Are bedding sales even real? How to spot a good deal from a real fake

Between the federal holiday discounts and the site-specific deals, you'd be forgiven for thinking that bedding is always on sale. If you know when and where to shop, you could save hundreds of dollars on sheets and shams. With so much on the market for so little, it's getting harder to spot the difference between a good deal and a real fake. 

The best bedding should look good, feel soft, wash well, and lie beautifully on the bed, but it won't come cheap. Even during sales season, I'd expect to spend between $50 and $150 on a set of the best bed sheets that meet my sleep needs. Much lower than $50, and you're getting a low price on a poor product. 

Before you can work out how much you should spend on sheets, it helps to understand the time, money, and effort that goes into making the best bedding. That's why I asked Parima Ijaz, the founder and CEO of luxury bedding brand Pure Parima, to take us through her production process, plus get her tips on what to look for when shopping the sales. 

Should I shop the bedding sales?

As a bedding designer and the brains behind her business, Parima can tell us why it's so important to invest in the best bedding, what happens when you're caught out by a bad deal, and how to be smart as you shop the bedding sales. 

Parima Ijaz

Parima is the founder of Pure Parima, the luxury bedding brand that prides itself on accessible pricing. As a bedding designer, the face of a company, and the brains behind a business, Parima is perfectly placed to tell us what makes good bedding, and just how much we should prepare to spend.

Along the way, I've picked out a few of my favorite deals from trusted vendors to help you shop responsibly. Whether you're shopping for Egyptian cotton sheets, cooling or cozy comforters, or soft and supportive pillows, I've got you covered.

Why is bedding so expensive?

Whether you're refurbishing a bedroom, refreshing your linen closet, or picking up a few extra pieces, you'll know that bedding can be seriously expensive. To get a good set of sheets, the best pillow, and the best comforter, all at once, you should prepare to spend several hundred dollars. That might sound like a lot of money, but that's the price you have to pay for premium materials, expert craftsmanship, and international shipping. 

To help us understand why bedding costs as much as it does, I asked Parima to explain her expenses at each stage of production. Let's start with materials. Pure Parima works with Egyptian cotton, which is hard to source and certify. Parima says that, 'as a manufacturer, you have to be prepared to make a high bid for the fabric you want, because there are so many other companies that want Egyptian cotton, too.' 

Once Parima secures her fabric, she sends it to the factory, so that artisan weavers can fashion the fibers into smooth and sumptuous sheets. 'The cost of the factories and living wages for our workers constantly fluctuates, and mostly goes up,' she notes. Then, there's the cost of shipping to consider, as well as the cost of advertisements to sell the products. The list goes on, and the cost adds up. 

As a bedding designer and a businesswoman, Parima has to find ways to keep her prices reasonable without compromising quality or cutting corners. 'I believe a brand has nothing but quality,' she declares: 'if you don't stock top-quality products, nothing else matters.' 

That goes for us as consumers, too. While you could pick up a cheap set of polyester sheets in the bedding sales, you would be forsaking quality for the worst bed sheet material. Polyester traps heat and stifles hot sleepers. It wears out in the washing machine, and it's terrible for the environment. When you invest in quality bedding, instead, you're spending a hundred dollars now to save spending thousands on cheap replacements. You're even doing the planet a favor while you're at it. 

Why is it so important to invest in bedding?

'Just as you would spend money on a coat that would keep you warm all winter, you should prepare to invest in bedding that helps you to sleep better at night,' says Parima. We should all try to learn how to sleep better: good sleep makes such a difference to our health, well-being, and productivity.

When you shop the bedding sales, it's tempting to buy now and think later – but if you really want to find the best bedding, you need to ascertain your sleep needs. Ask yourself whether you tend to sleep hot or cold; whether you live in a warm, cool, or temperate climate; and whether you suffer from allergies or struggle to sleep when you're stressed. 

From there, you can find bedding that's tailored to your specific situation. For example, hot sleepers should search for the best cooling sheets, while anyone who lives in a colder climate should look for the best warm comforter. When you shop smart, you can take advantage of deals and discounts and still get the right product at the end of it. Parima says that the best bedding is like a tailored suit: 'the fit and feel is so much better.' 

Parima thinks that the best bedding is made from cotton. 'Cotton is king, and it always will be,' she declares: 'it's natural, renewable, and sustainable. It's thermoregulating for hot sleepers and hypoallergenic for sensitive sleepers.' Now, there are lots of different bed sheet types, and you might not be quite as keen on cotton as Parima. You might want something lighter, or something with a little more texture. Below, I've rounded up a few of the best deals on a range of fabrics and finishes. Set by specialist sleep stores, these are discounts you can trust. 

What happens when you get a bad deal on bedding?

Securing the best fabrics and the best weavers is a painstaking process. It takes a lot of time, money, and effort that not every manufacturer is willing to spend. That's when they start cutting corners lowering their prices to lure you in.

You might remember the scandal surrounding Welspun Textiles. If not, here are the headlines: Welspun Textiles supplied some of our biggest home retailers with Egyptian cotton that turned out not to be Egyptian cotton at all, but a blend of inferior fabrics. Millions of customers were mis-sold. You could no longer be sure exactly what you were sleeping on: whether your bedding contained harmful chemicals, or whether it had been worth the price you paid for it.

All this happened before Parima owned Pure Parima: when she was still a Political Science major, incensed by the injustice of the case and the apathy of the manufacturers. As a budding businesswoman, it made her realize that 'we need to stop looking at the short-term gain and start thinking for the long-term'. 

That's just as important for us as consumers. As we shop the bedding sales, we need to resist the immediate dopamine hit of getting a deal and focus on finding the right bedding at the fairest price. 

How should shoppers approach the bedding sales?

As you shop the bedding sales, it pays to keep your wits about you. I'd hesitate to purchase from a store that's always running discounts for no apparent reason. To me, that indicates that their bedding isn't really worth the full price. 

The best time to buy bedding is the same as the best time to buy a mattress: as part of a site-wide sale to make space for new products or as part of the federal holiday discounts. In the bedding business, you tend to see the biggest discounts on Black Friday, Presidents' Day, and Memorial Day, which is right around the corner.

Check before you click that you're buying quality bedding. Look out for that little OEKO-TEX badge that proves your products are free from harmful chemicals and toxins and don't buy Egyptian cotton if you can't see the Cotton Egypt Association seal of approval. 

To save you time and money, I've rounded up a few more of my favorite deals on the best bedding, including thermoregulating comforters and supportive sleep pillows. These might not be the deepest discounts, but it goes to show that you can still bag the best bedding at a bargain price.

Final thoughts

Once you've invested in a good set of bedding, it's important to take care of it. Make sure to avoid these bedding laundry mistakes to get the most out of your product and maintain a clean sleep environment. 

You might be on a mission to upgrade your sleep for less. Now that you've invested in premium bedding, it might be worth shopping the mattress sales to find your perfect match. I've outlined all the pros and cons of memory foam, hybrids, and innersprings to help you decide: which mattress should I buy?