The common perception is that the higher the thread count, then the finer and better quality is the fabric for use as bed linen. But this is not necessarily the case, and is increasingly being recognized as “The great Italian thread count myth”. 

The process of weaving entails interlocking threads at right angles, and the resulting friction which each intersection produces ensures that the fabric holds together. It logically follows that the more intersections in a given area of fabric, then the more friction is created and the longer that cloth will last in laundering.

A plain weave fabric is the simplest form of construction where each yarn is intertwined ‘one up and one down’ over the next – see figure la below. In a plain weave where the number of threads per inch in the warp and weft directions is, say, 100 per inch, then the ‘Thread Count’ is defined as 200 per square inch (100 in the warp plus 100 in the weft) , and the total number of intersections is 10,000 per square inch (100 in the warp x 100 in the weft= 10,000 per square inch). A plain weave fabric is shown in figure lb. 

For sheeting fabrics, where durability is an important characteristic, then it follows that fabrics with higher densities of intersections will be more suitable cloths. 

By using longer staple cottons, it is possible to spin and produce thinner yarns. However, as the thickness of the yarn reduces so does its tensile strength and efficiency in weaving. When these thin yarns are used, then the thread count of a plain weave cloth can be increased as more ends and picks are inserted into each inch of the fabric. But in practice, the highest construction achievable using single yarns is around 262 per square inch – if we insert more than 131 threads per inch in the warp or weft, then the threads are so thin that they break frequently under the stress in a commercial weaving loom and it becomes uneconomic to produce this construction. 

As a result, the highest density of intersections achievable in a 100% cotton plain weave cloth is around 17,000 per square inch ( 131 in the warp x 131 in the weft= 17,161), and this fabric should be the most durable as the friction created by over seventeen thousand crossings of yarns in every square inch is helping to hold the cloth together. 

Unfortunately ‘Thread Count’ has become the buzz word for defining sheeting cloths worldwide over the past ten years. But a higher thread count cloth does not necessarily mean a more durable fabric. As we have seen above, the longer lasting fabrics are those with the higher densities of intersections, which is not necessarily the same as higher thread counts. 

Driven by marketing and hysteria over ‘thread counts’, manufacturers have been forced to supply and deliver sheeting cloths to the retailer with higher and higher thread counts, but in many cases these products are not longer lasting and are less durable than their existing lower thread count products. Manufacturers have justified increases in quoted thread counts in one of two ways, of a combination of both.