheets cost well over $100. These Italic sheets are cooling luxury priced right.
Italic Slumber Percale Cotton Sheet Set vs. the Competition
This isn’t the first set of Italic sheets I’ve tested. I also checked out their Slumber Sateen Cotton Sheets. I loved them as much as I did the percale. The sateen sheets don’t wrinkle as much, and they’re heavier with more drape. However, they allowed my body to breathe and felt oh-so-soft. As a warm sleeper, I’ll probably use the percale in the summer and the sateen in the winter. Another competitive comparison is the Coyuchi 500-Thread Count Organic Percale Sheets. These sheets have a lot in common with the Italic percale sheets, with two differences—the Coyuchi are made from organic cotton and have a 500-thread count versus Italic’s 400-thread count. The Coyuchi set costs almost four times the price of the Italic sheets. If you’re on a budget, the Italic set offers a similar feel and breathability at a more affordable price. I loved the cool, crispness of these sheets. Some percale sheets feel almost crunchy, but these sheets start with a crispness that melts around your body once you get in bed. The breathability was fantastic, and I recommend them in a heartbeat.
