The Truth About Fluffy Down Duvets / Comforters

One of the most common requests that we get is for a super fluffy comforter….that’s not too warm.

People will often reference photos of ultra puffy, giant cloud, marshmallow comforters. "I want a luxurious poof, a very fluffy comforter that won’t overheat me. It’s gotta be cool".

We’re here with some sad news. This is not really possible to achieve. And most of those images are feature comforters artificially overstuffed for the photo 😦

Super fluffy and full looking comforters contain more fill. The more fill a comforter contains, the fuller it will look and the warmer it will be. There’s a trade-off between fluffiness and warmth level, unfortunately. We’re here to give it to you straight, and to help you make an educated choice.

Let’s start with the nature of down comforters. Down is a very light, airy and delicate material. It’s also an incredible insulator. In fact, it’s the best insulator of any material – natural or manmade! Just a small amount of down creates a lot of warmth. All down comforters are quite light – even the fullest and warmest versions. High loft comforters are lighter still, as the higher the loft, the more exceptional the insulating properties.
Down does make for fluffy, cloud-like comforters, but they’re gently fluffy and they breathe and compress naturally. They’re not robustly full like overstuffed polyester comforters.
The hallmark of a high quality down comforter is lightweight warmth!

It’s also important to note that comforters made with higher loft down are not fluffier. Loft is a measure of the fluffiness of the down itself, but not an indicator of the fluffiness of the comforter.
Higher loft comforters contain fluffier down, but less down overall, because the down is so warm.
Lower loft comforters contain smaller down clusters, but more down overall.
So it evens out!

There are down comforters that are not overly warm, but they’re quite thin.
Our down comforters come in 4 warmth levels:

• Summer Weight is a thinner-style, light comforter designed for room temperatures of about 22°C and above.
• Regular Weight is a bit fuller, suitable for moderate room temperatures of 19-21°C.
• All Season Weight is fairly fluffy and quite warm – best for room temps of 16-18°C.
• Winter Weight is quite fluffy, but way too hot for most people. It generally works well for 15°C and below.

So what to do? We strongly recommend prioritizing function and opting for the most suitable warmth level for your needs. If you’re investing in a high performance, luxury product, you need it to be usable.

Some options:

1. Try a Regular Weight down comforter as a happy medium. It’s not overly warm, but it may be too warm for the hottest nights. It’s not overly fluffy, but more so than a Summer Weight. It gets you halfway to what you need, but won’t fulfill your needs perfectly.
2. Put your comforter in a smaller duvet cover. If your comforter insert is oversized relative to the cover, it will look fuller. Don’t push it too far, as you’ll notice bunching and buckling.
3. Opt for a different fill type, like feather or microfiber. Feather and microfiber don’t have the same insulating properties as down. Duvets can be more generously filled with these materials without creating too much additional warmth. While these comforters will be fuller and puffier than down comforters, you may still want to avoid the fullest versions. Very puffy and weighty feather and microfiber comforters will be very warm!
4. Go for the Summer Weight and compromise on your dream cloud-bed. Honestly, even Summer Weight comforters give a lovely, luxurious look, albeit a bit more understated.

And don’t worry – you can change your mind! If you decide you want fill added or removed to your comforter, we can do that 😊

Have any other ideas? If you have any tricks to get the ultra fluffy appearance without overheating, let us know in the comments!