I washed these sheets (once) before using them, but I think they probably should have been washed a couple times prior to the first use.  The fabric is just not as soft and satiny as I would have hoped for the price.  The gray is also a darker color than it appears in the photo, so it doesn't match my bedroom paint quite as well as I'd hoped.  I'll probably be heading to a retail store to pick out another sheet set and will just use these as a backup set.