300 thread count long-staple organic cotton sateen, cut to the real depth of a lofted pillow.
Sateen is a four-over-one float, so four out of every five threads sit on the surface instead of being tied down into the weave. That is what gives it the low sheen and the cool slide, and because it is structural it survives washing. The count is 300, which sits near the top of what a square inch of cotton will physically hold before the yarn has to be thinned to fit.
The cotton is long-staple, so each fiber is long enough to spin into a fine even yarn without the short ends that make cheaper cotton pill and go rough.
It slips on. No zipper, no buttons, no placket, so nothing hard sits in the space where your face goes. The open
end is a plain hem, turned once and topstitched.
How it’s made
Cut and sewn by hand in New Jersey, at the same workshop that has been making our pillows and duvets since 1981. The workshop holds the GOTS certification and is audited on site every year.
Standard fits 20 by 26 inch pillows, Queen fits 20 by 30 and King fits 20 by 36. Those are the dimensions we sew our own pillows to, and they match standard pillow sizing across brands. Cases cut for thin department store pillows grip a full one like a casing and flatten the height you paid for.
Sold in pairs, because a bed needs two and a spare pair means you can wash one set without stripping the bed.
Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) license GOTS-10229, issued by Oregon Tilth, and the license number is public so you can look it up rather than take our word for it.
This is the fabric with the most skin contact of anything in the bedroom, roughly a third of your life against your
face, which is the reason to care what was used to finish it.
What this means at your bedside
GOTS rules out chlorine bleaching, formaldehyde softeners, flame retardant chemicals and synthetic finishes across the whole supply chain. No optical brighteners either, which is why the color is the cotton’s own rather than the blue-white you get from a dye house. It opens odorless and stays that way.
See the full certifications section on this page ↓
Where this sits against the cases you have owned before.
Against a percale case
Percale is a plain over-under weave. It is crisper, cooler and matte, and it sounds papery when you move. Sateen is
smoother and quieter and holds a little more warmth. Hot sleepers who dislike any warmth should take percale.
Against silk
Silk is often recommended for hair and skin because it has low friction. So does a 300 thread count sateen float,
and cotton washes at a normal temperature without a special detergent.
Against a cased-in zipper protector
A zipper protector is the right call if you need a barrier. It is the wrong thing to put your face on. Use both:
protector on the pillow, this over the top.
"Made in" labels only reveal a fraction of a product's journey. Supply chains are complex, involving multiple stages across different countries. As we strive for greater transparency, we outline each step of production and the country where it takes place. This information relates to the main material/s used.
- Final inspection & packagingNew Jersey, USA
- Cutting & hand sewingNew Jersey, USA — GOTS certified workshop
- Sateen weaving & finishingPakistan
- Fiber origin (GOTS organic cotton)Pakistan
Cold wash, low tumble, and it gets better.
Machine wash cold on a gentle cycle and tumble dry on low. Line drying is better still if you have somewhere to hang it, and it is what the workshop recommends. Cotton sateen softens every time it goes through the wash, so the piece you own in a year will feel better than the one that arrived.
Skip the fabric softener and the dryer sheets. Both work by leaving a waxy coating on the fibers, which is the opposite of what you want on a cloth chosen for its breathability, and over time it dulls the sateen’s sheen. Skip chlorine bleach too, which weakens cotton and will pull the natural color unevenly.
Expect a little shrinkage on the first wash, which is normal for unresined cotton and is already accounted for in the cut. Wash before first use if you like; there is no finish to rinse out, but it takes the packing creases with it.
Trial & returns
Sleep on it for sixty nights. If it is not right, email jacob@circadianrest.com from the address you ordered with and we will send you a label. Free, no restocking fee.
