Why, you ask?
Cotton is one of the world's 'dirtiest' crops. It covers 2.5% of the cultivated land in the world, yet uses 25% of the world's insecticides, which is more than any other crop. On top of that, the particular insecticides that are used are very dangerous and produce toxic cotton. The farmers who grow this cotton find it wreaking havoc on their bodies.
“Aldicarb, cotton’s second best selling insecticide and most acutely poisonous to humans, can kill a man with just one drop absorbed through the skin, yet it is still used in 25 countries and the US, where 16 states have reported it in their groundwater.” (Source)
We spend over a third of our lives in bed, sleeping, watching Gilmore Girls and eating chips (or is that just me?), pretending you don't actually have school today, or complaining about your man-cold.
So if you are trying to reduce toxins in your home, your bedding is an important aspect to consider.
Now, I know what you are thinking. Really, I do! You, like me, are worried about how much these sheets cost. Am I right? I was too. If you have ever researched organic sheets, you would have discovered that they can be pretty expensive. Which doesn't exactly entice my student budget, if you know what I mean. But I used my Christmas money and THEN made a great find too. This great find is what I want to share with all of you today.
The sheets are 325 thread count, which is really high since organic cotton is softer and 250-350 is about the same as an 800 thread count regular sheet. And let me tell you, these sheets are SO soft. They just get softer with every wash. I still get excited to go to bed every night because I love them so much ;)
They are GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified, and even though it doesn't say so on their website, the GOTS logo is on the actual package of sheets.
I do have a few small criticisms though. While the sheets are organic, I'm not sure about the dye. I mean, the white ones are very white...which leads me to think they have probably been bleached. This is one thing you do miss out on because of the price point, I think. The second problem I had with these sheets was when I initially purchased the steel blue-ish coloured ones. I originally bought white for home and blue for school and when I opened them, I found that the label on the white sheets read "100% organic cotton," while the one on the blue sheets just said "100% cotton." This, paired with the fact that they felt different, led me to question if they really were organic. I called the company, and a nice lady talked to me and sent in a report to the "labelling specialist" (whatever that is) and said I should hear back in a week, max. I still haven't heard from them, and called back 2 weeks later and the same lady said her report had not gotten a response yet. If I ever hear back, I will edit this post, but I doubt I will. In the end, I went back and exchanged the sheets because I knew it would just keep bothering me. I don't know if this is a common thing, but a friend of mine had the same blue sheets and the label read the same way (we purchased them in different stores, about an hour and a half apart). Anyways, I am very happy with the ones I have now, and I have no idea what that was about, they may have just labelled them differently or something.
Regardless, I love these sheets, they are pretty affordable, and they are one simple thing you can switch in your home to make it just a little bit healthier.
Some other information/sources:
Mary Crimmins discusses her top 5 contenders for organic sheets (ranked by price)
Organic Trade Association's discussion on organic cotton
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