The 7 Best Comforters for Hot Sleepers, Style Snobs, and Everyone in Between
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We here at Robb Report are used to enjoying the finer things in life: whisky, menswear, the latest and greatest travel destinations. But what about comforters? Bedding, after all, is more than just a cozy cocoon upon which to rest your head at the end of the day (or the ideal companion for your daily cat nap); sleeping under the best comforter is one of the ultimate signs of luxury, because it shows you care about the most sacred ritual of all—which is sleep, of course.
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Sure, we’ve ventured into the labyrinth that is luxury sheets, but comforters are a different realm, even though they’re an important component in catching those sweet Zzzs. The market is flooded with everything from bamboo to hypoallergenic microfibers to down woven into your duvet, a wide array of materials that can make it nearly impossible to discern which bedding is right for your sleep cycle. So we put our team of writers and editors to work, asking them to spend some time cozying up with the best comforters you can buy to tell you what’s truly worth your money.
After all, we spend about a third of our lives in bed; you might as well spend those moments being as comfy as possible. Here, the seven best comforters to get your best rest yet.
Boll & Branch Down Duvet
The difficulty in evaluating a duvet for the benefit of readers is the vast differential in otherwise similarly intelligent, sophisticated, and empathetic people’s personal definitions of seemingly simple words, namely “warm” and “cold.” So let me begin by giving you a sense of where I fall on that lexigraphic spectrum: I prefer swimming pools the temperature of chicken soup, and, as my Robb Report colleagues would attest, I’m the one wrapped in a pashmina in the office. In July.
With that disclaimer established: The Boll & Branch down duvet comes in three weights, and I went with the middle, concerned that my prewar Manhattan apartment’s tendency to overheat in the winter (thanks to the building’s steam radiators, for the uninitiated) might make the heaviest a little too warm even for me. It’s still too soon to tell with certainty, but that choice may have been overly optimistic. Though it’s early fall as I write—and the heat has yet to kick on—I’ve had to burrow a little deeper under the covers a couple of nights.
The fine detailing is all there: Bafflebox stitching keeps the down evenly distributed, and
a simple ribbon-and-loop system ties the duvet to the four corners of the cover’s interior so it won’t slip and slide, one of the distinct disadvantages of my previous duvet. Nothing worse than the whole fluffy insert ending up on the other side of the bed or bunched at the foot. The organic cotton shell purports to be “down-proof,” meaning the feathers won’t leak out. The cover I chose is of the palest lemony yellow hue. Even the hidden buttons on the bottom plaquette are pretty.
Boll & Branch promises its down is cruelty-free and ethically sourced from American farms—and prides itself on being the first 100 percent organic Fair Trade Certified bedding company. The company also triple-washes its down. I tend to have low-level seasonal allergies year-round and have been feeling less congested since switching to this duvet.
The duvet cover is smooth and soft to the touch. But another sensory reaction may hold even greater appeal: When you crawl under the duvet or turn over as you drift off to sleep, it emits a subtle, soothing rustle like the muffled crunch of footsteps in the snow. Julie Belcove
Sferra Arcadia Duvet
About five years ago, I purchased my first alternative down comforter from Restoration Hardware when a young Gen-Z sales associate convinced me it was the honorable thing to do. I’ve held onto it because it serves its purpose; it’s warm and cozy and soft—the most basic requirements for this luxury necessity. However, I’ve always been turned off by the crinkly sound it makes, which I always thought was an attribute resulting from the faux interior material.
Sferra’s Arcadia Duvet flipped my script. Its lightweight, hypoallergenic microfibers feel as soft and plush as real down feathers and doesn’t have any of the sound side effects I experienced with my previous bed topper.
The medium weight offered plenty of warmth for this New Yorker, but the heavier option will offer more volume both in depth and for a more pronounced design perspective. Ultimately, if you are looking for a good alternative down comforter then this is definitely the one. In fact, you cannot tell the difference from a true down filling. In my opinion, everyone should be a convert. Paige Reddinger
Tuft and Needle Percale Duvet Set
When it comes to our sleeping habits, my husband and I couldn’t be more different. I’m always cold while he, unsurprisingly, runs warm. I pile on lots of blankets. Prop my head up on no less than two pillows. Pop a few CBD melatonin. On the other hand, he could doze off at the drop of a hat with nothing but a top sheet and the TV still on. Because of this, I prefer to use a duvet year-round—something that’s plenty puffy (for me) but still breathable (for him), so I gave the Percale Duvet Set from Tuft and Needle a try.
We had just spent a weekend in a comfy hotel bed, so I had high expectations when we returned home. The insert itself was just as plush as I had hoped. It’s also ridiculously lofty and surprisingly lightweight, while the cover is crisp and not at all scratchy. The latter sports a zipper closure, which is way easier than buttons, plus it has corner ties that help keep the insert in place. They’re particularly handy if you toss and turn frequently. I’m the problem, it’s me.
As a self-proclaimed cover hog, I like that the cloud-like set is purposefully oversized so I’m able to wrap myself up in a cocoon without disturbing my partner. At least, I think. For some, the fullness of the duvet might be borderline too much. It can be a bit tricky to maneuver when making the bed, but I’m not one to complain about something being too fluffy. The brand says this particular set is perfect for hot sleepers and naturally wicks away moisture. I’m happy to report that both of us have enjoyed many sweatless nights.
If sustainability is important to you, the duvet is Oeko-Tex certified, meaning there’s no harmful substances or chemicals. It’s also made using 100 percent SUPIMA cotton, so the whole thing gets even softer over time. Again, not complaining. In terms of aesthetics, the cover comes in five different colorways: Canyon, Cloud, Glacier, Sand, and Slate. The earthy hues are all somewhat muted, so they’re neutral enough that they’ll match any vibe. Abby Montanez
Brooklinen All-Season Down Comforter
Confession time: I am a hot sleeper. Whatever the weather is like outside my window, I am always a furnace under the covers, giving off enough heat to keep anyone else warm. (I blame my poor circulation.) Yet, no matter the season, I always like to stay bundled under a sheet and a plush comforter, like a human burrito. I simply cannot sleep without this dynamic duo. So the hunt for a comforter, then, is always a challenging one.
Enter the All-Season Down Comforter from Brooklinen. This soft offering is the definition of a luxe sleeping experience. For one, it has just the right amount of weight to it, something that can be overlooked when considering your sleep quality. The 700-fill power (a rating of the fluff and thickness of a product) comforter is so, well, comforting, making it all too easy to snuggle up underneath it without leaving you feeling suffocated; it’s a balance that’s harder to achieve than it may seem. And that filling stays evenly spread through the comforter, so you’ll have equal plushness whichever way you happen to toss and turn throughout the night. My favorite bit, though, may be how soft and silky the All-Season feels against your skin, ensuring that you actually feel good while you’re catching those Zzzs.
Was I a touch toasty during the warmer nights? At some points, yes. But that’s more of a me problem, one that could easily be remedied with Brooklinen’s Lightweight comforter option. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to find I wasn’t nearly as hot as I have been on nights gone by. And that’s a win in my book. The only other sticking point is that this comforter is dry-clean only, so getting it fully fresh isn’t as simple as popping it into your washing machine. Overall, though, you’re looking at a near-perfect comforter, one that’s worthy of its space in your bedroom. Nicole Hoey
Arhaus’s Down Duvet Insert and Italian Embroidered Percale Duvet
You can’t swing a duffle bag in an airport lounge without hitting someone who wants their bedroom to “feel like a hotel suite.” Among people lucky enough to travel—and travel well and often—there’s no higher standard of domestic comfort than the cloudlike softness of a bed at a five-star stay. And that’s more or less the benchmark against which my partner and I judged Arhaus’s Down Duvet Insert and Italian Embroidered Percale Duvet.
I say more or less because, sadly, we don’t have anyone on staff to make our bed for us every morning. (Technically, we don’t have staff at all.) But that didn’t stop us from thoroughly enjoying using both well-made bedding products. The insert itself, which comes in a deceptively small package, is about as voluminous as a Victorian hoopskirt, and you only need to look at its specs to understand why. It’s filled with a lofty 550 fill power down and sewn into a baffle box construction that keeps the feathers from moving around. This has meant that over TK months of testing, the feathers have stayed in a uniform layer, keeping us both warm from neck to toe. The material containing the down is a densely woven cotton fabric called cambric, which we’ve found is tough enough to prevent being poked by any errant, sharp quills.
As for the duvet, it has style. I’ve enjoyed its elegant lines of embroidery around the edges, a treatment that’s much more subtle than the somewhat preppy, in-your-face look of traditional Italian hotel bedding. I don’t love that the buttons sometimes struggle a tiny bit to contain the duvet itself—I’ve occasionally found small bits of the insert sticking just past the space between two of the buttons on the end of it. Still, I like the cover enough that, months after I started testing it, I went back to Arhaus for the matching shams. Justin Fenner
Cozy Earth Bamboo Comforter
I’ll be honest: When thinking about bedding, I’ve historically paid more attention to my sheets than my comforter. But ever since I got this Cozy Earth comforter, I’ve realized it’s what’s on top that matters most. I opted for the bamboo viscose option with standard fill, but you can also select a silk version and/or go big with extra fill, for an ultra-plush experience. Even without that addition, though, the comforter still feels more luxe than your everyday topper.
As someone who tends to sleep hot, Cozy Earth’s temperature-regulating fabric has made the biggest difference in my life. In the past, I’ve occasionally forgone a comforter altogether in the hot summer months—and even sometimes during the winter, when my apartment building blasts the heat and I have no recourse to turn it down. That cooling aspect, though, makes the comforter suitable all year round. I remain—as the brand’s name suggests—cozy rather than smothered.
While the comforter comes in only a bright white hue, it can be paired with the matching duvet cover, which is available in a host of muted tones that’ll work beautifully in most bedrooms, whatever your interior-design style may be. And like any good comforter/duvet combo, the cover includes interior snaps that wrap around the comforter’s loops, ensuring you don’t end up with a topper that’s all bunched up on one side. If I have any qualms with Cozy Earth’s offerings, it’s that there are maybe too many of these snaps, and the top has more labor-intensive ties that you use to close the whole package. If that’s the worst the company can do, though, its comforter and duvet cover will lead to far more dreams than nightmares. Tori Latham
Saatva All-Year Down Alternative Comforter
For some reason I can’t figure out, the greatest comforter in the world is always the comforter in a luxury hotel. Like ashtrays and rocks glasses, no matter how much you spent on what you have at home, the one in the hotel is better. The hotel comforter is lighter, softer, fresher, plusher. It’s perfectly cool when you’re overheated and toasty when you’re cold, and when you get home you look at whatever’s just laying there on the bed and think, “Why can’t you do that?”
Part of the magic, as with anything that happens in a hotel room, is that you only have to live with it for a few days (or even just a few hours) at a time. Which is why Saatva’s All-Year Down Alternative Comforter seemed to have set itself quite the task: For those of us with seasons, not switching the duvet once or twice a year is just asking for discomfort. And yet after months of testing, spanning 100-degree-plus summer heat and, well, winter (it was pretty mild), the Saatva passed with flying colors.
Modern air-conditioning and heating systems get a lot of that credit, of course, but so does another technology: materials science. The down-alternative here is made of breathable, semi-synthetic Lyocell, which the company claims traps very little body heat. (The comforter’s medium weight, at 340 GSM, and the 200 thread count of its cotton shell were likewise chosen for breathability reasons.) I’m particularly sensitive to this, as I run hotter at idle than a Porsche 917—also why I forego a top sheet—and as much as I insist on natural fibers everywhere else, synthetics have a distinct advantage when it comes to temperature regulation; just ask any serious climber. Plus, unlike actual down, it doesn’t make your bedroom look like you’ve been losing a fight to a goose.
And this comforter pulled that neat hotel trick. It was warm when I was cool and cool when I was warm. It was never too heavy or too light and somehow always felt crisp. The construction passed muster—in particular, the reinforced stitching at the duvet cover loops—and I never woke up shivering, thinking I had waited a day too long to admit that winter had arrived (though, again, it was a very mild winter). Best of all, I was always happy to see it when I got home. Josh Condon
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