ALL ABOUT DUVET

Natural duvets contain feathers or down, or a blend of the two, from ducks or geese sourced from the coldest parts of the world. The feathers and down trap air to create a duvet that's warm, drapes well around your body and looks lovely on your bed. All our natural duvets come with a 10-year guarantee.

Feather
Feather is flat and curved in shape, with a quill shaft running between the fibres. Firmer and heavier than down, feather offers a more substantial feel of duvet.

Down
Down is a three dimensional cluster of very fine filaments, with no quill shaft between them, and widely recognised as the world's best insulation material. Lighter and loftier than feather, down offers a super soft and lightweight feel of duvet, with excellent warmth and a beautiful drape around your body. The larger the down, the warmer the duvet (because the down clusters form big air pockets of insulation), and also the more lightweight it is (because it takes fewer clusters to fill it).

DOES IT MATTER WHERE THE FEATHERS AND DOWN COME FROM?

European duck feathers and down
Feathers and down from Europe are generally sourced from the coldest parts of Scandinavia, where the birds develop a highly insulating coat to keep them warm in freezing weather. European-made duvets will be of a higher quality than duvets made in China, but not as premium as duvets whose feathers and down come from the colder regions of Siberia and Canada.

Siberian goose down
Siberian white geese develop coats that are naturally big and fluffy to guard against harsh winters of -50°C. Siberian goose down is more premium than European duck down, but not as luxurious as Canadian goose down.

Canadian goose down
Canadian white goose down is considered the best duvet filling in the world. The geese develop coats with the largest possible down clusters to protect against harsh winters and dramatic temperature drops.We use only white down and feathers. These sometimes feature spots of grey, and we leave these as nature intended.

NON-ALLERGENIC

Non-allergenic duvets contain fillings made of synthetic fibres, like hollowfibre and microfibre, or silk, which is naturally free of dust mites. All our non-allergenic duvets come with a 5-year guarantee.

Synthetic duvets
These days, synthetic duvets aren't necessarily made of stiff and clunky foam. Many on the market are silky soft, cozy, warm and beautifully lightweight with a wonderful drape. Just beware of cheaper versions, which will soon become lumpy and uncomfortable. Synthetic duvets are inherently dust mite free, but make sure you choose one with a mite-proof cotton cover. You can machine wash synthetic duvets at 30°C.

Silk duvets
Silk or silk blend duvets are ideal if you suffer from allergies but want the luxury of a natural fibre filling. They're filled with silk floss, with mulberry silk floss being the most premium due to its fine long yarn for a softer feel and silkier drape.

Silk is wonderfully lightweight and naturally hypo-allergenic. It also helps to regulate your body temperature by trapping warm air next to your skin in winter and drawing it away from your skin in summer.

Silk duvets rarely need cleaning, though you can machine wash them at 30°C. More often than not, you should simply freshen them up by airing outside on a sunny day.

The finest silk comes from the mulberry silkworm, which gorges on only mulberry leaves before spinning its cocoon.

TOG RATING

A tog rating tells you how warm a duvet is. The higher the tog rating, the warmer the duvet. Tog rating is based on a duvet's ability to trap warm air. Natural duvets have better thermal properties than synthetic duvets, so they need less filling to achieve the same warmth.

A tog rating is given irrespective of filling. So a 9 tog natural duvet will be just as warm as a 9 tog synthetic duvet. It might just feel a little lighter. Silk duvets can't be measured by tog rating because the fill is made of floss. Instead, their warmth is shown by weight in gsm (grams per square metre), but we'll always give you a comparable tog value too.

DUVET CASING

Duvets are filled, or quilted, and then stitched with box or diamond casing to ensure an even spread of filling. More premium duvets also have 'baffle walls', which improve loftiness by saving feathers and down from getting trapped in the seams.

All our duvets are encased in a tightly woven mite-proof cotton cover. They're each edged with button holes and come with a supply of cufflinks, so you can join together 4.5 and 9 tog duvets to create a 13.5 tog for winter. Most brands of natural duvet wash at up to 40°C. Ours can be machine-washed and tumble-dried at up to 60°C, which means dust mites really don't have a hope. While in theory you can wash and dry your duvets at home, we strongly recommend professional laundering because you need a very big machine to properly tumble dry them. Dust mites are killed at around 57°C.

CHILDREN'S DUVETS

Babies under 12 months
Babies under 12 months shouldn't sleep with duvets, quilts or pillows. Instead, we advise using a baby sleeping bag, which is difficult to kick off or slide down over their head. Choose 1 tog in summer and 2.5 tog in winter.

Children under 10 years
Young children should use a lightweight tog rating as their small bodies trap more air, making them much warmer than adults would be under the same duvet. A first duvet should be the lightest 3 or 4.5 tog. As a child grows, they may want a warmer 7.5 or 9 tog.

Children over 10 years
Older children may want a toasty warm 10.5 tog duvet, especially if their room is quite cold. Help your child to regulate their own temperature by choosing a lower tog duvet and leaving a quilt or blanket, folded concertina style, at the bottom of the bed. That way, they can easily pull it up for extra warmth when they need it. In high summer, switch the duvet to a cool top sheet with a quilt or blanket. Small bodies get hotter in bed than adult bodies.