Down Comforter - Soft Luxury

There are so many factors to consider when you are in the market for choosing a down comforter. There is the quality, the warmth rating, and of course the price of down comforters. Usually the price is where people balk and decide against a down comforter for their bed. I am here to encourage the purchasing a comforter set and to show you how you can find one that will suit your needs and your pocketbook at the same time.

Types of Down

Down comforters are made from geese or duck down and make the best bed comforters. Down is not "feathers" as many people believe, but the actual soft clusters of filament under the feather. This is what insulates the water fowl from the cold. Goose down is better than duck down. Eider (geese) down is considered the highest in quality and warmth. Eider down is also the most expensive down comforter you can purchase, but don't let this discourage you. Eider down is the most lightweight yet retains the most warmth for down comforters. Light weight down comforters are great for all weather, even warm weather. Many down comforters are a mixture of down and feathers, the most expensive will have more down.

Some down comforters are actually filled with a hypoallergenic synthetic down. These comforters are very comparable in warmth and softness to that of actual down and can save you some money if budget is of a concern. There are some benefits of using actual down such as loft that can trap warmth better, but if you are allergic than a synthetic down comforter is a great option.

When you are shopping for down comforters, you will notice that the packages or tags are marked with a fill power rating.  You will need to understand this rating in order to find the highest quality down comforter for your needs.  In simplest terms, the fill power will tell you how fluffy the down comforters are going to be.  Fill rating refers to how many cubic inches one ounce of down will fill.  The higher the rating the more dense the down the more loft the comforter will get and the higher the loft the more warmth it retains.  Down comforters with a high fill rating will last longer and breathe better than those with lower ratings.

Good quality down comforters will have a fill rating in the 500's and the best will have ratings over 600.  Some even go as high as 800!  The higher the fill rating the fluffier the comforters will be, however one can still get a high fill power light weight down comforter, just look for one that uses less down.

Cleanliness Ratings

Down comforters go through two cleanliness testings before they are brought to market.  These tests are an oxygen and turbidity test.  The oxygen test shows how much organic matter is left in the comforter after it has been washed and the turbidity test shows how many suspended soils are in the material that the down comforters are made of.  The oxygen rating should be 10 or below, the lower the number the better.  The turbidity rating for a quality down comforter should be 550 or higher.  These two numbers will help with the reduction of allergies when it comes to down comforters.

I know this video has zero information in it, but it is a funny example of how some animals react to the down in down comforters.  Sometimes it is a purely instinctual reaction.