Agree! I grew up with Wamsutta 300 TC percale sheets and they were great! I continued to buy them through my young adulthood and then the brand disappeared from department store shelves. The brand ended up at Bed Bath and Beyond and are no where near the quality they used to be. Then I discovered Ralph Lauren (RL) sheets who for many years offered 300 TC sheets which were great, but now I can't find those. I heard he moved his bedding operations from wherever they were before to India and the quality went down. I'm hanging onto my current batch of 300 TC Italian fabric RL sheets which I bought at Macy's for a reasonable price and which are almost 9 years old. I recently bought Matouk Sierra sheets and was disappointed mostly because the bottom fitted sheet has too much slack in it. They are pretty wrinkled too. BTW, the Matouk sheets don't come close to the smooth crisp feeling of the old Wamsutta or RL sheets. What has happened to the sheet industry? Are countries not growing enough cotton anymore? Is there a shortage of textile manufacturers?

Speaking of soap, that reminds me, I love the cheapy Jergen's bar soap. It is kind of hard to find though, I buy mine at Marc's. Walgreen's has it too I think. Cannot be found at Walmart or Target etc which is strange to me. I'm very allergic to bar soaps and don't like the sort that leave a oily feel/film on my skin such as Dove. I'll use Jergen's bar soap for as long as they continue to sell it. I also love Dr. Bronner's baby liquid soap, it's fragrance free. I used it as a body wash with a scrubby. I cannot use it on my hair though as it eats it up, my hair is very fine and it is turns it to straw. The damage is lasting too until it grows out! So use caution when washing your hair with it, I would not suggest it for hair honestly.

This thread has been mind-blowing! First, you are an amazing host and I hope you get some time to recuperate now. Second, the whole "it was too much trouble to find my bra" just simply blows my mind. I can't imagine traveling anywhere, for two or twenty-two days, without all the appropriate underwear. Socks? I'm diabetic so I pack two pair for every day, plus extras. Bloomers? Two pair for every day, plus extras. Bustenhalters? At least one for every day plus a couple back-ups. Laundry bag to keep the worn items in for their trip to a washer? Yes! I don't have a lot of clothes; I don't have expensive or fashionable clothes. I do have clean, comfortable, respectable clothes. I do have a well stocked unmentionables dresser. Life is too short to run out of clean socks or extra changes of everything. I have borrowed sweaters. I have borrowed jackets, and once I even borrowed a pair of full-length evening gloves. I have never imagined borrowing a bra. If laundry facilities are easily available; I take 7-10 days worth of undies. I wear simple, basic, mostly cotton items. Nothing I travel with is too delicate to not just toss in a washer. Cotton diabetic socks in either white or light grey; cotton comfortable unmentionables; and mostly cotton, slip-on running bras. IF I have to be dressed up a bit more I will pack one of those under-wired, molded, torture devices with the snaps and buckles and itchy lace - and usually opt to stick to the comfy but supportive running bras. I love the silky, lace items, but not for travel. And for what I'd have to pay for a top-of-the-line fancy bra, I can get four, or more, of my running bras. Is it really "normal" or "average" or whatever the correct term is to have only one or two bras and wear one more than once before laundering? I know I'm too sweaty to get away with that.

online shopping is doing strange things to what employees in stores are told to do. I like to talk to them about what the company insists will keep stores going. Online shopping is superior for most people but I don't want the kind of warehouse semi slavery that bezos has created for Amazon and that is the future for those employees if things keep on as they are. The attempt to survive and make profits, fabrics get thinner and cheaper. Clothes are discarded after a short time so that they must be replaced. A typical garment sewer in Los Angeles makes 4-5 dollars an hour or less if they don't get paid which happens frequently. Mostly it's Korean run sewing rooms using Latino sewers. I shop the garment district fabric wholesalers that supply these sewing rooms. It's all the same fabrics used in the clothes everywhere from high priced to low. Stuff coming in from China is exactly the same but sells for half the price. Race to the bottom. As long as people buy it, nothing will change. I sew for myself and many times I buy something inexpensive and take it apart to make a pattern so i can use better cloth. Some of the better quilting cottons make beautiful shirts. Qualitymen's shirts can be cut down as well. Menswear seems to be made to last. I think they view women as discarding clothes and replacing them as compared to men. Silk knits are very nice and soft and don't shed. I do love angora sweaters though shedding and all. Acrylic is super soft but pills right away so I never get that if it's blended with wool. Linen is my favorite. Its cool, it lasts, it's classic. It wrinkles.........can't have everything.