Good places to get duvent and duvet covers?

[clicker]

debenhams do a lot of super king size bed kitdebenhams do a lot of super king size bed kit....

 

[farmerbarleymow]

You can also get pure silk duvets

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Luxury-Pure-Silk-Duvet-Summer/dp/B002BTEPS6

but I don't recommend them, except for Summer, because they're not in the same league as feather quilts for warmth.

Didn't know you could get them filled with silk. I much prefer natural fillings to synthetic as they are so much lighter. And feather pillows too so you can squidge them into the shape you want.

 

[twentythreedom]

don't forget to get a duvet to lie ON as well as one to lie under. It is the way to awesome comfort and cosiness.

Get the duck down mattress topper for extra added luxury, like I did. Then accept handmedown egyptian cotton sheets from your loaded sister

 

[farmerbarleymow]

don't forget to get a duvet to lie ON as well as one to lie under. It is the way to awesome comfort and cosiness.

Get the duck down mattress topper for extra added luxury, like I did. Then accept handmedown egyptian cotton sheets from your loaded sister

With your duck down mattress topper, quilt to lie on and then a quilt on top you remind me of The Princess and the Pea.

twentythreedom, early this morning:

 

[Sirena]

 

[Sirena]

don't forget to get a duvet to lie ON as well as one to lie under. It is the way to awesome comfort and cosiness.

My mother used to say that a blanket under the bottom sheet was worth two above it...

 

[twentythreedom]

My mother used to say that a blanket under the bottom sheet was worth two above it...

A wise woman

 

[twentythreedom]

With your duck down mattress topper, quilt to lie on and then a quilt on top you remind me of The Princess and the Pea.

twentythreedom, early this morning:

That's actually not too far from reality tbf

 

[Epona]

I have some lovely bedding which was given to us by my MIL, it's all from John Lewis. Far nicer than I'd usually be able to afford to buy for myself, but if you're not totally skint they have a good range.

 

[Fez909]

This thread has made me research wool duvets again. The blurb sounds amazing, but has anyone here actually tried one?

I found this company which, hilariously, let you go to their farm where you can meet the sheep who will provide the wool for your duvet. You stay in their hotel (£120 a night not including breakfast!) and 'try out' the wool duvet before you buy it

Reminds me of that scene in Portlandia where they go to visit the hens before deciding whether to order them in the restaurant.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

This thread has made me research wool duvets again. The blurb sounds amazing, but has anyone here actually tried one?

I found this company which, hilariously, let you go to their farm where you can meet the sheep who will provide the wool for your duvet. You stay in their hotel (£120 a night not including breakfast!) and 'try out' the wool duvet before you buy it

Reminds me of that scene in Portlandia where they go to visit the hens before deciding whether to order them in the restaurant.

I read the accommodation as including breakfast, but the wording could be read both ways.

Anyway, I'm in a narky mood after being woken up abruptly by what sounded like a gunshot (but wasn't, at least no sirens since 02:18 when I jolted awake), so I'm in the mood to go through this site and see what they claim.

Their quilts are 7.5 tog, which doesn't sound a lot, especially given the bad winters we've had over the past few years. I know with my 13.5 tog feather/down one I've had to wear clothes in bed during the coldest spells. I wouldn't fancy freezing to death in bed!

The tog is an industry standard method of calculating the insulation of a material, and has always been used for bedding as long as I can remember (and the institute behind it is based in Manchester, which I didn't know). So for example, my 13.5 tog feather quilt is a lot lighter than my 13.5 tog synthetic one due to the better insulating properties of feather and down.

But they claim this, which sounds strange and at odds with the very industry standard they cite, and use to measure their own products:

The tog rating of an item is therefore affected by a number of factors, not least the type of fibre under consideration. Some manufacturers of wool duvets maintain that tog ratings should only be applied to synthetic fibre and not natural fibres like wool. Our Southdown duvets contain 350gr of pure wool per square metre of duvet.

This equates to a 7.4 tog which presents an all-weather, all-year duvet most commonly sold, for example, in Germany.

Our reasoning behind an all-purpose duvet is simple - we don’t expect our customers to have buy two duvets of differing weights to get a decent night’s sleep all year round or to have to buy two light weight duvets and then have to Velcro them together in winter.

The other important factor is that tog measures thermal resistance and not levels of comfort which, with duvets, are two totally different things. A very warm duvet with a 13.5 tog might appear to be ideal but can turn out to be very heavy if its alpaca, for example, or it might result in disturbing night sweats if it’s synthetic.

This is odd - the tog is a BSI and from what I understand is aimed at measuring the insulation properties of a material, so the exact material isn't relevant for the test. So you could have a 13.5 tog quilt made out of hessian doormats if you liked, but it would still have to have the relevant insulation properties to qualify as 13.5 tog.

I assume that British Standards are designed to be just that - standards - so that they are an objective measure of the issue in question. But I find it peculiar that this site argues that some manufacturers of wool quilts maintain that the tog should only be applied to synthetic duvets, but don't say whether they take this view.

They then argue that the tog measures thermal resistance but not levels of comfort, which are two different things when it comes to quilts. Technically correct, as a hessian doormat quilt could offer the same thermal resistance as a feather one, but be a hell of a lot less comfortable. But surely the whole point of using the tog is to enable standardisation, so that people know how much warmth the quilt will provide? Comfort is obviously related to how light the quilt is, how well made it is, how bulky it is, etc. These are separate from how insulating it might be, but they both obviously go hand in hand, and you can't dismiss the insulating aspect for bedding.

The fact that they use the tog rating on their site suggests they are buying into the whole tog system (as they don't say they agree with those manufacturers who don't think it is suitable for wool quilts), but appear to suggest that the tog isn't as important as comfort, so it goes full circle - their wool quilts, at 7.5 tog, might not be warm enough for winter use. All rather strange.

And they throw in a scare tactic on this page, saying:

Wool is sustainable and it is obtained without cruelty unlike down and feather duvet fillings. 70 per cent of the down and feathers used in bedding and clothing come from China and you don’t want to know how this down is “collected” – it’s really nasty. Our sheep don’t particularly like being sheared but its over in minutes and they appreciate being freed from their heavy fleeces. Wool is durable. Wool fibres resist tearing and are much hardier than cotton, silk or rayon.

A number of issues with this paragraph. Firstly, feather and down are obviously sustainable, given they are also natural materials. And the raising of sheep isn't necessarily cruelty-free, just like for any livestock, given how they are bred for our purposes, and disposed of when they no longer have a purpose. I don't know of course exactly how this company manages their flock, but in general that is how livestock are managed the world over.

But they then go on to mention that 70% of feather and down is sourced from China, and 'you don't want to know how this down is collected' and 'it's really nasty'. But don't elaborate further on this page

Yet on this page they are a bit more forthcoming about the claim made above:

Wool is sustainable and collected cruelty free. Sheep don’t particularly like being sheared – it is a bit undignified – but once freed from their heavy fleece, they get all playful and bounce around – don’t want to mention this to them but its equally undignified! The “harvesting” of feathers and down is another matter entirely. 80% of the down and feathers used for bedding and the like comes from China. Most of the feathers and down are a by-product of the meat industry but there is also “live harvesting”. We don’t want to go there but if you want to see for yourself, there are clips on Youtube and a down to earth website on http://www.veganpeace.com/animal_cruelty/downandfeathers.htm. Wool is also biodegradable and recyclable.

Ah, so now we have a bit more clarity! It is now 80% of feather and down that is sourced from China (imports must have increased between the writing of the two webpages I presume), and that most are the by product of the meat industry. Quite as one would expect, given it makes sense to make use of as much of an animal as possible if you are rearing it for any purpose.

But the claim that there is also 'live harvesting' without specifying how common this might be is a scare tactic in my view, and the link to a vegan site is questionable. A classic game of saying 'some really unpleasant things happen in a foreign country that we source materials from', but failing to quantify how common that may be, so tainting the whole of feather and down imports with the possibility that they come from this type of source, at least in part, whereas without quantifying it there is just no way of knowing.

And feathers and down are biodegradable for gods sake! I suspect they could be recycled too in some form.

Not cheap either - a super king size is £264, whereas the same size from Marks is £115.

A very poorly constructed site in my opinion, and with questionable claims. But after spending two hours going through it and writing this, I'm not delving any more deeply!

 

[Epona]

Interesting post - personally I'm never going to use down because I fear much of it (unless it is labelled as wild collected eiderdown, which is much more expensive) may not be gathered with methods that I would be happy to support. My OH is also allergic to duck down so never going to use it anyway. And I'm allergic to wool. The ones I have (which were a gift) are the silk filled ones, it's like going to bed wrapped in a warm soft cloud. Not machine washable though, which is not ideal when you have pets.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Interesting post - personally I'm never going to use down because I fear much of it (unless it is labelled as wild collected eiderdown, which is much more expensive) may not be gathered with methods that I would be happy to support. My OH is also allergic to duck down so never going to use it anyway. The ones I have (which were a gift) are the silk filled ones, it's like going to bed wrapped in a warm soft cloud. Not machine washable though, which is not ideal when you have pets.

That's fair enough. I don't have a problem with feather and down being collected as part of the meat industry, the same as skin for leather. But yes, if there was evidence that a substantial proportion of such materials were collected through live harvesting then I would have an issue with feather quilts. But as this site fails to quantify this, it just appears to be a business tactic to put people off buying feather quilts. And surely, if this practice was a commonplace issue in China, there would be much better, and more reputable, sources than a vegan website.

Oddly, I was allergic to feather bedding when I was a kid, but it just disappeared in adulthood. No idea why, but I'm happy that it did!

 

[Epona]

That's fair enough. I don't have a problem with feather and down being collected as part of the meat industry, the same as skin for leather. But yes, if there was evidence that a substantial proportion of such materials were collected through live harvesting then I would have an issue with feather quilts. But as this site fails to quantify this, it just appears to be a business tactic to put people off buying feather quilts. And surely, if this practice was a commonplace issue in China, there would be much better, and more reputable, sources than a vegan website.

Oddly, I was allergic to feather bedding when I was a kid, but it just disappeared in adulthood. No idea why, but I'm happy that it did!

I can't stand the feel of feather bedding anyway so it's neither here nor there even if it weren't for allergies - thing is that OH doesn't eat meat so we don't have byproducts of the meat industry either - and knowing that ducks grow 4-5k down feathers a year when they are alive and can live for up to 20 years, I doubt very much that no duck has ever been live-plucked in pursuit of a profit - because that will generate far more profit than slaughtering and selling the carcass for a few £ with a bit of down as a side deal.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I can't stand the feel of feather bedding anyway so it's neither here nor there - thing is that OH doesn't eat meat so we don't have byproducts of the meat industry either - and knowing that ducks grow 4-5k down feathers a year when they are alive and can live for up to 20 years, I doubt very much that no duck has ever been live-plucked in pursuit of a profit - because that will generate far more profit than slaughtering and selling the carcass for a few £ with a bit of down as a side deal.

Perhaps the solution is to have a flock of ducks at home, and train them to sleep on top of you at night. The ultimate quilt!

 

[Epona]

Perhaps the solution is to have a flock of ducks at home, and train them to sleep on top of you at night. The ultimate quilt!

That would be awesome! They're not the soundest sleepers though so it might not be very restful! Like many species of birds, they only have to sleep with half of their brain at a time, the other half can stay awake. And in my experience of bird-keeping, that means a lot of apparent 'sleep-talking'.

OH would still be allergic though. He had to stay at a distance from my birds when they were still alive.

 

[Treacle Toes]

WOW farmerbarleymow post 41# is quite a critique. It's 7:20am in the morning and i'm left thinking 'why am I not still in bed!'

 

[farmerbarleymow]

WOW farmerbarleymow post 41# is quite a critique. It's 7:20am in the morning and i'm left thinking 'why am I not still in bed!'

I was in a bad mood when I was woken up so suddenly, and the site annoyed me so I couldn't help myself.

I felt better after taking it apart though.

 

[Treacle Toes]

I was in a bad mood when I was woken up so suddenly, and the site annoyed me so I couldn't help myself.

I felt better after taking it apart though.

In that case, good channelling! I may have been up since 6am (dark), watching sunrise and playlisting

 

[danski]

I have a wool duvet from dunelm mill. I got it in the summer as it's thinner than my feather and down duvet. I was much cooler with it. Now it's getting colder I am finding it warm enough but I plan to change back next week as it's just not quite as cosy, being thinner. It is very nice and I'm glad I got it but am looking forward indulging with my other one (and my new bedding from habitat )



Eta. This one

 

[DrRingDing]

I'm rather conflicted about the down issue.

Yes I know it's contributing to animal abuse but it's so god damn good.

Looks like I'll need to get synthetic

Any recommendations?

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I'm rather conflicted about the down issue.

Yes I know it's contributing to animal abuse but it's so god damn good.

Looks like I'll need to get synthetic

Any recommendations?

Feathers all the way, and sod the animals.

Synthetic quilts are fine, but are heavier and bulkier sadly. I've even found this when I've bought relatively more expensive ones. That's why I only have feather nowadays, as it is so light and comfy. They are the lightest quilts I've ever had.