Sloth London Bamboo Bedding Set review: These sheets are my heroes on a hot night

Telegraph

5 days ago

Score: 9/10
We like:
Soft, breathable material
Fast drying
Easy to iron
Keep you cool in hot weather
We don't like:
The fabric feels quite thin
What is the Sloth London Bamboo Bedding Set?
The Sloth London Bamboo Bedding Set is made from 100 per cent bamboo. Bamboo bedding is gaining popularity for several reasons. It is more sustainable than fabrics like polyester, as bamboo grows quickly and requires fewer resources. It is also hypoallergenic, moisture-wicking, temperature-regulating and antibacterial. Appealing properties all year round, but especially welcome in warm weather.
Sloth London is a small, independent UK brand. This set is available in double, king and super king sizes. Prices start at £105 for a double duvet set, which includes a fitted sheet and two pillows. While this places it at the luxury end of the wider bedding market, it is mid-range for bamboo sheets, which tend to come at a premium. You can also buy a separate set of pillowcases for £25.
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How we test bamboo bed sheets
To help you navigate buying sheets online, I slept in each of the seven bamboo sets for at least a week, washing them three times. I used the Sloth London Bamboo Bedding Set the most, with four weeks of use and six washes so far. I had planned to pass it on to friends, but I loved it so much, especially in the warmer weather, that I kept it.
When I wasn't sleeping, I judged the sets based on comfort, design, breathability, ease of care and fabric quality. I paid particular attention to how cool they kept me when the temperature rose, and whether I stayed warm when it dropped. As a busy working parent, I was also interested in whether they needed ironing.
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Comfort
Score: 10/10
I am a warm sleeper and dislike sheets that feel too synthetic. Bamboo bedding often has a shiny, silky finish but not this one. The Sloth London set is cotton-soft with a matte feel.
I'd never owned a full matching set before and it made a real difference. The sheets kept me cool and comfortable from all sides. They didn't rustle, didn't make me sweat and didn't slide off in the night. My sleep wasn't disturbed once. They didn't just avoid getting in the way, they genuinely improved my sleeping experience. I slept well every night I used them.
Design
Score: 9/10
The Sloth London Bamboo Bedding Set has a minimalist look. It comes in plain white or with a choice of contrasting navy, grey, yellow, mint or peach piping. This makes the set look more interesting while still keeping it understated. The pillowcases have shallow pockets underneath, holding the pillow in place without buttons.
As someone who normally finds their fitted sheet has come loose on at least one corner by mid-week, I was impressed with the bottom sheet. I tested a king-size set and the elastic corners kept it perfectly tight on my double bed.
The duvet cover has plastic buttons with wood-effect finish. Wooden ones might have been nicer from a sustainability angle, but these still look premium. I liked that the buttons sit on the underside of the duvet cover as opposed to the end, tucking them out of sight.
Breathability
Score: 10/10
As a warm sleeper, I'm always on alert when the temperature hits 25C. But even during this summer's hottest nights, I never woke up feeling sweaty or too hot. I used the sheets both with a duvet and without from spring through to summer and the same applied.
With a toddler who isn't keen on sleeping, I'm in and out of bed a lot. Every time I returned to bed, the sheets felt crisp and cooling, helping me to resettle into my next window of sleep. As the material is thin and soft, it never felt like it was clinging to my skin. When it's warm, my sheets feel sweaty by day three, but this set didn't even feel dirty after a week. They retained that first-day freshness right up until their next wash.
Score: 9/10
Sloth London recommends washing these sheets at 30C. I was concerned that the peach piping might run slightly during washing but that hasn't been the case.
I don't have a tumble dryer, and my main gripe with my cotton bedding is that it takes it a while to dry. Although it's not recommended to tumble dry bamboo sheets, I wouldn't have needed to with these. It took half the time of my cotton sheets to dry this set. On a warm day they were ready to go back in the airing cupboard after an hour on the washing line.
I have washed these six times now and found that if I hang them up on the line on a day with a light wind, I can get away without ironing them. On the occasions where they are too creased to pass, they are easy to iron either on a steam setting or without.
Fabric
You will notice that the material is thin straight away. It's so thin that you can see the edging and labels of my Simba pillow through it. Don't let that put you off though. If you can look beyond this, you'll reap the breathability and ease of drying benefits of this bamboo set that I have already mentioned.
The fabric composition is 100 per cent bamboo rayon and has been OEKO-TEX certified. This certification shows that it has been produced in socially responsible workplaces and tested to ensure it does not contain harmful substances. Bamboo rayon is created by extracting cellulose from the bamboo and spinning this into fibres. It is technically a man-made fabric created from natural resources.
Technical specifications
The Sloth London Bamboo Bedding Set achieved impressive scores in testing, but there are other independent bamboo bedding brands worth considering too. We have compared the specs against Panda London's bamboo offerings.
Should you buy the Sloth London Bamboo Bedding Set?
I had to mark these sheets down due to how thin the fabric was and the limited choice of colours available, but otherwise, these sheets are as close to a 10/10 as I think you will get. It is a soft, comfortable bedding set that will keep warm sleepers cool in all weathers and washes brilliantly.
Yes, if:
You are a naturally warm sleeper who wants to feel cool
You are looking for soft, high-quality sheets
You are interested in the eco-credentials of bamboo fabric
No, if:
You get cold in the night
You don't like white sheets
Sloth London Bamboo Bedding Set FAQS
What temperature should you wash them on?
Sloth London recommends washing its bedding at 30C, preferably on a delicate wash. They do not specify the need to use a particular washing detergent. The bedding should be line dried, but if you need to tumble dry, do so on a cool and low setting.
Is bamboo better than cotton?
If sustainability is important to you, bamboo bedding has its benefits, as the fast growing plant requires less water for cultivation than cotton. However, transforming the raw bamboo into a textile involves chemical processing.
Bamboo duvet covers and sheets are also generally more expensive, with their durability somewhat unproven in comparison to cotton ones. Both cotton and bamboo are breathable and can help regulate your temperature. Bamboo tends to feel silkier, so it is also down to personal preference on texture.
What are the advantages of bamboo?
Bamboo fibres are hypoallergenic, moisture-wicking and anti-bacterial. They can also help to regulate your temperature for a cool and comfortable night's sleep. Bamboo bedding currently tends to be available from smaller brands that are OEKO-TEX certified, which brings the benefits of knowing it has been made in responsible workplaces and tested to ensure it does not contain harmful substances. Bamboo is also fast and efficient to grow, making this a good sustainable option too, especially compared to plastic-based fabrics like polyester.