Comparing Our Favorite Bamboo Bedding
Terminology to Know When Shopping
Confused by the terms used to describe bamboo bedding? Here’s a quick breakdown.
Bamboo type: You’ll see bamboo rayon, viscose, or lyocell listed for the bamboo, which explains what method was used for turning the bamboo into fibers that could become sheets. Rayon is the cheapest, while viscose is a slightly better production process, and lyocell is the most ideal process (but still not a perfect one, and usually the most expensive).
Certifications: Some companies will label bamboo sheets as organic, using certifications like Oeko-Tex. You can learn more about organic certification terms here to understand what they each mean, and our thoughts on organic bamboo in our FAQs below. You might also see FSC-certified, which means it was sourced through sustainable forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
Honorable Mentions
Cariloha Classic Bamboo Sheets for $239: Cariloha’s Classic Bamboo Sheets have a twill weave, which has a diagonal thread pattern and doesn’t sound as soft as a sateen weave that has a three-over-one pattern. But these sheets still felt super soft, and the softness difference compared to the pricier Retreat Sheets ($339) was minor for such a big price difference. There’s no corner straps, though.
Cariloha Retreat Bamboo Sheets for $339: These sheets are super soft and silky and use lyocell fabric to be more sustainable. They’re a similar softness to the brand’s cheaper sheets, but if you want to prioritize eco-friendly sheets, lyocell is a good option (though not a perfect carbon-neutral solution). I also really like the included straps, but you can find those on cheaper sets like the Luxome sheets I recommend above.
Ettitude Luxe Sheet Set for $470: These sheets are fantastically soft and use a combination of bamboo lyocell and bamboo “biochar” to make them antifungal and odor-resistant. They ran a little warm for my liking, but if you’re looking for something to keep odors and fungi away, these could be the splurge for you. Ettitude previously called these Airy+ instead of Luxe, but both use a combination of lyocell and biochar.
Honeydew Sheets for $230: These sheets felt a little stiff at first but softened up a bunch after washing. They also come with a securing strap, so they’re a good option for taller mattresses. The only downside is that they’re only available in two colors, but if you want white or a nice dark gray, you’re in luck.
My Sheets Rock the Regulator Sheet Set for $199: These sheets are super soft. They promise to regulate your temperature, but I found myself waking up a little too warm some nights. If you aren’t a hot sleeper, these are overall soft, comfortable sheets to sleep on.
Pom Pom at Home Bamboo Sateen Sheet Set for $368: These are good bamboo sheets, but for the price, we were more impressed by others we tested.
Quince Linen Bamboo Bundle for $255: This set would have been a pick if it were still available. It’s a fantastic combination of linen and bamboo that gets the best of both worlds: the softness and cool touch of bamboo with the structure and airflow of linen. It’s a great pick for hot sleepers—if it resurfaces, buy it!
Quince Bamboo Sheet Set for $130: Quince makes some solid sheets, and these bamboo ones are super soft. They’re a little heavy for me as a hot sleeper, but otherwise come in a nice range of colors and have an Oeko-Tex certification, meaning no harmful chemicals were used. Quince also says the bamboo is organic, but there aren’t any certifications to confirm that (more below on our thoughts on organic bamboo bedding).
Sunday Citizen Bamboo Sheet Set for $109: WIRED reviewer Louryn Strampe found these sheets to be super soft and fantastic to sleep on. But even with the claimed deep pockets, they tended to pop off her mattress, and other picks like Luxome’s sheets feature straps that will avoid that problem.
FAQs
What Types of Bamboo Are There?
There’s a few different terms you might see when describing the bamboo fibers that make up a set of bamboo sheets. Bamboo isn’t naturally a soft fiber, so it goes through a harsh chemical process to break it down and turn it into fibers that can be woven into sheets. Each different name lets you know what kind of process was used and what kind of chemicals (and chemical off-put) were involved.
Bamboo rayon and bamboo viscose are sometimes used interchangeably, though they shouldn’t be since they aren’t exactly the same. Rayon is likely a term you’ve seen before, since it’s a general term used for fabric made from regenerated cellulose. Bamboo rayon usually suggests that it’s semi-synthetic and might not be 100 percent bamboo. Meanwhile, bamboo viscose also uses bamboo cellulose as its base, though it has a slightly different process. Viscose is another type that isn’t limited to bamboo. Just about every sheet I’ve tested claims to be 100 percent bamboo viscose.
Bamboo lyocell is the best of the three, because lyocell has a closed-loop process, which means that almost all of the chemicals used to make more lyocell get reused rather than dumped. Lyocell is a fantastic-quality fabric that makes for a great cooling sheet, so it’s a term to look for if you want to stay cool while you sleep.
Are Bamboo Sheets Cooling?
While bamboo is absolutely cool to the touch when you first climb into bed, I often find that bamboo bed sheets can warm up quite a bit throughout the night. Some companies claim that the bamboo fibers can help regulate your temperature and wick away moisture. As a hot sleeper, I haven’t found this true with every set of bamboo sheets. Some have a weave that’s too heavy to keep me cool on hot nights, since no amount of promised moisture-wicking can replace good airflow to keep you cool. There are a few sets of bamboo bed sheets I recommend below that keep me cooler than others, but I recommend visiting our guide to the Best Cooling Sheets if you want to consider all kinds of bed sheets that could keep you cool, from bamboo to cotton percale and even sheets with phase-change material (or PCM) blended in.
Can Bamboo Sheets Be Organic?
Unlike cotton fabrics, which have the Global Organic Textiles Standard, or GOTS, there’s no overarching certification to verify if bamboo is organically sourced. Many sheet makers will say the bamboo is organic, but with no main certification to confirm this, it’s hard to say without a doubt that any bamboo sheets are fully organic.
Instead, you’ll usually see Oeko-Tex certifications, which confirm that no harmful substances were used, and sometimes you’ll see Forest Stewardship Council, or FSC, certifications, which confirm that the bamboo was sustainably sourced. Hopefully a primary bamboo organic certification will come out in the future to better inform bamboo textile shoppers. You can learn more about existing organic certifications in our guide here.
Does Thread Count Matter?
Bamboo sheets have a thread count, just like cotton sheets, describing how many threads are in a square inch of the fabric. You don’t want too high of a thread count—anything over 800 is purely marketing-speak, and higher thread counts can mean shorter, lower-quality fibers. It’s better to have fewer fibers that are longer and stronger.
Bamboo made into rayon, viscose, and lyocell can be manipulated into a long thread more easily than cotton, of course, so we haven’t seen the crazy-high thread counts listed on bamboo sheets. Many of these sheets are also a sateen weave, which is a three-over-one thread style, leading it to feel softer but not be as breathable. It’s not always so simple as sateen will make you hot, of course; our favorite cooling bamboo sheets from Ettitude have a sateen weave, so it depends on several factors.
The takeaway? Don’t worry about thread count. Focus on type of weave and reviews (like ours!) to get a better idea of whether a set of bamboo sheets (or any other kind of sheet) will suit your sleep needs.
How Does WIRED Test Bamboo Sheets?
For our bamboo sheets guide, I compared our picks both overnight and side by side for softness, cooling properties, and price. Each set of sheets was slept on anywhere between two and seven nights, depending on how it performed, and was washed multiple times to check for pilling or design flaws. I’m a hot sleeper living in Southern California, with my bedroom on the third floor of my home, so it’s been easy to discover if sheets can’t keep me cool all night long. I also looked at each sheet’s quality in reference to the price to see what sheet sets were really worth investing in after testing each one.
How Does WIRED Obtain Sheet Samples? What Happens to Samples After Testing?
All sheets in this guide were obtained as testing samples from companies. We obtain these sheets with no obligation to cover or promises for what coverage could look like. When testing is complete, the top picks are held onto for long-term testing, while the rest are donated locally.
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