Cotton is a staple fabric spun from the fibers of cotton plants. People around the world have been cultivating it for thousands of years. One of the earliest bits of cotton is at least 7,000 years old and was found in Mexico. In Egypt and Pakistan, people were weaving cotton thread into clothing in 3,000 BC. And in the 18th century, the British first found a way to spin cotton into textile with machinery.

Unlike cotton sheets, the strength of linen lies in its loose weave. Because flax has its own structure, there is little need for densely knit threads to produce a smooth fabric. As such, linen never depends on thread count as a measure of quality. Most linen fabrics have a thread count of around 80 – 150, a much lower range than cotton sheets.