How to choose a new duvet for winter
Duvet not giving you warm, fuzzy feelings? Pick the perfect tog, filling and style for a winter’s night with this helpful guide.
Image: nanu
Cometh the winter, cometh the warm winter duvet, and with the temperature outside making it the perfect time to cosy up the bedroom, we’re ready to swap out that lightweight summer bedding for something more substantial.
If you’re investing in a new duvet for the new season, you may already be confused by the terms surrounding this super important purchase.. What is a ‘tog?’ How important is a hypoallergenic duvet? And what’s the difference between down and synthetic fillings?
Well, we’re here to bust the jargon and set you on your path to choosing the perfect duvet for winter, so you can sleep easy knowing you’ve made the right decision.
Choose the right tog
Image: Innovia 13.5 tog goose down duvet and pillow, from £130, Penelope Bedroom
The higher the number of your tog (or thermal overall grade if you want to be technical), the more volume of filling in your duvet. This will affect the ‘bounciness’ of your duvet, as well as the overall warmth. Anywhere between a 10.5 to a 13.5 tog is perfect for the winter months, but if you’re extreme in your need for duvet swaddling, you could go as high as a 15 tog duvet.
Natural or synthetic?
Image: Deluxe Warm wool duvet, £101.24, Woolroom
There are two main categories of duvet filling: natural and synthetic, each with their own pros, and potential cons.
Natural fillings include duck and goose down and tend to last longer than synthetic styles, and also have hard-to-beat thermal properties that keep you warm when you want to be, but prevent over-heating during the night. You could even consider wool as a duvet filling. According to Woolroom, wool is scientifically proven to improve sleep quality, with research suggesting that wool bedding can actually help provide up to 25% more stage four regenerative sleep – the point at which our body is thought to do the most repair and regeneration of cells.
While on the hunt for the warmest winter duvet, you may be drawn to whichever feels heaviest, but this may not always be the right choice, as Unna Patel, Partner & Filled Bedding Buyer at John Lewis & Partners, explains: “Many people prefer a heavy duvet, but don’t confuse weight with warmth, as a top quality down duvet may feel very light but has extremely effective thermal properties.”
Synthetic duvets are a good option for anyone with ethical objections to natural fillings such as feather down, and they usually have hypoallergenic qualities if you struggle with common allergies. While synthetic duvets may not last as long as natural ones, they’re easier to wash and have fillings that are evenly distributed and resist clustering like some natural fibre duvets.
All season duvets
Image: Synthetic all seasons duvet, from £72, John Lewis & Partners
For year round flexibility, consider an all-season duvet. This consists of two duvets, in the case of this design from John lewis & Partners a 4.5 and 9 tog duvet, which are fitted with fastenings, meaning they can be used separately or combined into a winter-ready 13.5 tog duvet as and when you need it.
Split tog duvets
Image: Hot & Not duvet, from £50, nanu
When you share a bed with your partner, a true sign of compatibility is agreeing on the weight and warmth of your duvet. If your significant other is a warm sleeper, but you feel the cold at night, one person usually has to compromise on both the duvet tog and a good night’s sleep. However, there are a raft of new duvets looking to problem-solve this potential relationship-ender, as the likes of nanu’s Hot & Not duvet lets you both choose a weight of your choice within one seamless duvet. Genius!
Have you made the change to a winter duvet yet? Tweet us @goodhomesmag or post a comment on our Facebook page.