Tips When Choosing Your College Bedding
“College bedding can make a personal statement,” says Catherine Gentile, public relations manager of Bed, Bath & Beyond. She says their bedspreads range from school logo prints, to bright colors and wild prints. The list of supplies students need for their dorm rooms is exhaustive, she admits, but an often overlooked, yet helpful item, is Bed Bath & Beyond’s new “Allergy Luxe Bed Bug mattress protector,” which will protect students from any of those godforsaken creatures that could be lurking in a big city school. Products aside, there are many stylistic considerations to make when it comes to comforter sets and sheets.
Here are a few helpful tips for you when you go shopping for dorm bedding. First, buy extra-long twin sheets. Normal sheets won’t fit the beds properly. Secondly, don’t get white. You’ll be pretty much living in your room and the last thing you want is something that’s boring and will show stains. Buy more than one set of sheets because, regardless of your intentions, you’re going to put off doing laundry. You should change your sheets every week, ideally, so keep that in mind. Lastly, buy a mattress pad! Whether it’s memory foam, feather down or egg crate, you’ll need some sort of defense against the rock solid, one-inch-thick dorm room mattress.
Next you’ll need to consider college bedding brand and style. “The school market is half of our business,” says Jared Clark, VP of creative services at Tommy Hilfiger. At Macy’s, the Tommy Hilfiger bedding is flying off the shelves with both guy and girl shoppers. “We identify with what the male shopper wants, and we’ve always had great success with dorm bedding by offering quite a few guy-friendly styles in our mix-and-match program for the top of bed that includes coordinating 200 thread-count cotton sheets,” Clark explains. “We were the first company to offer preppy, youthful-inspired printed sheet sets on T200. Tommy H is very generic, more conservative and above all comfortable. Guys like simple plaids and stripes, colors like navy and red are big sellers, along with khaki and a red, white and blue combo.”
So how do most people shop for college bedding? A 2007 survey revealed that 33.6% of male consumers said they shopped for comforters at specialty stores, like Bed Bath and Beyond. Internet shopping, however, is also on the rise. “In many cases the mother does the legwork but consults with the son, and they will often look online together. She’ll make the purchase after she knows what he wants,” explains Jeff Gawronski, manager at www.dormbuys.com. Last year, parents shelled out an average of $1,200 on electronics, bedding accessories and dorm furnishings.
Tags: bedding accessories, bedspreads, college bedding, comforter set, down comforters, Tommy Hilfiger bedding