Choosing the best duvet: what should you pay attention to?
- , Through Inge | Bath&Living
- 6 min read
After a terrible night, you suddenly remember why sleeping well is so important. And that the quality of your bedding has a huge influence on this. Because when you can't fall asleep and lie tossing and turning restlessly, you suddenly become very aware of how your bed and the materials used feel. You duvet is a major factor here. After all, it covers almost your entire bed and your body. You are probably starting to wonder: Which duvet should I choose? What is the best duvet?
What is a good duvet?
Let's start by listing what a duvet must meet. When is a duvet good? What should you look for when choosing a good duvet? What do you expect from a duvet? You want it to keep you warm all night, so it insulates. But you don't want it to feel sweaty and sticky, so ventilating properties are just as important.
The correct dimensions of your duvet are also important. A duvet that is too small will not cover you properly, especially if you share it with someone. And a duvet that is too large can slide around because too much weight hangs over the edge of the mattress. Which size duvet you need, depends mainly on your mattress size.
You probably have certain expectations regarding how the duvet feels. Do you love having a nice, heavy blanket on you? Or would you prefer to barely feel the weight of your duvet? This is a matter of personal preference, making it difficult to designate one duvet as the best.
Not only the filling and its associated characteristics are important, but the ticking (outer layer) also affects the quality of a duvet. A good duvet has a cotton ticking. Preferably as tightly woven as possible, so that dust mites do not have the chance to get through. Combed cotton is better than uncombed, a long cotton fiber is stronger and more supple than a short fiber, and a satin weave ensures extra soft quality.
The best down duvet
Let's get straight to the point: we are fans of down! They don't say "as light as a feather" for nothing. down duvet It feels pleasantly light and drapes smoothly around your body, keeping the cold out. Despite its lightweight nature, down is a good insulator (so nice and warm) and breathable (so not clumpy). The luxurious feel of down is virtually unmatched by any other duvet filling.
If the benefits of down appeal to you but you prefer a slightly heavier duvet, there are also down duvets with a lower down percentage. In these cases, the duvet is filled with fewer down clusters and supplemented with feathers. Because these, unlike down feathers, do have a quill (hard core), they provide more firmness and weight. Duvets with a lower down percentage will be less insulating, but also more affordable. Vandyck 65 A duvet is a good example of this.
Filling
We already mentioned the down percentage of a duvet above, also known as fill power, which indicates what percentage of the filling consists of down feathers. This is supplemented with regular feathers. Fill power can be a key indicator of your duvet's quality. However, the fill weight is also important. And especially: what is your preference in terms of weight and insulation? The fact is that the relationship between fill power and fill weight is characteristic of a duvet. The higher the fill power (i.e., the percentage of down in a duvet), the lower the fill weight can be without compromising on warmth. So it is up to you: are you always cold but absolutely do not want a heavy blanket? Then a duvet with a high down percentage is the best duvet for you.
Heat class
Many duvet manufacturers and sellers describe the warmth rating as simply indicating how good a duvet is. Our bedding brand Vandyck thinks differently about this. It is precisely the combination and the relationship between the warmth rating (insulation), weight, thickness, and drapeability values that make a duvet good, better, or the best (because Vandyck does not produce bad duvets). A high warmth rating or insulation value alone does not make a duvet the best for you. For instance, if you tend to get too hot easily or live in a super-well-insulated house, you would probably prefer a duvet that is less thick and more breathable.
The Vandyck duvet from the highest comfort class is the Superior 100, Made with 100% pure white Bohemian goose down and a super-light ticking of the finest cotton.
Down versus synthetic and wool
Although you at Bath&While Living primarily features down duvets, there are also others. types of fillings for duvets. Wool, for instance, is also a natural material used for duvets. It also has good insulation, ventilation, and moisture absorption. However, compared to down, it is considerably heavier and can have a distinctive odor. Among the Vandyck duvets, you will also find synthetic duvets. These have a slightly less luxurious feel than down, but are therefore also less expensive and have the huge advantage of being machine washable. This is especially nice if you suffer from a dust mite allergy.
Other possible duvet fillings are, for example, silk and Tencel. However, you will find these at Bath.&Living alone between the summer duvets. If you are specifically looking for this, feel free to take a look!
Single versus double duvet
After you have found the answer to the question “Which duvet suits me?”, you are faced with another choice. Do you opt for a single duvet? Or does a 4-season duvet better suited to you and your situation? A 4-season or double duvet consists of two separate parts that you can use separately or together, as desired. The duvet sections are not of equal thickness or warmth, allowing you to adjust to what suits you best throughout the four seasons. This is especially useful when the temperature in your bedroom fluctuates significantly throughout the year. In modern, well-insulated homes, these temperature differences are much less pronounced, and a single duvet might be all you need.
