6 Best Linen Sheets for a Cool and Comfortable Sleep (2024)

You will often see terms such as “Belgian flax” and “European linen” used to describe various linens. Some of them are in the name, some aren’t—Pottery Barn sheets are named after Belgian flax, while The Citizenry sheets say they’re French flax but made sustainably in Portugal. So what does it all mean? Which is the best?

Europe has a long history of growing flax and making linen. The preferred source, in particular, is Belgium and France, which is why some sheets will name those countries directly. But according to World Linen, there isn’t much difference between European countries—especially the marketing strategy. You will probably be equally happy with any European source of linen, and there are European linen certificate sheets you can get to confirm that this is where it was sourced.

Having Europe in the name doesn’t mean it’s made there, though. After the flax is grown, it needs to be processed, spun and woven into sheets, which may or may not be possible in Europe. Some companies use the term “Belgian flax” or “European flax” to indicate that the flax is from that area, but was not processed there. Some companies make sheets in other European countries, such as the papers made by The Citizenry’s Portugal, while other manufacturers may do production outside of Europe, such as Quince, which processes its sheets in China and India.

Another term you may see when shopping for linen is something like “weave at 160 GSM.” This defines the weight of the fabric. (“GSM” stands for grams per square meter.) Similar to silk, it is also specified by weight rather than thread count to give you a more accurate idea of ​​how heavy the sheets will be. The rule of thumb for linen is that under 150 GSM is light, between 150 and 300 is medium, and anything above 300 is heavy.

Weight is also something that should not change about linen: It will soften over time, but it won’t be light. If you like a specific weight of sheets, you can see if this information is included to find out what you are buying.