The best bedding sets are expensive. Have you ever wondered why high-quality sheets and duvets cost so much? The answer has a lot to do with the raw cost of materials and there isn’t much that manufacturers can do to reduce the price.

The bedding set in the picture is all cotton. The sheets are a classic white percale, while the duvet and pillow case covers are a seafoam green.

The colour palette reflects bright sunlight like an ocean wave, creating a coastal oasis during the summer. The duvet and pillow case covers have subtle silver tones that reflect a mist-like sheen in winter light, making the room sparkle with a winter wonderland feel during the darker months of the year.

The price of affordable luxury sheet sets

Even affordable luxury brands price basic white cotton sheets in the hundreds of dollars. And most of these aspirational brands offer very few colourful or embellished options. If you buy basic sets, you’ll give your bedroom a hotel-like ambience that can be perfect for a guest room.

We looked at the current price for a few well-known bedding startups. The following quotes are for a set of white cotton percale queen sheets with matching duvet and pillow case covers.

• Boll & Branch – $279 sheet set, $349 duvet set, $628 total

• Brooklinen ® – $199 sheet set, $248 duvet set, $447 total

• Parachute Home – $269 sheet set, $299 duvet set, $568 total

• Snowe Home – $269 sheet set, $253 duvet cover, $200 pillow covers, $722 total

The takeaway? You can expect to pay around $600 to outfit a queen bed with basic white sheets. By comparison, the colourful designer sheets in the photo were priced at $668 total.

The cost of raw fiber

So, why are the designer sheets priced at $668, while the affordable luxury sheets are also priced around $600? Let’s look at how much of the price is being driven by the amount of cotton in the sheets.

The designer sheet and duvet set in the picture weighs 7.5 pounds. A pound of raw organic cotton in the US costs about $1 before any processing. The raw cotton goes through several transformations to turn into bedding.

• Raw organic cotton is spun into white cotton thread

• White cotton thread is woven into white cotton fabric

• White cotton fabric is sewn into sheets

• Sheets are packaged for sales and marketing

As a back-of-the-envelope calculation, with each transformation to create high-quality linens, the cost of raw cotton doubles-to-quadruples. This means that $1 per pound of raw cotton can have a cost of close to $64 per pound by the time it is turned into salable bedding.

How much is 7.5 pounds of cotton worth at $64 per pound? A whopping $480! In other words, if your sheets are priced below $500, you’re probably not buying the most premium fabric.

You might not be able to cut corners in your budget on your bedding. But, you can sleep soundly at night feeling great about the price of your sheets.

Learn more about shopping for linens here.