AIRism Sheets vs Kapas Bedsheets in Malaysia
I recently read an article about the Uniqlo’s AIRism sheets. After reading it, I felt that I had to try the Uniqlo bedsheets and the newly launched bedsheets by a Malaysian company, Kapas Living which I came upon. I think all fellow Malaysians deserve to sleep in even better sheets at lower prices!
It began when I was shopping around on the web for a good set of bed linens as I just moved into my new place. To be honest I didn’t really find many good bedsheets — many had a high threadcount (I am a sceptic) and were really pricey to start. I then chanced upon the Kapas Living advert on Instagram and thought they looked okay priced and I could give it a try, at least maybe just one set first and this is what I found.
Online Store Experience
I started off with buying the Uniqlo bedsheets online because that was the hype and so I was pretty excited to give it a go but I found that they don’t actually have matching sets and there were really weird sizes that I found like — Double and Semi Double?
Also, there was Queen bedsheets but there were no Queen duvet products or maybe it was already sold out.
Next I tried Kapas’s website, and I found everything was really easy to navigate and understand where everything was. Even the mix and match sets you could find everything there with colours and sizes straight to the point!
Packaging
The Kapas bedsheet packaging came with a hard box that was bubble wrapped so the box was in really condition once it arrived. I think this is really nice to gift it to someone!
I particularly like how they send you care instructions in notebook size so you can easily attach it to your fridge for future reference and the thank you card makes the delivery feel very personalised. It gives me the feel that everything was really well thought out and you are purchasing a premium product from the start.
The Uniqlo AIRism sheets on the other hand felt very cheap for the way it is first presented from the moment you receive it. For sheet that are priced quite highly, I was a little disappointed that it came like this.
I bought a similar set to the Kapas bedsheets so they are about the same value but presentation wise, I think we have a clear winner.
Materials
Next, on their website I also found that they produced their bedsheets from 100% extra-long staple cotton (they use 37mm natural cotton fibres for their all their) which I found pretty interesting because I always thought cotton is just cotton. From a bit of research done I found that fabric with extra-long staple cotton tends to be stronger, softer and more durable and will fray less, pill less and wrinkle less.
That night was different as I lie in bed and I could almost instantly feel the silkiness of the sheets on my skin as I lay down — a LOT more different actually. Not to mentioned also, my puppy who took a lot more naps on my bed as I worked during the day and she enjoyed every bit of her afternoon. It seems like she could also tell there was a difference in the bedsheets that we just had delivered to our door.
Since this is what 100% natural cotton felt like, I thought I’d also try the new hyped up AIRism sheets I saw also on an ad on social media. From their website I saw that once you stripped away their fancy marketing, they are actually made of 80% polyester and 20% cupro.
Fabric make up of the AIRism sheets from Uniqlo
I’ve never heard of Cupro so more research it is!
Cupro is a semi-synthetic type of rayon that is made from recycled cotton or plant fibres but processed with large quantities of copper, ammonia and caustic soda. As AIRism sheets are mainly synthetic — they do have the benefit of feeling smooth and will not wrinkle. However, you will feel a lot hotter and will need to turn the aircond on to stay cool. To be honest, my first thought after removing it from the packaging was that it felt plastic and it didn’t have the luxury touch to it — I did return it a few days later because I wasn’t convinced about what I found about the product.
Kapas Living suggests on their care card that comes with all purchases that after the 5th wash, your bedsheets will be smoother and a lot more buttery for you to simply sink in during bed time. To get a faster result, add 1 cup of baking soda during the wash cycle and 1/2 cup of white vinegar to the rinse cycle of which I wasn’t really won over because who likes vinegar smelling sheets at the end of a long day, but still I tried. I was pretty wowed because there wasn’t a hint of sourness to the sheet and they were super soft once they’ve dried — as promised.
Threadcount
While browsing I also couldn’t quite find what the threadcount was for the AIRism range (yes, I know threadcounts aren’t everything). According to the Kapas website, they use “real” 400 threadcount bedsheets because there are many brands that offer misleadingly high threadcount (e.g. >1,000 threadcount!) but actually involves spins many poor quality cotton fibres in a single yarn just to artificially boost the number. Which really explains why sometimes we pay so much for sub par bedsheets that cost a fortune but actually do not live up to standard.
As for AIRism sheets, we cannot comment because they do not disclose their threadcount. Nevertheless, as synthetic fibres have different thickness as compared to cotton fibres, it wouldn’t be too meaningful to compare just the figures.
In short, we can’t tell you if AIRism’s threadcount is any good but I didn’t quite like the plastic feeling and ended up giving it back.
Safety
Moving on to the next thing I found out about Kapas, was that their bedsheets are also Standard 100 certified by Switzerland-based Oeko-Tex®, to be free of harmful substances. While I do not have kids, this is a big YAY because I can now with a peace of mind gift this to friends and family this Christmas!
As for the AIRism sheet, they’re made of polyester and cupro, which I understand to be made using lots of ammonia, copper and caustic soda to change the chemical structure of the cotton or plant fibre. I guess this is a big no for me.
Pricing
One other thing that was a factor for me was the price point, being a recently employed person, I didn’t want to keep spending for sheets because they tore easily or because I didn’t enjoy my sleep very much. I wanted something that lasted which led me to more comparisons:
Queen bedsheet with 2 pillow cases:
Kapas: RM233.10 (after 10% discount for newsletter sign up)
AIRism: RM259.70
Queen bedsheet with 2 pillow cases and duvet cover:
Kapas: RM467.10 (after 10% discount I got for the newsletter sign up)
AIRism: RM509.60
I found that not only were Kapas bedsheets not only more affordable as compared to AIRism, but with Kapas you will get so much more out of their high quality, natural 100% cotton sheets and much less marketing.
Kapas Living is just into their 2nd month of operations and they are already receiving raving reviews and repeat orders from their many customers.
You may be asking me now — are the Kapas bedsheets really that good and soft? I would really say try it because I am in love with it and will be getting a few more very soon!
