Fair Go: One woman's tale of her shrinking fitted sheets prompts retailers to order tests

October 9, 2018

Jules Cronin keeps having the same problem with her fitted linen sheets - they keep getting smaller.

Friday night is fresh sheets night for Napier woman Jules Cronin.

However her problem is after each wash, it's getting harder and harder to get her sheets back on her bed.

"It's a wrestling match with the sheets at least once a fortnight.

"You wake up in the morning and the corner has come untucked and you are fighting with the sheet because it's wrapped up around your arm or around your leg or around your head," she says with a laugh. 

Jules was sure her bed wasn't growing.

"I know as people we all get a little bit bigger and we all get a bit tighter. But generally mattresses don't grow. And then I thought maybe it's the sheets. And it was definitely the sheets."

Jules Cronin says her sheets are shrinking. She measured them with her son. And one pair lost six centimeters in length. And that's not all.

"I've bought at least six sets of queen size sheets and had at least four sets that have shrunk."

Jules has bought sheets from most major retailers in the past eight months. Crackerjacks say this is the first complaint they've had. 

"We have taken the range off the shop floor until it's tested by our supplier.  We will provide a refund to any customers that have had the same shrinking issue as Jules," says Craig Faulkner, CEO of Crackerjacks.

The Warehouse have also taken Jules' sheets for testing. They say it's not something they had a lot of complaints about.

International linen standards allow for five per cent shrinkage So anything more and you may be entitled to your money back. 

The key is to measure your mattress. And remember, every natural fibre shrinks, so try and keep it away from hot water and hot air.

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