Best Sheets of 2023
We tested sheets from popular brands—including Target, Brooklinen, and L.L.Bean—to find sets that are as strong as they are soft
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Bedsheets that cover all the bases—and fit securely over all four corners of your mattress—can prove surprisingly tricky to find. Breathability, softness, pocket size, and price are just a few factors worth considering. Add to that the scores of brands to choose from, and a plethora of offerings from each, and it becomes much harder to determine sheets that will be conducive to sleep and stand the test of time.
At Consumer Reports, we make the selection process easier by testing queen-size bed sheets from popular brands to determine how well they stand up in the areas that matter. Our ratings include a range of fabrics from synthetic to natural, at various prices and varied thread counts. Although the majority of the sheet sets on the market are cotton, not all cotton sets are alike. Our tests prove that, while also busting other sheet-shopping myths.
How Consumer Reports Tests Sheets
We test the most popular size of sheets: queen. And we consider fit to be the most important standard. If a fitted sheet, no matter how soft, shrinks so much that you can’t get it over your mattress, all other attributes are moot. In our tests, we wash fitted sheets according to the manufacturer’s directions 25 times—equivalent to about a year’s worth of washing if you launder your linens every two weeks. After every five washing and drying cycles, our testers put the sheet on an 8-, 10-, 14-, and 18-inch-deep mattress, to see whether the corners and sides still fit and tuck underneath. (A 10-inch mattress is standard.) And we measure exactly how much shrinkage occurred.
We also use a set of reference sheets as a comparison to determine how much each sheet wrinkles and (with the help of a sensory panel of testers) how soft they feel. Our engineers also assess the strength of the fibers with a machine that clamps both ends of the sheet sample and pulls it with increasing force until it tears.
In our sheets ratings, you’ll find sets from premium brands like Matouk Sierra and Boll & Branch, as well as budget-friendly retailers like Target and Walmart.
Top 5 Sheets From CR's Tests
Our top performers, reviewed here in alphabetical order, come in a range of prices and materials. But they all excel in at least one of our lab tests and get pretty favorable scores in other areas, too.
CR's Search for the Best Sheets
From stress tests to sensory panels, our rigorous protocol separates the great from the merely good.
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