I love percale sheets and am beginning to believe that I will never find the smooth, permanent press percale sheets of my youth that used to be so widely available without spending an arm and a leg. That being said - we like those sheets well enough. They are very crisp and cool. While they will likely "soften" with washing as most cotton sheets do, these are not "smooth" and never will be. Definitely not the percale sheets of yesteryear that were cool, breathable, thick, smooth, and crisp. Seems the only percale sheets I can find that are like that cost A LOT more then they ever did in my youth, even adjusting for inflation. These are rough, but weirdly in a pleasant way. They wrinkle like crazy no matter how you dry them (line drying not possible in the city)!