So, why would you choose Tencel bed sheets over a cheaper fabric like polyester or cotton?

Let’s start with the cheap stuff! Polyester (ugh!)

Otherwise known as Microfibre in reference to bed sheets, polyester is extracted from petroleum and is a synthetic fibre. It is classified as a plastic for the sake of production as uses the same creation method used to make plastic bottles, car seat belts, reinforcement for car tyres and furniture varnish. It is made from a chemical reaction between coal, petroleum, air and water.

Polyester is cheap to produce and has excellent tensile strength but the main downsides are:

• its lack of biodegradability

Polyester is very resistant to natural bacteria and does not break down in nature. Even when broken down artificially, it will break down in to micro plastics which will pollute the environment and are hazardous to human and animal health. These microplastics will also leach into the waterways during the washing cycle.

• The dye used can be toxic to humans and the environment

Polyester is a water resistant fabric so non-water soluble dyes need to be used. Azo dyes used to colour polyester fabric can leach into the environment during washing and traces can leach into your body when polyester comes in contact with your skin. Dyes are one of the major sources of toxic chemical exposure and allergic reactions and make up two thirds of all synthetic dyes.

• It’s creation method uses vast amounts of fossil fuels

As previously stated, polyester is created from coal, petrol, air and water. Tencel is created from Eucalyptus wood for comparison.

And what about Cotton?

Cotton’s time in production (it has been used for clothing since 3000 B.C) is a big factor in why it is such a widely used fabric.

Some downsides to cotton production are:

• There’s a high amount of pesticides and water used to grow Cotton plants

Cotton crops need pesticides to grow commercially. In fact, 16% of all global insecticide release is due to cotton production. Tencel’s Eucalyptus trees are grown without the use of pesticides.

• Confusing (and dodgy!) thread count marketing

Higher thread count cotton fabrics (long staple, Pima, Supima) come in at the top end of the price scale but as we’ve covered in a previous blog, marketing tactics usually mean that you’re not getting the quality that you paid for.

• Organic cotton is unregulated in some countries and requires more water and land to produce than conventional cotton

Not everything is rosy in the world of organic cotton. Organic just means that no pesticides are used but more water, labour and land is required to grow organic cotton crops. It’s a relatively unregulated industry and as one industry source puts it, there’s more organic cotton being sold than produced, so there’s no guarantee what your paying for is genuinely organic cotton.

Why Tencel then?

Needless to say that we love Tencel, hence why we chose it for our bed sheet sets. The main benefits of Tencel are:

• Tencel’s production process is sustainable and circular

The production process of Tencel recycles 99.7% of all the water and organic solvent used in creating Tencel fibres. Tencel has a much lower CO2 footprint than other fabrics and is already produced under Carbon Neutral settings (due to Carbon offset projects) with an aim to be completely carbon neutral by 2050.

• Tencel’s fabric features are above that of Cotton

Tencel is softer, stronger and more durable than cotton. It also has stronger colour retention.

• Tencel has more oversight and is more regulated than cotton

The level of oversight and regulation adds to the production cost (and therefore the retail cost) of Tencel but also means that you’re getting what you paid for, unlike other fabrics. Tencel is created by only the one company, Lenzing of Austria, which means oversight, regulation and certification is much easier and more straightforward than other fabrics that are produced by many different companies.

So, there you have it!

These are all the reasons we’ve committed to Tencel as our main fabric. We hope you love it as much as we do!