There are so many available and I see a range of warm-levels and materials, but how do you know what's really good to sleep with?
I'm definitely only interested in light natural materials.
Thanks
How do you look for a good quality, light, silk &/or goose down duvet?
General advice: Get one advertised as middle-of-the-road, try it out for a few weeks. If it's too warm for you, or not warm enough, or not fluffy or whatever, it gets exiled to the guest room (a guest room should always have a middle-of-the-road duvet anyway, as people's preferences vary so much) and you buy a different one. Simple.
If your house's indoor temperature varies drastically between summer and winter, swapping duvets twice a year may also make sense.
Either way, "silk and/or goose down" is an odd combination to specify. I get that you're into luxe natural materials, but how warm is your bedroom and how covered-up do you like to sleep? That matters more.
Also, silk on the duvet itself is pretty much a waste as it won't be touching your skin. Get a cotton duvet and a silk cover if you really want to sleep in (and care for) silk. Me, I'll take cotton all the way; throw it in the washing machine and go.
I would use a cotton cover anyway, but I heard that silk filling is meant to be light and on the not-so-warm side.
Bedroom is cool, but I still can't handle a warm cover.
Whatever you buy, please read the label of where the goose downe comes from. Do not support supplies from Hungary.
Why? Because it is a really cruel practice in that land. They keep stripping ALL the feathers from the geese, repeatedly as they grow, causing extreme pain and stress. The naked geese stagger around in agony after going thru this treatment. When they eventually are on the verge of death, they`re slaughtered to provide goose meat to restaurants.
There are videos on uTube showing this practice, which I`ll not give links to here, as they are too horrible to watch.
On Dragons Dens UK recently, there was a company making duvets from wool.
Link: http://www.baavet.co.uk/shop/
cheers
SC
I too keep the bedroom cool and find feather duvets much too warm, synthetic ones are out of the question for me as well.
I bought some years ago a " 4 saison " duvet, which is actually two duvets, that have pop domes to keep them together for the winter.
One is wild seide ( wild silk ) the other is schur-schafwolle ( sheeps wool ).
I love the wild silk one and use it for most of the year, the sheep wool one only when it is actually really really cold ( both together would be too much for me ). You can wash both easily in the machine and would thoroughly recommend the wild silk, for a comfortable, not hot and sweaty sleep.
Pfister has some wild silk ones for a reasonable price I feel and they are Swiss made, if that makes any difference.
They do lie much flatter than the feather duvets, but I like that as well, good luck with your search.
Oh, I see Smoky wrote about the goose feather plucking, if you are buying pillows or duvets with Goose/or Duck feathers, I would look on the label to see if it states that the feathers are "Maschinal gerupft" or something like that, meaning, the bird was plucked after death.
Thank you all. That's very helpful. I am considering a 4-season combination.
In the olden days the bum feathers were plucked from mature geese for stuffing pillows/duvets, and i took years to fill a bag with the fine fluffy bum feathers. My grans old age occupation was to sit in the sun outside with a goose upside down on her lap and she`d delicately remove any loose feathers.
Nowadays its "cheap labour" with maximum brute force for profit.
The silk / sheep fillings sounds an all round more practical, and humane practice.
Anyway, feathers break down over the years, the fine powdery particles finding their way out of the covering and agravating allergies/asthma. Plus feathers go clumpy, and are not washable.
I've looked into it a little further and seen some nice looking (feeling) duvets from Christian Fischbacher, warmth level 1. They are 'Lugano' and 'Locarno' models.
Has anyone bought one of these? Are they worth the money? And will I get a better night's sleep??
Tried looking in Globus?
Yes, today. That's where I saw the Christian Fischbacher duvets.
Are you Christian, Michael or Camilla?
If you get one, get one that's more 3+1 than 2+2.
It gives you more options:
4
3
1
That's what we had.
my humble recommendation would be to not buy any down material as these down are plucked form live animals as a way to increase the yield from the geese.
a few videos
I feel cold easily and would recommend wool (have used it since childhood). They don't offer them usually in mainstream shops, but if you ask the sales stuff, they do have them in catalogs, and can be ordered.
tip: there are 30% billerbeck discount days. if you order on that day or buy from what is available in the shop, you get 30% off
they had some last year in globus outlet in dietlikon, I think some are also planned for this year, you can give them a call and ask
p.s. some recommend bamboos, but I don't have any experience
Which type did you choose in the end?
Still haven't made a decision. Heard yesterday from another specialist that down might just not be for me; that I may always feel hot, no matter how light the duvets are.
I'm going to look into other natural fibres and see what i find out.
If I get a Christian Fischbacher, the Lugano or Locarno, Warmth Level 1
Hurry up, you could fall asleep first before making a decision.
I have a wool one from Indigo Betten in Zürich and I like it a lot. You can google for their website, I think they have other natural materials as well.