• Beds
• Bedroom
  • Bed Linen
    • Cotton
    • Silk
  • Brands
  • Latex
  • Lighting
  • Mattresses
  • Memory Foam
  • Pillows
  • Quilts
  • Sound Conditioning
  • Storage
  • Themes
  • More
• Dreams
• Sleep
• Snoring

Egyptian Cotton

When buying bed linen there's a huge range of materials available, everything from inexpensive man-made fibres through to luxurious pure natural silk.

Many people choose cotton as a natural yet affordable fabric, however even simple cotton comes in different varieties. One phrase you're likely to encounter when shopping for bed linen, especially sheets and pillow cases, is Egyptian cotton.

What Is Egyptian Cotton?

The phrase Egyptian cotton originally meant high quality fabric from Egypt, however today the term is sometimes used for similar fabric from other countries. Egyptian cotton has become a more generic term that doesn't necessarily guarantee country of origin. Today the name is used for certain varieties of cotton with extra-long staples (ELS), regardless of which country it actually comes from. It can also be used to describe any cotton from Egypt, even that with short staples; so for the best quality look for ELS Egyptian cotton.

It's these long staples that make Egyptian cotton so desirable; it actually becomes softer after a few washes, as the material absorbs the water and fluffs up. This softening also makes it a popular material for bath towels and bathrobes as well as bed linen such as sheets. The long staples also help it to absorb dye better with the potential for more vibrant, lasting colours. Egyptian cotton bed linen such as sheets usually has a thread count in the range of 500 to 1500.

If you want to be sure that your Egyptian cotton set does indeed come from Egypt, look out for the special logo introduced from 2001: a triangular pyramid with a white cotton plant inside.


The Egyptian Cotton logo is trademark of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Trade and the Alexandria Cotton Exporters' Association.