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?

Yes, percale vs linen is equivalent to lemons vs watermelons. Then there are the various issues attendant to each. Percale is a weave. But the type of cotton used to make them and the place of manufacture are the difference in price and quality. All percale today will be imported. Countries of manufacture are most often China for anything accessibly priced. There are outliers, of course, but this is generally true. Portugal and Italy manufacture the highest quality percale sheets today, with Italy doing the highest end sheeting. Linen sheeting comes from Belgium, France and Ireland mainly. Where it's manufactured also ranges from China to Italy and there is some linen sheeting made in the USA by artisanal ranges like Rough Linen and Linoto, principally. Sheets have become an investment. But they are a necessity. I think it's a good idea to buy extra pillowcases, which always can be used, and test. I say test because you don't really know what cotton percale or linen sheeting will feel like until they have been washed at least 12-20 times. The reason is the finishing agents used. Until those are completely out of the fabric you don't know what it feels like. With low-end percale if you feel a little prickly sensation, that's because the cotton fibers are shorter and there are more ends. That's why the Italian-made percale is so expensive -- it's done with the longer fiber cotton and over time feels like silk. A sheet retailer I spoke to believes that the cotton used for sheets is the single most important component. It's important to do a little googling when coming across something like Thomas Lee's "Perfectcale," or Wamsutta "supercale" which is are marketing term, not types of cotton or weaves. There are American cotton industry websites that explain cotton and its history quite well and also explain the quality differences. But the reality is that is no way to verify cotton origin or quality when you actually buy it. You'd need to send sheets to a test lab for that. The best analogy I can give for this is a white cotton shirt. Older ones that must be ironed get very soft and smooth over time. Anyone going with percale needs to accept that it must be ironed or low dried then hand smoothed -- this is not "wash n wear" bedding. Anyone who wants no -wrinkle bedding should be looking at synthetic blends, not spending for classic percale or linen. Anyone going with linen needs to accept that it's going to dry more quickly but will also take some manipulation and a lot of time to soften up. At it's best, linen also should be ironed which will make it stiff initially. Practicalities with beds also come into play. I remember the time before fitted bottom sheets. I'm not going there again. I cannot stand a messy, rumpled bed. I don't want to remake the bottom sheet daily. Some don't find this. It's just takes awareness of the choice. Aside from that sheets are hit and miss today. The reason is that retailers may not keep the same sourcing over time. There is inadequate information given by retailers either because they don't know or the don't want to disclose. OTOH, most people have no idea what they are buying and even reading the range of reviews makes it difficult to tell. A negative review from someone complaining that percale rumples and isn't smooth out of the dryer is worthless. One reviewer says the sheets are wonderful and smooth; another says they are like sandpaper. That can be individual perception or a change of supplier. No way to know. So welcome to the great game of bed linen roulette. This link to Making Sense of Buying Bed Sheets may be helpful.

Springmaid also made 100% cotton percale USA made. Yes they needed ironed. I do not like cotton/poly blends. They may not need ironed but they don't feel the same as the old USA made cotton sheets. Its my experience that the cotton poly blend sheets in todays market can be found on the cheap everywhere and frankly I wouldn't want them for any price. They feel like the synthetic they are made of, they hold soil and odors, and they pill. Was yesteryears like this? I've always used all cotton, but I iron mine and have no problem ironing. I would be the last to complain about cotton wrinkling LOL. Of course it wrinkles. This is why grandma and mom took them off the line and ironed them.

I got a set from West Elm. Loved the linen, but holes wore in the fitted sheet in just over a year. Got a new fitted sheet from Rough Linen which seems thicker. 8 months in still loving it. We’ll see how it holds up.