Hotel Bed Linen: Thread Count, Percale and Sateen

What thread count actually measures

Thread count is the number of threads in a square inch of cloth, counting both directions: the warp running down the roll and the weft running across it.

So T200 means roughly two hundred threads in that square inch. To fit more threads into the same space, the yarn has to be finer. That is the real difference between a low and a high count, and it is why the number is worth asking about.

The number also has a limit in practice. Past a point, a count is only reached by twisting several thin plies together and counting each ply, which inflates the figure without changing the cloth. Ask what the yarn is, not only what the number is.

We weave T130, T144, T180, T200, T250, T300 and T400, and above T400 as well. Each is a line on an order, not a grade.

Why there is no single hotel thread count

Because the right number depends on what the linen has to survive, and that differs between properties. Anyone who gives you one figure is guessing on your behalf.

A higher count gives a finer, smoother surface. The yarn in it is thinner, so the same cloth is lighter in the hand.

A lower count is woven from heavier yarn. There is more fibre in each thread, which is what a commercial wash wears away.

So the decision is a trade off between how the sheet feels to a guest and how many washes it has to last. Where the linen goes out to a commercial laundry and comes back hot pressed, that second half of the trade off carries more weight.

The practical way to settle it is not to pick a number from a page. Send us a sheet from your current stock. We read the yarn and the construction out of it, and quote against what you already know works. Options for each piece are on the flat sheet and fitted sheet pages.

Percale and sateen: the difference is the weave

Both words describe how the threads cross, not what the cloth is made of. Cotton and polycotton can both be woven either way.

Percale is a plain weave: one thread over, one thread under, evenly across the cloth. The surface is matte and crisp, and it feels cool to the hand.

Sateen lets each thread pass over several others before going under one. More of the yarn sits on the surface, so the cloth looks smoother and carries a slight sheen.

That same floating yarn is the trade off. A sateen surface shows a pulled thread more readily than a plain weave does, because there is more yarn exposed to catch.

Satin stripe is a third option, and it is still one colour. Bands of sateen are woven into a percale ground, in 1, 2 or 3 cm, so the stripe shows in the light rather than in a second shade. It has its own page: satin stripe bed linen.

Dobby and jacquard add a woven figure to the cloth. The design sits in the weave, so the piece stays plain in colour. Nothing we make is printed.

Cotton, polycotton and microfibre

The fibre decides how the sheet behaves in the laundry more than how it looks on the bed.

Polycotton comes in ratios, and the ratio is part of the specification: 50/50, 60/40, 40/60, 65/35 or 80/20. The first figure is the cotton. Write the ratio on the line, because two blends under the same word do not behave the same.

What a specification needs to say

Six entries per line, and a name is not one of them: fibre and ratio, weave, thread count, finished measurements, colour, and how it is labelled and packed.

Measurements matter more than size names. A queen in one market is not a queen in another, and mattress depth differs between properties in the same market. Our guide to bed size names sets out how the names line up.

Colour is one reference per order. White, or a solid shade matched to a Pantone number, so a later delivery sits beside the first one.

Keep the specification once it is agreed. We hold it on file, and a repeat order is made to the same figures, which is what keeps new linen matching the linen already in rotation. The rest of the range is on the bed linen page.