Given past experience with buying a horrible quality sheet set, I wasn't hopeful with this comforter but decided to give it a shot because of the price. I wound up LOVING this set. The comforter is beautiful and (so far) has survived many washes without and rips or tears. The decorative pillows that came with it are nothing to write home about, they loose the puffyness and shape pretty quickly - but the shams come right off so you can always put them around other pillows if you wanted to.