Duvet

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A bed with a duvet

A duvet (UK: /ˈdjuːveɪ/, US: /duːˈveɪ/; from French duvet [dyvɛ] 'down') is a type of bedding consisting of a soft flat bag filled with either down, feathers, wool, cotton, silk, or a synthetic alternative, and is typically protected with a removable cover, analogous to a pillow and pillow case. Sleepers often use a duvet without a top bed sheet, as the duvet cover can readily be removed and laundered as often as the bottom sheet. Duvets originated in rural Europe and were filled with the down feathers of ducks or geese. The best quality feathers are taken from the eider duck, which is known for its effectiveness as a thermal insulator.

The word duvet is of French origin, meaning "down". Its first known mention in English came in 1759, when Samuel Johnson used it in one of The Idler series of essays.^[1] In Australian English, a duvet is also called a doona. In American English, it may be called a comforter; however, a comforter is usually a slightly different type of bedding that is not as thick, does not have a cover, and is often used over a top sheet.

History[]

Records show the earliest duvets were made in China, around 3000 B.C. From Viking times, duvets of eider down were used by people on the northern coast of Norway. From the 16th century, wealthy people all over Europe began buying and using such duvets. In the 17th century, Paul Rycaut was among the first to try and market the duvet in England. In the story The Princess and the Pea, published in 1835, H.C. Andersen wrote about a princess lying on 10 eiderdown duvets.

In the mid-18th century, Thomas Nugent, an Englishman on a grand tour then passing through Westphalia, observed with surprise:

There is one thing very particular to them, that they do not cover themselves with bed-clothes, but lay one feather-bed over, and another under. This is comfortable enough in winter, but how they can bear their feather-beds over them in summer, as is generally practised, I cannot conceive.^[2]

Description[]

A duvet without a cover

A modern duvet, like a sleeping bag, may be filled with down or feathers of various quality and cost, or silk, wool, cotton, or artificial fibers such as polyester batting.

Duvets can reduce the complexity of making a bed, as they can be used without a top sheet, blankets or quilts or other bed covers. Duvets can be made warmer than blankets without becoming heavy. The duvet itself fits into a specially made cover, usually of cotton or a cotton-polyester blend. The duvet cover can be removed and laundered as often as the bottom sheet and pillow cases. The duvet itself may be cleaned much more rarely, and depending on its contents, may require specialist dry cleaning.

While a comforter is fundamentally the same as a duvet in terms of construction, it is used somewhat differently. In the United States, comforters are used on top of the flat sheet, often without a cover.

Regional variations[]

Duvets are the most common form of bed covering, especially in northern Europe. They became popular throughout the world in the late 20th century.^[3]

A British traveller in Germany in the 1930s encountered them: "She even learned to like feather quilts ('they don't seem to know about blankets – perhaps they didn't have them in the middle ages')"^[4]

Originally called a continental quilt across Australia, a duvet is now often called a doona, which is the brand name created by Kimptons (Northern Feather). The Tontine Group acquired the trademark in 1991 when its owner, Pacific Dunlop, took over Northern Feather. "Doona" is derived from the equivalent Danish and Norwegian term "dyne" and was popularized by the retailer IKEA in the 1970s.

In Asian countries like India and Pakistan, duvets are known as "ralli quilts" or razai.

Thermal performance (tog rating)[]

Manufacturers rate the performance of their duvets in togs, a measurement of thermal insulation. This enables the purchaser to select a duvet appropriate to the season: the higher the tog rating, the warmer the duvet.

A few manufacturers have marketed combined duvet set consisting of one 4.5 tog and one 9.0 tog. The light-weight one is for summer and the medium one for spring and autumn; snapped together, 13.5 togs is designed for winter. Manufacturers may also offer up to 15 tog duvets.

In some countries, such as France, the warmth of a duvet is rated in grams per square metre (gsm) instead of togs. The two systems are incompatible because, for example, a 250gsm polyester filling and a 250gsm feather filling have the same weight but offer different levels of thermal insulation and therefore different tog ratings.^[5][6] However, typical all-season sets are sold as a pair of 200gsm and 300gsm duvets, creating a combined 500gsm winter duvet, which would therefore be expected to match 13.5 togs.^[7][8]

Standards and sizes[]

Modern manufacturing conventions have resulted in a large number of sizes and standards.

In popular culture[]

The term "duvet day" is used in some countries to describe an allowance of one or more days a year when employees can simply phone in and say that they are not coming in to work, even though they have no leave booked and are not ill. The provision of this benefit became fashionable in the late 1990s with many larger companies in the UK.^[9]

See also[]

• Fill power
• Futon
• Silk comforter

References[]

External links[]

Look up duvet in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• "Mina" (2002-02-05). "How to fit a Duvet Cover: The One-minute Guide". BBC.