So what should you look for? Have a look at our comforter buying guide for advice on how to choose the right comforter for you.
Consider the different comforter materials
You’ll find that comforters can be made from a number of different fabrics including wool, feather (or down), and synthetic polyester. So which of the different comforter materials is right for you?
- Feather/Down – Is created from feathers and down from ducks or geese. Down comforters are seen as luxurious and cozy, benefiting from natural fibers. Best avoided by those who suffer from allergies and asthma, as they can harbor allergens such as dust mites and fungal spores.
- Polyester – This manmade fabric can give you a relatively inexpensive product. However, the synthetic material is often non-breathable, leaving you feeling hot and sticky in the night, and resulting in poor sleep. Synthetic fibers can also lose their insulating ability after a relatively short period of time, meaning regular replacement.
- Wool – This natural fiber absorbs moisture from your body and desorbs it from your bedding, making sure you stay dry. It also helps to regulate your temperature, allowing you to sleep in comfort. Even better, it is naturally inhospitable to dust mites, making it hypoallergenic, helping to banish those morning sneezes and wheezes.
In fact, scientific studies have found that sleeping in wool bedding can mean you spend up to 25% more time in the most important stages of sleep. In other words, more time in the stage 4 sleep that helps your body to regenerate and repair itself. The result? You wake feeling truly rested in the morning. And that’s why wool is fast becoming known as the best material for a comforter, as well as for your other bedding.
How to choose the right comforter for you
Aside from fabric, there are other things to consider when looking at how to choose a comforter to suit your preferences.
The size of your comforter
Obviously this depends on the size of your bed, but some people decide to go a size up from the size of bed they own. Not only does this have benefits when sharing the comforter at night, but it can also look a little more polished when it’s made up during the day.
Comforter weight
Do you often get too hot at night? Or do you always feel the cold? Either way, you’ll want to choose a comforter that doesn’t worsen the problem. For example, if you tend to suffer from overheating or night sweats the best cooling comforter is a lightweight one to keep you cool.
When you’re working out how to choose the comforter weight, look at tog ratings. These provide a measure of the thermal resistance of fabrics – put simply how warm they are. The higher the tog, the warmer the comforter.
However, as wool is a natural fiber, it breathes and changes depending on the warmth and moisture around it. This means that a tog rating can never be fully accurate. That’s why we prefer to use descriptions like light, medium or warm, to give an idea of which comforter might be suitable for you. But we do also provide a tog equivalent as a gauge.
Still uncertain which weight comforter is right for you? Consider an all-season comforter that gives you options depending on the weather.
Choose a couple’s comforter
If you share your bed, don’t forget that you’ll need to consider both sleepers when choosing bedding. If one of you tends to feel the cold more than the other, you may find that wool is the best material for harmonious comforter sharing. The natural fibers will work with the body heat of each of you individually to help regulate your temperature. It’s clever stuff!
Now you’ve read our comforter buying guide, you should feel ready to buy the ideal one for you. Shop our full range of wool comforters online today – from luxury lightweight to all-season options.
If you're looking for a particular sized comforter, the links below may help:
