As a hot sleeper (no matter the season), the Parachute Percale Venice Bedding Set sounded like my perfect cure. I need to sleep with some sort of cover or blanket, but my sale-rack sheet sets tend to leave me overheated halfway through the night. Sure, I could just blast my air conditioner 24/7, but that’s hardly eco-friendly. To see if the Parachute Percale Venice Bedding Set was my end-all, be-all cure to overheated slumber, I tested the set for a week. Read on to see how my experiment went.
Material and Thread Count: 100 percent long-staple cotton
The Parachute Percale Venice Bedding Set is made with 100 percent long-staple Egyptian and Turkish cotton fibers, which are known for being soft and durable. Like all of the best percale sheets, this set also has a crisp and cool feel—and that’s not just marketing speak. These sheets actually feel cool to the touch, and they stay crisp and clean after multiple nights of sleep. Parachute’s sheets are also Oeko-Tex certified, which means they don’t contain any chemicals that could be harmful to your health. The Parachute Percale Venice Bedding Set comes in white, sand, powder blue, light grey, slate, blush, and navy. You can mix and match colors to customize your bedding, as well. Parachute notoriously omits thread-count information—a common measure of sheet quality—saying it’s not as important as many bedding manufacturers would like us to believe. Despite the missing thread count, these sheets feel like they’re straight out of a luxury hotel.
Weave: Cozy and breathable percale
As we’ve established, I get uncomfortably hot when I sleep—even in winter. That’s why I was drawn to the promises of Parachute’s Percale Venice Set in the first place. Surprisingly, it lived up to every expectation in terms of breathability. I slept on the sheets during a particularly hot summer week and in the same conditions I usually do—fan going with light air conditioning—but this time, I stayed cool from night to morning. I even tried turning down the fan one night and, miraculously, woke up without a bead of sweat. For what it’s worth, my dog (the second hot sleeper in our family) even enjoyed the sheets. He usually switches to the (much cooler) floor about halfway through the night, but with these Parachute sheets? He slept in bed with us from sundown to sunrise.
Fit: Precise
I’m used to sheets slipping off at least one corner of the bed, but the Parachute Percale Venice Set didn’t slip once. It was sized perfectly for my Queen bed and tucked neatly under each corner and along the sides. The duvet cover also fit nicely on our Queen-size duvet. The buttons were easy to open and close, and it was equally easy to even out the duvet once inside the cover. The pillow covers are unlike most covers; instead of slipping the pillow into the side of the cover, the Parachute covers open in the back to prevent the pillow from slipping out. I found this small design alteration to be really helpful.
Bonus Feature: One-for-one business model
While I can’t say it helped me sleep more soundly—I will say Parachute’s corporate social responsibility stood out to me as a big perk. For every Venice bedding set purchased, Parachute donates a malaria-prevention bed net through the United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign. The nets are then sent to vulnerable families in sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria is the leading cause of death among children.
Washing: Simple cleaning instruction
When washing the Parachute sheets before my first use, I followed the company’s directions and didn’t have any issues. They advise customers machine wash with cool water and a mild liquid detergent. For drying, they recommend tumble dry on low with dryer balls, not dryer sheets. The only issue I did have with washing was how wrinkly the sheets came out of the dryer. I popped them out of the dryer right when the cycle stopped and they looked like I’d crumpled them in a pile on the floor of my closet. Their directions say to “iron on low heat if desired,” but I have never—and likely will never—iron my sheets. That said, bedding to me is about the feel, not the look. And if you know wrinkles will bother you, you can always take Parachute up on their recommendation to iron them on low heat.
Price: A worthy splurge
With a retail price of roughly $300 for a Queen bedding set, Parachute’s percale offering certainly isn’t cheap. That said, the set’s performance and feel are far from average. These sheets are high quality and given that we spend a good portion of our days (and months and years) sleeping, I’d say it’s worth the price.
Competition: The luxury linen brands to consider
Brooklinen Classic Hardcore Sheet Bundle: Oeko-Tex certified like Parachute, Brooklinen’s percale sheets promise to be lightweight and breathable for all types of sleepers. These sheets are made with 100 percent long-staple cotton with 80-count yarn that’s described as “buttery smooth.” Pricing is slightly lower than Parachute; the Classic Hardcore Bed Sheet Bundle starts (for a Queen) around $220 (top sheet included). Brooklinen offers more diverse color options, as well. Customers can choose between white, cream, steel, graphite, smoke stripe, window pane, glacier, rose, lilac, and more. You can also mix and match your colors when purchasing. Boll & Branch Percale Solid Sheet Set: Just like Parachute, Boll & Branch’s sheets are chemical-free. (Though under a different certification known as the Global Organic Textile Standard). These sheets—made on fair-trade farms and factories in India—come with one fitted sheet, one flat sheet, and two pillowcases for around $240. The organic, 300-thread-count percale sheets are promised to be soft, strong, and durable. They’re available in similar colors to Parachute: solid white, solid natural, solid pewter, striped ivory, and striped white. At first glance, $300 seems like a ridiculous amount of money for one pair of sheets. Alas, Parachute’s percale set will help you sleep cooler, and sound sleep is always worth the splurge in our book.
