Great, Sleep-Changing Sheets Don't Need to Cost $1,000 or More

You can't put a price on a good night's sleep, although there are certainly brands out there that will try to charge you thousands for a mattress and sheets. With the plethora of mattress startups gaining traction out there (Casper, Wright, Sapira, Helix), we thought we'd test out a sheet from one of the original American startups led by women, Peacock Alley. Mary Ella Gabler, who was one of the first female stockbrokers on Wall Street in the 60s, founded the luxurious bedding company in 1973. Peacock Alley was named after the Waldorf Astoria's restaurant, where she use to take business meetings. Today, the brand is ran by her sons, Josh and Jason Needleman, in Dallas.

Bed sheets typically come in three fabrics: the popular cotton percale, sateen, and fancy silk. Often, shoppers will go directly to check the thread count, but a high thread count doesn't necessarily mean the sheets are the softest or most comfortable. "I think we should just stress the importance of the finest cotton, long-staple yarns that our mills are using, vs. Egyptian, pima, etc," explained Mary Ella Gabler. "We use very high-quality cotton that is also an extra-long staple. This means it has less of a chance of breakage and pilling when cared for properly." Cecile B. Corral, a senior editor at Home & Textiles Today, added: "Long-staple cotton is the finest for sheet making. Sheets woven of long-staple cotton are softer and more durable, and those qualities only improve over time,"