What duvet do I need?

Your choice of duvet is an important decision. After all, it isn’t your bed or mattress that wraps around you and regulates your body temperature. Your duvet will impact your sleep, and high-quality sleep is the key to good health.  

Did you know the average person spends 26 years of their life sleeping? This means you’ll spend nearly a third of your life (32% of it) sleeping if you live to 81 (this is the average life expectancy for males and females in the UK).

Suffice to say, sleep matters, and so does your duvet.

If you’re wondering what duvet you need, we’ve prepared a guide for you below. Use it to choose the duvet that’s right for you based on your use case.

Let’s get to it.

If you want to stay cool in summer

If you want to stay cool in summer, you need a summer duvet.

Summer duvets have a tog rating of 1.5 to 4.5.

Tog stands for Thermal Overall Grade. It’s a rating system for insulation. The higher the tog, the higher the level of insulation.

The coolest duvets are 1.5 togs, but a 4.5 tog summer duvet should be more than suitable for the muggiest summer nights in the UK.

If you want one duvet for the whole year  

If you want one duvet for the whole year, you need an all-season duvet.

All-season duvets have a tog rating of 7.5 to 10.5.

When all-season duvets have a highly breathable filling like hollowfibre and a breathable cover like cotton, they do an excellent job at regulating body temperature, so much so that you might not need a summer and winter duvet at all.

The only thing to bear in mind is an all-season duvet will not be as cool as a summer duvet or as warm as a winter duvet.

However, all-season duvets are an excellent all-around choice. If you don’t have space for two duvets, you really can’t go wrong here.

If you want a duvet to keep you toasty in winter

If you’re feeling the cold and a regular duvet won’t do, you need a winter duvet.

Winter duvets have a tog rating of 13.5 to 15.

Winter duvets are significantly thicker than all-season duvets, so breathability can be an issue. To counteract this, choose a winter duvet with a hollowfibre filling. Hollowfibre is air-permeable, so it lets air and moisture pass through.

Something to bear in mind is a winter duvet will make you overheat when it isn’t cold. They work best when it’s freezing outside.

Choosing a winter duvet (or even a high tog all-season duvet) will also reduce your reliance on central heating, saving you money on your energy bills.

If you like down but have concerns over animal cruelty

If you want the feeling of down but have concerns over animal cruelty and the ethics of the down industry, choose a duvet with a microfibre filling.

Microfibre is a synthetic substitute for down and feather. It performs similarly, with excellent airiness, loftiness and warmth.

It also has a few performance advantages over down, such as better breathability, no filling loss, and it’s naturally hypoallergenic.

Our Feels Like Down Duvet has a microfibre filling that replicates the feeling and sensation of down. It’s available in the following sizes: Single: 135 x 200, Double 200 x 200, King 225 x 220, Super King 260 x 220cm for every kind of bed.

If you don’t want to use a duvet cover  

Not everyone uses a duvet cover. If you don’t, you should choose a duvet with a cover material that won’t catch or stick to your skin.

The simple option is cotton. Just like cotton clothes, a cotton duvet won’t stick to you because it’s breathable and lightweight.

Another choice is microfibre. Microfibre covers are soft to the touch (softer than cotton) and are comfortable without bed linen.

Avoid polyester and polypropylene duvets if you want the ability to sleep without a cover – these materials are not as smooth as cotton and microfibre.

If you suffer from allergies

If you suffer from allergies, then the very least you want is a duvet made from materials that are naturally hypoallergenic.

Hypoallergenic cover materials include:

• Cotton
• Polyester
• Microfibre
• Polypropylene

Hypoallergenic filling materials include:

• Hollowfibre (polyester)
• Microfibre (polyester)

You should avoid natural fillings like down and feather.

All our duvets use materials that are naturally hypoallergenic, but we also go further by treating our duvets with anti-allergy and anti-mite treatments.

These extra steps make our duvets ideal for allergy sufferers. If your allergies are triggered by so-called hypoallergenic bedding, try our duvets instead.

If you want a luxury duvet

If you want a luxury duvet, it’s all about the cover.

Luxury duvets have a high thread count cotton cover. They usually have a 230 or 300 thread count, but some duvets go even higher.

A higher thread count means a softer, subtler fabric.

Another option is a microfibre duvet. These are soft and luxurious.

If you want a very cheap duvet

If you want the cheapest duvet, again, it’s all about the cover.

The cheapest duvets have a polypropylene cover. Polypropylene is plastic, so it isn’t soft or subtle, but it is durable and breathable.

Polypropylene duvets are perfect as a second duvet.

If you want something mid-range

You can get 100% cotton duvets for a mid-range price, but most mid-range duvets have a polycotton cover (50% cotton, 50% polyester).

Polycotton is soft, subtle and durable. It isn’t as soft or as smooth as 300 thread cotton, but it is pretty close to 230 thread cotton.

Overall

Choosing the right duvet is mostly a matter of tog ratings.

We recommend choosing a lower tog if you are a warm sleeper. You can tell if you are a warm sleeper if you keep your legs out of bed most of the time. Another way to tell is if you forego pyjamas because you get too hot.

The next consideration is budget. How much do you want to spend? 100% organic cotton and microfibre are the luxury options, polyester and polycotton are the mid-range options, and polypropylene is the best budget option.