When I shop at Costco I usually choose
Kirkland Signature (KS), (which is Costco’s in-house brand), over “name brand”
products because I generally find the KS products to be superior to or just as
good as their brand name equivalents AND the KS brand is almost always less
expensive. Sadly, this was not the case with my purchase of KS 100% Supima
cotton king size sateen sheet set (item #577765).
Initially the KS sheets felt like the
same silky soft KS cotton sheets I had come to love, but after a mere two
washes (one wash before I put them on the bed and one wash after a week on the
bed) I noticed small tears in the fitted sheet even though I had followed the
washing directions on the tag, which indicated to wash in warm water (not hot)
and to tumble dry on low. Disappointed, I promptly returned them to Costco and
purchased the Charisma brand 100% Egyptian cotton king size sheet set (item
#440441) as a replacement (which I happily noticed were actually $20 less than the KS brand king size sheet
set!)
Comparing the two sheet sets to one
another I noticed both the KS and the Charisma are 6-piece sets that include
one fitted sheet, one flat sheet, and four king size pillowcases and both sets
are 100% cotton. However, the KS is labeled Supima cotton and the Charisma is labeled
Egyptian cotton, but what’s the difference between Supima and Egyptian cotton?
According to Martha
Stewart, Supima is like a brand name for Pima cotton, which is a fine,
long-staple of cotton that yields a very soft weave. (‘Staple’ meaning the
length of the individual fibers.) And
Egyptian cotton is the finest, longest-staple of all and produces an extremely
soft & supple weave. Both sets are also labeled Sateen but what does that
mean? Going back to Martha
Stewart, Sateen refers to the way the fabric is woven. In Sateen sheets the
fabric is woven in a satin weave where warp threads interlace with filling
threads and the result is a lustrous, smooth, and durable fabric. My takeaway
from Martha’s explanations is that Egyptian trumps Supima and Sateen trumps both
Oxford and Percale.
Another difference between the sheet
sets is that the KS set touts a 540-thread count versus Charisma’s 400-thread
count, but what does thread count really mean? According to How Stuff
Works it means the number of threads woven per square inch. For example a
100 warp (lengthwise) threads woven with 100 weft (widthwise) threads produces
a thread count of 200. According to Consumer Reports
(CR) a thread count of 200 is standard and a thread count of 400 can feel
softer but doesn’t guarantee a better sheet. CR also cautions that claimed
thread counts higher than 400 are likely to only provide a higher price tag,
not a higher quality or noticeably softer sheet.
The last
difference I noticed was the price. The KS king sheet set costs $69.99 while
the Charisma king sheet set is only $49.99. Both sheets felt silky soft to me
from the little samples on the display and having tried both at home they still
felt silky soft to sleep on but the Charisma sheets, which have been through
four washes now with no signs of tearing, are with out a doubt more durable. To
me, paying $20 more for an additional 140-thread count is not worth it when the
540-thread count sheets don’t hold up after two washes.
I have purchased KS brand sheets in
the past and I found them to be phenomenal, in fact I still have a queen size
KS sheet set that has held up wonderfully over the past several years and are
still in regular rotation. Yet, with my recent disappointing purchase of the KS
king sheet set that fell well below my quality expectations I suspect that
Costco must have switched to a different manufacturer for their sheets since I purchased
the KS queen sheet set several years ago.
I guess that just goes to show you
that brand loyalties can let you down, even when you’re loyal to the house
brand ;)
In other
sheet news, a few weeks ago I purchased a flannel king size sheet set (item
#676101) at the Mount
Vernon VA Costco for the rock bottom price of just $14.97! While I am dismayed
that it's mid-April and we’re still using flannel sheets, I am happy to report
that the new flannel sheets are warm, soft and holding up well.
It’s
worth noting that all three sheet sets fit snuggly on our 14” deep mattress.
(The KS and Charisma both claim to fit a mattress up to 17” deep while the
flannel claims to fit only up to a 15” deep mattress.)
Note: None
of these three items are available on Costco.com.
Until next time,
the Costco Connoisseur
#GoingToAllTheCostcos
P.S. - Selections and prices listed above will vary from different Costco locations.
