Sunday, September 21, 2008

Why Chez Sven Offers Organic Cotton Sheets

For an innkeeper, receiving a UPS shipment of new sheets is like opening presents at Christmas. I absolutely lo-o-o-ve new sheets. The idea that my guests will soon be experiencing such luxurious comfort makes me very happy. Organic cotton is especially soft, as well as being so much better for the environment. Once one has slept in organic cotton, polyester is out forever. When we started Chez Sven five years ago, finding organic cotton was a challenge. I eliminated many options and went directly to Coyuchi, which has a fantastic Web site and goes into detail about the chemicals involved in the fabrication of regular cotton (For instance, 100 chemicals can be applied to a single plant in one season in the USA; 1.25 lbs. of agricultural chemicals are used in California to produce the cotton for one set of queen-sized sheets; if all cotton were grown organically, the use of pesticides worldwide would be reduced by 24%.) Coyuchi no longer sells its organic cotton sheets retail online, but the Coyuchi brand can be found here. As innkeepers, of course,Sven and I are entitled to wholesale pricing on bedding, and quickly discovered sheets need bi-annual replacement, especially white sheets. We have been such good customers over the years that a Coyuchi rep called with a special 20% discount, no doubt due to the slow economy, on some new inventory. I was delighted to oblige and now can contemplate opening all these wonderful packages, which arrived last week. Another great bedding source is Cuddledown. All our duvets come from this Maine manufacturer. Cuddledown makes incredible stuff. Pillows, too. The company carries eco-friendly sheets, and, da-duh!, starting in 2009, will offer organic cotton as well. Finally, for those on a budget, last month Costco made organic cotton sheets available through their Web site. The queen set goes for $109.