diff --git a/pkg/controller/statefulset/BUILD b/pkg/controller/statefulset/BUILD
index 2f77880500e..60f9301ff35 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/statefulset/BUILD
+++ b/pkg/controller/statefulset/BUILD
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ go_test(
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/labels:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types:go_default_library",
+        "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/sets:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/client-go/informers:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/client-go/informers/apps/v1beta1:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/client-go/informers/core/v1:go_default_library",
diff --git a/pkg/controller/statefulset/stateful_set_test.go b/pkg/controller/statefulset/stateful_set_test.go
index 58242002f1b..19101caf096 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/statefulset/stateful_set_test.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/statefulset/stateful_set_test.go
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ limitations under the License.
 package statefulset
 
 import (
-	"reflect"
 	"sort"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -25,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/sets"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/informers"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes/fake"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache"
@@ -521,16 +521,13 @@ func TestGetPodsForStatefulSetAdopt(t *testing.T) {
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("getPodsForStatefulSet() error: %v", err)
 	}
-	var got []string
+	got := sets.NewString()
 	for _, pod := range pods {
-		got = append(got, pod.Name)
+		got.Insert(pod.Name)
 	}
-
 	// pod2 should be claimed, pod3 and pod4 ignored
-	want := []string{pod1.Name, pod2.Name}
-	sort.Strings(got)
-	sort.Strings(want)
-	if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, want) {
+	want := sets.NewString(pod1.Name, pod2.Name)
+	if !got.Equal(want) {
 		t.Errorf("getPodsForStatefulSet() = %v, want %v", got, want)
 	}
 }
@@ -561,16 +558,14 @@ func TestGetPodsForStatefulSetRelease(t *testing.T) {
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("getPodsForStatefulSet() error: %v", err)
 	}
-	var got []string
+	got := sets.NewString()
 	for _, pod := range pods {
-		got = append(got, pod.Name)
+		got.Insert(pod.Name)
 	}
 
 	// Expect only pod1 (pod2 and pod3 should be released, pod4 ignored).
-	want := []string{pod1.Name}
-	sort.Strings(got)
-	sort.Strings(want)
-	if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, want) {
+	want := sets.NewString(pod1.Name)
+	if !got.Equal(want) {
 		t.Errorf("getPodsForStatefulSet() = %v, want %v", got, want)
 	}
 }