Alton Goods Fitted Sheet – Gear Review

A fitted sheet might sound like sacrilege bordering on glamping in some hiking and camping circles, but why not? Mattie Gould was curious to see if it would take his sleeping mat (and his sleep) to a new level.

Ultralight campers look away now because this 350g fitted sheet from Alton Goods might just tip your pack over the edge and turn you into a regular lightweight camper.

My wife is anything but an ultralight camper, in fact, she usually prefers the type of car camping where we bring two pillows each and the doona from home. But recently, while planning a three-week cycle tour, she raised the question about whether people use a sheet over their sleeping mat — to which I didn’t know the answer. 

It didn’t take much searching before I came across the newly released Alton Goods Fitted Sheet being promoted on Instagram. At $39, it didn’t feel like much of a risk to click ‘buy’ and try it out. So that’s what I did, and here are my thoughts after six months of testing.

Size & Weight

Let’s begin with the stats. Listed as being ‘ultralight and compact’, I’d suggest that’s mostly accurate. At 350g, it’s certainly lightweight, but bearing in mind an ultralight quilt can weigh the same, I’d argue it’s not truly in the realm of the ultra-ultralight.

However, it certainly is compact. Packing away to the same size as a cheese sandwich, it’s an easy item to add to your kit. The sheet dimensions are 184 x 57 x 7.5cm which covers a regular-sized sleeping mat.

Design & Fit

The sheet is made from a moisture-wicking, stretchy polyester, and is a darn sight nicer on the skin than any sleeping mat I’ve ever slept on.

There’s plenty of extra sheet to tuck around your sleeping mat and there’s an additional cross-beam that goes under the middle of your mat.

One of my favourite features, other than the sheet preventing my arm from sticking to my mat, is the built-in pillow pocket. I’ve shoved a few different pillows in there and the way the mat holds the pillow in place, right where you want it, is quite literally a dream. No more chasing your pillow off the end of your mat all night. I’m assuming the pillow pocket would also hold your makeshift puffy jacket pillow in place too — but as I’m not an ultralight camper, I wouldn’t know about that.

Comfort & Use

As mentioned in the design section, using the Alton Goods Sleeping Mat prevents exposed limbs from making contact with your sleeping mat. This is much more comfortable and also keeps your sleeping mat cleaner (should you go to bed a bit grubby).

I’ve used the sheet in addition to a quilt and a sleeping bag and found that both experiences are improved. I can’t prove it, but I reckon the fitted sheet stops your sleeping bag from sliding around as much.

The whole experience of using the fitted sheet also feels more luxurious and prompts an added sense of comfort — possibly leading to better sleep. NB: this also has not been proven.

Throughout my use of the fitted sheet, I’ve only noticed two drawbacks. The first occurred when I was camping on a particularly stormy night in a particularly non-waterproof bottomed tent. The fitted sheet caused moisture from the tent floor to wick up the sides and onto the top of my sleeping mat. Not ideal, but remedied by not using a twenty-year-old tent you found in the barn at your in-law’s farm.

The other issue occurred when I was using an extra-large and thin (read ultralight) sleeping mat. Because of a lack of structure, and probably exceeding the sheet’s maximum dimensions, the tension of the sheet caused the mat to bunch up, and eventually, the sheet came away from the edges. This wasn’t ideal, but I can’t really blame the fitted sheet as the dimensions have clearly been designed to work best with Alton Goods sleeping mat — not their competitors.

Final Thoughts

Overwhelmingly, I’ve been very glad to add the Alton Goods Fitted Sheet to my gear shed, and I’ve used it on nearly every trip I’ve been on since.

In fact, the only time I didn’t carry it was because I was going for a lighter-weight camp setup and carrying a more luxury food setup — sacrifices have to be made if you want to enjoy cheese and salami baguettes in the backcountry!

This brings me back to my introduction. The fitted sheet is a terrific piece of kit, adding comfort to your sleeping setup — but as with any ‘luxury’ item, it’s also likely to be the first piece of kit to be left behind when necessary.

Editor’s Note: Mattie purchased the Alton Goods Fitted Sheet himself and produced this article without any connection or communication with Alton. In his own email words, ‘I’ve basically been recommending it to everyone anyway, so thought I may as well write something.’  We Are Explorers Gear Reviews cannot be bought by any brand and you can read about our selection process in Our Editorial Standards.