The Best Linen Sheets for Cool and Comfortable Sleep (2024)

If you’re searching for comfortably cool sheets, you can’t do much better than linen: It’s naturally breathable, moisture-wicking and absorbent. Linen sheets (most are made from the flax plant) are also more durable than their cotton counterparts, adds Los Angeles-based textile expert Deborah Young: “Linen is a longer fiber, so it’s strong.” Also, linen has some “give” to it, so it’s generally easier to stretch securely onto deeper mattresses.

On the aesthetic front, this old-world bedding gives any bedroom “that naturally lived-in look,” says Victoria Holly, an interior designer in Los Angeles. The fabric has stretch and give, as well as a tendency to crease, so it’s ideal if you love a relaxed rustic look—less than ideal if you prefer everything just so.

The most comfortable linen sheets, like our overall top pick from Quince, feel soft, not scratchy. The fabric softens up with repeat washings (we washed each sheet set twice), making it an investment that gets better with time. Some products are quite airy, while others are denser with more heft—but they all should generally keep you from overheating at night. “Linen is very breathable and allows for great air circulation,” making it “perfect if you live somewhere warm or just run hot at night,” says sleep specialist Ritwick Agrawal, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Across the board, we were impressed with the quality of sheets in this category and how they sleep. After trying each set for two nights, we landed on an overall standout, a very close second, and three other recommended buys (all tested and recommended in the Queen size). Read on for our favorites to find the best set for you.

Best overall linen sheets

Pros

• Soft and smooth against the skin
• 19 colors and patterns
• Option to choose set with or without a top sheet
• Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX-certified
• Generous 365-day return policy

Cons

• Not available in Twin XL

Quince’s European Linen sheets are the smoothest and softest sheets we tested, as opposed to some linen sheets that have a rough or coarse feel. My son slept on them first and noted how cool they felt. After taking my turn on them, I’d add this: They’re unbelievably comfortable and breezy. Compared with a night on my usual cotton sateen sheets, these felt like sleeping on air.

Quince’s sheets look stylish, too. They’re rumpled, but not really wrinkled, which is typical of linen because its fibers come from the stem, not the seed of the plant (when you bend a stem, it’s difficult to remove the crease). While many brands stick with quiet neutrals for their linen collection, Quince offers a wide color range, including two fun striped options. The color we tested, Light Gray, skewed lavender—it’s a lovely color, but if you are looking for a true or warm gray, it’s not that.

Quince, like several brands that rose to the top in our testing, lets you customize a set with a top sheet or without. The sheets are machine-washable—they washed well, leaving a soft feel, and weren’t very wrinkled out of my dryer. A final plus: The brand gives you 365 days to try out the sheet set, with the option to return for a refund if you don’t love it.

Runner-up best linen sheets

Pros

• Lightweight but not sheer
• Soft and smooth feel
• Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX-certified
• Extensive color range
• Generous 365-day return policy

Cons

• Medium weight may not suit every sleeper

In our testing, the Brooklinen set was a close second to Quince. Both sets excelled on the temperature-regulating front and felt luxurious against the skin. These sheets, in particular, are flowy—when I shifted around, I didn’t feel hemmed in by them. The set is made in Portugal from European flax linen; it’s stonewashed and has a rustic handmade look.

I liked that they feel breezy but are not sheer, like some ultralightweight sheets. (Brooklinen shares its GSM number—a measure of grams per square meter—and it’s 145, indicating a medium-weight fabric). If you long for truly gauzy bedding, you may prefer the Parachute set below.

These sheets washed well, and came out of my dryer looking rumpled, but not hopelessly creased. Brooklinen, like Quince, gives you a generous 365 days to try the sheets and return them for a full refund (minus a $10 return fee) if they’re not your cup of flax.

Best extra-lightweight linen sheets

Pros

• The most lightweight and cool-feeling
• Unexpected color options, including rich earth tones
• Option to choose set with or without a top sheet
• Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX-certified
• Available in Twin XL for dorm shopping
• Twin and Twin XL come with two pillowcases (most brands give only one)

Cons

• Material may be too thin for some tastes
• Envelope-style pillowcases may not appeal to all shoppers

If you want bedding that offers that lazy-summer-on-the-Amalfi-coast vibe, this is it. Airy and gauzy, Parachute’s linen sheets are perfect for warding off sweaty nights on particularly warm summer evenings.

Parachute’s linen bedding is a favorite of designers like Holly, partly because the brand has a striking palette of rich earth tones and dark, dusky shades, as well as the expected quiet neutrals. We tested the Bone colorway, a beautiful and neutral true linen color, and loved it.

The sheets are machine-washable, though be warned they emerge from the dryer looking crumpled. (Home stylist Robin Zachary has two hacks for dewrinkling linen bedding: Use a steamer held sideways so water doesn’t spill on it, or hang the sheets up in the steamy bathroom.) Another minor downside: Parachute’s pillowcases are envelope-style (they have a back flap that you slot the pillow into), which isn’t great if you’re a restless pillow flipper. You can try them out and return within 60 days for a refund if you’re not happy.

Best linen sheets for hot sleepers

Pros

• Crisp and lightweight
• Smooth and soft feel
• Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX-certified
• Available in Twin XL

Cons

• Limited color options

Saatva is a cult-favorite bedding brand for a reason (it’s been featured in a variety of tested and vetted Buy Side stories), and the company’s linen sheet set was up to the brand’s usual high standards. When we first took these sheets out of the package, they felt a bit stiff. But after one wash, they softened right up.

We slept without waking up sweaty; the sheets gave us a comfortable microclimate—that’s the immediate environment around your body as you sleep, and it’s affected by not only bedding, but also temperature, humidity and airflow. “If the microclimate is too hot or too cold, it can disrupt your sleep cycles,” says Dr. Agrawal.

Hot sleepers and those sleeping in stuffy rooms (e.g., college students) will particularly enjoy this set thanks to its cooling properties. Linen is not the usual pick for dorm rooms but it’s worth considering; Saatva’s Twin XL comforter is under $250. College students often start the year in heat waves, have chilly days and melt once the radiators start cranking, and linen can stand up to industrial dorm washers and dryers.

One small quibble we have with Saatva is its limited color selection of White, Ivory and Gray. You have 45 days to try the sheets out and return for a refund if you’re not completely happy.

Best heavyweight linen sheets

Pros

• Crisp with heft
• Hemstitch detailing
• Prewashed
• Sold in individual pieces so you don’t need to buy a whole set

Cons

• May feel too warm for some sleepers
• On the coarser end of the spectrum

If you want a cozier take on linen, the Company Store’s Legends line is worth considering. The sheets, which are not sold in a set, have a nice heft and sleep warmer than all of the pure linen options we tried. We recommend these sheets for overly air-conditioned bedrooms or sleepers who run cold. They look rich, with an elegant hemstitched border.

While we found them a bit stiff even after two washes, we’d expect them to relax and have more give once they’re washed a few more times. The Company Store’s linen, like all our recommended sheets, can be tossed right into the washer and dryer. The sheets—which are sold separately as a fitted sheet, flat sheet and pillowcases—are returnable within 30 days for a refund (minus a $3 fee).

Others you should know about

Great if you like a linen-cotton blend

This cotton-linen blend merges the temperature-regulating properties of linen with the cozy comfort of cotton. We especially liked the way these sheets look: They have a chic hemstitch edging and don’t get as creased as 100% linen sets. While the sheets felt somewhat scratchy after one wash, they will likely soften over time. Their biggest plus is their price—less than $70 for the set. Target gives you 365 days to return, but only if the set is unopened.

Editor’s note: We had previously included the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams 100% Organic Linen Sheet Set as a luxury pick, but the company has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is reportedly no longer manufacturing or shipping finished products to consumers.

How we picked

Trust us

I’m a writer and editor with more than 20 years of experience covering health and wellness topics. As a contributor to Buy Side from WSJ, I’ve reviewed dozens of sleep and self-care products, including pillows for side sleepers and mattress toppers. I’ve also written for The Washington Post, Time, Glamour, Parents and many other outlets.

I am laser-focused on products that make the daily grind easier and more fun. I have two teenage sons and a long-haired dog, so everything that comes into my home has to be easy to clean or it’s not a keeper.

For this guide, I interviewed these sleep and home experts: Houston-based sleep specialist Ritwick Agrawal, M.D.; Los Angeles-based textiles expert Deborah Young; New York City-based home and prop stylist Robin Zachary; and Los Angeles-based interior designer Victoria Holly.

We tested

We started by considering products with top consumer reviews, then consulted experts and relied on our experience with textiles to narrow the field to nine sets. We washed and dried each set, then spent two nights sleeping on them. I enlisted my 16-year-old son—a sweaty sleeper—to test the Quince and Saatva sheets before I tried them as well. We evaluated the bedding on these fronts:

• Textile quality: All of the sheets we tried were made from European flax linen, as most linen sheets are made from the flax plant, generally grown in Belgium. (You can also buy hemp linen, which we did not test.) There was an impressive consistency to the textiles. Still, we homed in on the differences, including noticing how soft or scratchy the sheets felt and whether or not they were sheer. We also considered if the sheets are Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX-certified, which means that every component of a textile, from the thread to the fabric and even accents like buttons, has been tested for harmful substances and declared to be, as the testing organization puts it, “harmless for human health.”
• Breathability: While all linen bedding is breathable thanks to its air-permeable weave, we noted any that felt on the cooler or warmer end of the spectrum.
• Ease of care: All the sheets we tested can be machine-washed and -dried. We washed each set two times to ensure they washed well and didn’t shrink, then considered how wrinkled they were coming out of the dryer. (You can minimize wrinkles by removing the sheets promptly from the dryer and putting them right on your bed.) I don’t iron sheets; the ones that emerged hopelessly wrinkled, I eliminated.
• Thread count: One nice part of shopping for linen sheets: You can forget about thread counts, says Young, who notes that GSM—grams per square meter—is a truer measure of what you’re getting. Linen’s GSM will be on the low end of the range; the long and thick fibers create a relatively open weave that’s “more air permeable—heat will escape,” Young says. We didn’t rely on GSM in vetting linen sheets, though; few brands share the GSM or thread count, so when shopping, it’s best to go by the feel of the product, as we did in these tests.

Our experts

Ritwick Agrawal, M.D., a sleep medicine specialist and assistant professor in the Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Section at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston

Deborah Young, a textile expert and educator at FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising) in Los Angeles

Victoria Holly, an interior designer in Los Angeles and founder of Victoria Holly Interiors and The Holly Collective art collection

Robin Zachary, a home and prop stylist in New York City and author of Styling Beyond Instagram