Natural duvets offer greater comfort, through their greater drapeability and superior breathability. For the same tog rating, a natural duvet will be lighter than a synthetic. The useful lifespan of natural fillings tends to be longer than synthetic ones.

Synthetic duvets are suitable for those suffering from allergy to feathers. They tend to be less expensive than the naturals.

Goose down clusters are larger than those of duck, achieving greater warmth for the same weight of filling.

Solid fibres trap air between each strand to provide warmth. Hollow fibres also allow the air within their core to become warm. Therefore, the same mass of hollowfibre provides greater warmth than solid, leading to lighter duvets. The hollowfibres also allow the moisture to be taken away from the body.

Siliconised fibres have a softer handle than standard hollowfibre, improving the drapability and comfort of the duvet. Spiral hollow fibre gives greater loft to your duvet, increasing its capacity to retain heat, thereby reducing the filling weight required to reach a given tog rating.

Down lies closest to the bird's body and acts as an insulating layer. Feathers, which lie further from the body, do not play this role to the same extent. Feather and down duvets, therefore, need to be heavier than pure down duvets of the same tog.

British Standard tog ratings range from 4.5 (summer weight duvet) to 15.0 (suitable for very cold winters). 13.5 tog is the most commonly used tog in Ireland and the UK. However, with increased usage of central heating, 12.0 and 10.5 togs are becoming more popular.

Both natural and synthetic duvets and pillows can be washed in a large capacity, commercial machine. They can be tumble dried, again in a large machine. We do not recommend that you try to wash or dry at home as the small capacity of your machines will damage the products. Under no circumstances should either naturals or synthetics be dry-cleaned.

If proper care is given to duvets and pillows the rule of thumb is 5-10 years for synthetics and 10-15 years for naturals. Pillows tend not to last as long because they are subject to more wear and tear than duvets as you sleep on the pillow and under the duvet, therefore this would also apply to feather beds.

Proper care would involve the following:

- Regular airing of duvets (new duvets for 24 hours before use)
- Shake the duvet now and again to fill it with air and maximise its loft
- Fluff the pillow every now and then to maximise loft
- Use a duvet cover to protect the duvet
- Do not wash on a regular basis as the duvet cover acts as protection for the actual duvet. Local soiling should be hand washed and more serious soiling to be   addressed in large commercial machines ONLY.
- Do NOT dry clean.

This is a common problem. You should either have 2 separate duvets for each period or an all seasons duvet. This duvet is made up of two separate duvets – 4.5 Tog Summer duvet and a 9 Tog Spring / Autumn duvet, which can simply attach together using clips to form a 13.5 Tog Duvet. This gives you maximum flexibility.

We would suggest that you buy the next size up. If you currently use a double duvet you should buy a king size duvet and this will solve the problem.

After a period of time whether synthetic or naturally filled, a pillow will loose its loft. The only option here is to replace the pillow. The Clusterfil Ballfibre pillow has superior fillings to others, after a compaction test (25,000 compactions) it came back to within 3% of its original state.

NO! We wash and sterilise all our feather and down in house to make sure they are clean and allergy free. We then place the filling into down proof fabrics, which works as a barrier preventing the house dust mite from penetrating the fabric. We are also a member of the European Feather & Down Association and adhere to all their standards.

Mattress protectors can be washed over and over again in a regular washing machine. A single person loses over a quarter of a litre of moisture every night so it would be very unhygienic not to have washable protection (Duvets cannot be washed this often).