The Ultimate Duvet Tog Guide | How to Choose the Best Duvet

The best duvet is one that keeps you perfectly comfortable at an ideal warmth, all year round. A duvet Tog guide is a great way to help you decide, but you’ll also need to consider whether you’ll need anti-allergenic features, your budget, and how heavy you’d like your duvet to feel. Follow our ultimate guide, and you’ll end up with the perfect duvet to upgrade your sleep.

Duvets work by trapping warmth around our bodies, and this is measured by a Tog rating. Essentially, this means how warm a duvet is, or how effective a duvet is at retaining heat. The rating system means that the higher the rating, the warmer a duvet is. 

Weight, thickness and Tog are not the same, though. Duvets can provide a high Tog rating, without necessarily meaning they’re heavy. For example, a thinner, 10.5 Tog wool duvet often feels heavier than a puffier, 10.5 Tog synthetic duvet, since some lightweight materials act as great insulators. They’re both measured as a 10.5 Tog duvet, meaning their warmth level is determined by the thermal properties their materials have and any specialist technologies they’ve used. Like the insulating but airy down-like fill in our Hybrid™ duvets that mean they stay light and thick, without feeling too heavy. 

Like clothing, duvets are often split into seasons. This means the most suitable Tog correlates with your room temperature – not outdoor temperature. Since most UK households aim to keep their rooms between 15-18°C in winter, we’ve pulled together a rough duvet Tog temperature guide for you:

Personal preference plays a huge part in how we decide what is the best duvet to buy – aside from seasonal changes. How we regulate our body temperatures differs from person to person, which means what one person might think is comfortable might not be for another. So when you’re taking a look at Tog ratings, here’s a few questions it’s worth asking yourself: 

• How warm do you like to be at night? 
• How warm is your bedroom? 
• Does your bedroom’s temperature change significantly during the different seasons? 
• What sort of climate do you live in? 
• How long do you keep the central heating on for when you use it? 
• Do you sleep with your window open, or with a fan on? 
• Are you prone to overheating? 
• Do you get cold a lot at night? 

If your temperature does seem to change significantly, or you notice your comfort levels are different depending on the season, it could be worth investing in a duvet for each season, or one you can adapt to suit your desired temperature – like our Hybrid™ 3-in-1 Duvet.

Your Tog preference might depend on these questions, but seasonal temperature changes are the biggest influence when it comes to buying a duvet. While some love having the same duvet year-round, others might want to swap out their duvet to match the seasons. Like having a 4.5 Tog duvet in summer, and a 10.5 Tog duvet in winter – as our handy table above shows.  

Logically speaking, the highest Tog duvet should see you through even the coldest climates, when you’re searching for what Tog is a winter duvet, 10.5 to 15 Tog is ideal. Since the UK has mild winters, the cocooning 10.5 Tog of our Hybrid™ Duvet would be more than enough to keep you warm. In the same line of thought, the hotter the weather, the smaller the Tog. But what Tog is a summer duvet? Some people might forego duvets altogether for a light sheet, but for those who like the reassuring weight of a duvet, we recommend a 4.5 Tog one like our specially designed Summer Hybrid™ Duvet. Complete with ‘cool-touch’ tech for ideal sleep in warmer seasons. 

However, the best duvet Tog for all year round doesn’t matter too much if you’re using our Hybrid™ Duvet, since it’s got Stratos® tech and light fill to keep you at a comfortable temperature, or Hybrid™ 3-in-1 Duvet, thanks to its two duvet design that you can adjust to suit different seasons.  

How to choose a duvet doesn’t just depend on the Tog. Factors like duvet fillings and the cover materials can also help you decide which one is best for you. It’ll often come down to whether you have allergies, how luxurious you want the finish and how dense you’d like the fill. 

Those with allergies that flair particularly at night are best avoiding down and feather fill duvets, since these can aggravate and make sleep feel uncomfortable. In this case, a duvet with a synthetic or wool fill and an outer made from a naturally breathable material like cotton will offer a more soothing sleep. These materials are said to be anti-allergenic, so you won’t spend the night interrupted by sneezing. 

If you prefer lighter comfort, a duvet with airier fill (like our Hybrid™ range) gives all the cocooning luxury you need with a less constricting feel; whereas wool duvets are often chosen for their comforting weight – but won’t have the puffy, cloud-like feel ours are known for. As for the outer, silky, smooth materials like cotton result in a more luxurious, durable finish that keeps you dry and prevents you from getting too hot. Those made from polyester can leave you sweaty and sticky, and feel cheap and flimsy. 

But it’s worth noting some duvet outers do far more than feel good and keep you cosy: others have features that are all designed to keep you comfortable. Like the Stratos® ‘cool-touch’ technology on our duvets, which provides instant coolness to the touch and is engineered so you stay at just the right temperature, even on warmer nights.