Gloria Metcalf’s business is all about making people feel comfortable in bed. Metcalf makes fitted sheets from her home in Lakebay out of the “best fabric there is for sheets.”
“I use 100 percent nylon tricot, which is the best fabric against the skin,” she said. “It’s the same fabric that camisoles and slips are made of.”
Although it seems natural for bed linens to be made from the same material as garments worn close to the skin, Metcalf said the idea came from her mother, who made the accidental discovery.
Her mother, Gloria, for whom she is named, opened a fabric store in Tacoma in the 1980s. When the business closed, she brought all the fabric home.
“She bought a little house and had hundreds of mill ends,” Metcalf said. “One day, when she was in her bedroom, a 9-inch roll of tricot fell across her bed. She sat down on it to talk on the phone and, during the phone conversation, she realized how good the material felt on her skin.”
The senior Metcalf began to make sheets out of the material for family and friends, and it got rave reviews. Her daughter started a business based on the sheets in 2006.
“These sheets are not only beautiful, luxurious and comfortable on the skin, they make it very easy for people to move around on,” Metcalf said. “People need to move around in bed.”
Metcalf only makes the fitted sheets because, like satin sheets, they’re too slippery when they’re paired with a top sheet of the same material, she said.
“You can buy a top sheet of a coordinated color in cotton, cotton percale or flannel,” she said. “These sheets are cool to the touch at first but warm up very quickly with your body heat.”
The presence of the nylon tricot fitted sheet is beneficial to cancer patients, burn victims and people with diabetes, Metcalf said.
“They’re durable and machine washable and can be thrown in the dryer,” she said. “I use them on my rock ’em, sock ’em, really hot cycles, and they stand up.”
The sheets are available in white, beige and black. Metcalf intends to add more color to the line when business picks up, but black is the most popular color so far.
When she first started the business, Metcalf hired a professional market analyst to distribute the sheets to the public and obtain surveys on how the public liked them. The surveys provided positive results — the people who tried them were impressed.
Metcalf said the product hasn’t taken off that well because she doesn’t produce them at a manufacturers’ level. Instead, she custom-makes each sheet.
Metcalf can take orders over the phone and ship the sheets from her home.
In the future, she hopes to distribute the sheets to hotels, bed and breakfasts and assisted-living facilities.
“The sheets are stain-resistant and wash out beautifully,” Metcalf said. “I just want to improve on something that everybody uses. And sheets are something that everyone uses.”
Gloria Metcalf’s nylon tricot fitted sheets are durable yet luxurious to the touch. The sheets are custom-made and shipped to customers. For more information, call 253-884-6600.
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