There’s nothing like slipping into cool sheets in the evening or bundling up in a fluffy towel after a brisk shower. From bathrobes to blankets, consumers prize cotton for its softness, comfort, and hypoallergenic properties 1. And over half of consumers are shopping at least annually to replace existing textiles or add a new color or style into their rotation 2. Recent data suggests that, even as trends change and synthetic fabrics hit the market, consumer preferences do not. A whopping 64 percent of people prefer sheets made of cotton and 75 percent prefer cotton bath towels 2. They also think cotton offers advantages when it comes to overall quality, durability and sustainability.
We’re seeing sustained and expanding interest in cotton as customers learn more about microplastics and the effects they may have on human health. Research studies have established that the ingestion of microplastics, which serve as a foundation to assess human health risks 3, highlight the growing need for biodegradable alternatives. Natural materials are key for these concerned customers. “In the case of home textiles, cotton has long been that gold standard,” said Marcy Gang, Home Executive Account Manager of Cotton Incorporated. “Savvy brands in this space will do well to not only consider cotton, but to also explore new fabric technology applications that can help with moisture and stand up to frequent laundering.” Answering consumer demand for 100% cotton in sheets, bedding and towels means first understanding their needs and wants. The Cotton Incorporated 2024 Global Home Textiles Survey suggests that quality (80 percent of respondents) and softness (78 percent of respondents) are top of mind when it comes to sheets, closely followed by how long they’ll last, if they’ll hold odor, their durability to laundering, and of course, price. Bedding and towels follow the same general response pattern with quality and softness being the top two considerations in those categories, at 76 and 75 percent respectively for bedding, and 79 and 77 percent for towels. To that end, Cotton Incorporated has made investments in fabric technologies that answer consumer needs. Recently developed RESTech COTTON™ technology is a performance sheeting solution that enhances cotton’s inherent thermo-regulating properties while providing increased moisture management. It outperforms rayon sheets in durability tests 4, while maintaining its appearance and feel over time. Additionally, the technology was developed to be 40 percent softer than untreated cotton sheets 5.
“Cotton is a well-known, relatively affordable option that’s been around forever. Customers have a lot of faith in the product because it’s what their parents bought, what their grandparents bought … there’s trust there. At the same time, we find that younger consumers are seeing what’s on the market, and that they’re willing to pay a bit more for a product that’s high quality yet all natural, especially when it comes to something as intimate as bedding and bath towels,” stated Gang. “Choosing cotton is an investment in their comfort and their health.”
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Footnotes:
- Cotton Incorporated. (2019). Determination of the irritating and sensitizing propensities of mechanically cleaned and purified cotton on human skin (Clinical trial, N = 200).
- Cotton Incorporated’s 2024 Global Home Textiles Survey, conducted on December 30-31, 2024 among N=7,163 consumers in China, Germany, Mexico, U.K., and U.S.
- Kala Senathirajah, Simon Attwood, Geetika Bhagwat, Maddison Carbery, Scott Wilson, Thava Palanisami (2021). Estimation of the mass of microplastics ingested – A pivotal first step towards human health risk assessment, Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 404
- Flex Abrasion testing for wovens: ASTM D3885. 20HLTD on Sateen Sheeting
- Internal Cotton Incorporated method using the Emtec TSA Softness Analyzer. 20HLTD on Sateen and Percale Sheeting