In the upcoming cold months ahead, there are many types of bedding that are available to the consumer who is looking for comfort and aesthetic quality when designing a bedroom. If you peruse through a furniture catalog or a website for home furnishings, there are many kinds of bedding items to choose from. Whether you are looking for king size pillows or more specifically you are looking for a goose down duvet sale, there is something for everyone. Ideally, the consumer is looking for bedding that is both aesthetically appealing and provides maximum comfort. Of the two, comfort should probably take precedence over aesthetics. One of the most popular items for the bedroom is a duvet or a comforter which provides a nice warm layering over you during cold nights. Of the duvet types that are available, the best and most highly recommended is the goose down duvet. Many shoppers may not be familiar with a duvet or for that matter, what goose down is. For that reason, it’s important to examine what is goose down, how it differs from other types of fill, and what a goose down duvet is.
For starters, down are fine feathers that come from birds. If you have never seen down, you have more than likely seen the products down is used for such as a fluffy, soft down jacket or a down sleeping bag. While the most common type of down you hear about are either duck or goose down, virtually all birds have down feathers. Down feathers are distinguished from the more common contour bird feathers plucked from a tail or a wing. Essentially, down feathers tend to cover the rest of the bird’s body. Goose down is tiny and sort of resembles pussy willows.
What’s important about goose down is that they are an excellent source of heat insulation especially on cold nights. The small air pockets found in goose down allows air to be encapsulated and provide warmth. Air also flows through these natural fibers without which allows greater comfort to humans without getting stifling or uncomfortably hot.
There are different degrees of insulation that goose down provides in a sleeping bag, a comforter, or duvet depending on the “fill power” of goose down used in each of these items mentioned. The basic rule of thumb is that the more goose down the item is filled with, the better the insulation provided. In very cold sub-zero temperature, you would want to buy the duvet or comforter with the most down fill. This information should be found on the packing itself.
Goose down duvets are typically available in two main varieties the Hungarian goose down duvet and the Siberian goose down duvet. The Hungarian variety is regarded being a better quality as it is typically lighter and offers better insulation. This is because the Hungarian goose down feather have a longer filament which in essense mean there is a greater number of fibers which allows for more insulating clouds to be produced with the Hungarian duvet is made.
The Siberian goose down duvet has a very large variation when it comes to it’s quality. This is essentially because Siberian goose down is actually a trade name, which means that lower quality goose down may have the exact same name. That being said Siberian Goose Down is still a step up from the white goose down duvet which is generally regarded as the basic or lowest level in goose down duvets.
Now that down feathers and their uses for humans have been identified, let’s look at duvets and how they differ from other bedding such as comforters. Some historical background provided might be useful to know.
The term “duvet” originated in France over 300 years ago. At its most rudimentary level, it was not much more than a flat bag filled with duck down and feathers. The “duvet” (pronounced doo-vay) was really a bed covering that was used without any other type of bedding. When the duvet arrived in the United States many decades later, there was some confusion about what “duvet” really meant. A lot really depended on the retailer. Some have identified a goose down duvet, for example, as a “comforter” which for most retailers is not the same thing. Other uses for “duvet” are simply nothing more than a comforter cover. This definition is in sharp contrast to the original French definition of duvet which is closer to resembling a comforter than a thin comforter cover. In today’s bedding departments, a down filled comforter is probably the closest one might find to the original duvet.
The duvets that are used in Europe have not differed much in the 300 years they’ve been in use. Duvets used there are basically a thick blanket filled with down or other natural fibers than a big thick comforter sold in the bedding departments of many stores in the United States. Regardless of what defines a true duvet and what is a comforter, what’s important to note is that the construction is similar and they are both intended to provide warmth and comfort during cold nights.