The 4 best comforters, tested and reviewed --[Reported by Umva mag]
The best comforters are soft and cozy or light and breezy. Our top picks are from Brooklinen, Target, The Company Store, and Lands' End.
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The best comforter is an essential piece of bedding for a comfortable night's sleep. The right combination of a plush comforter and a crisp set of sheets will make your bedroom feel like a luxurious hotel room.
We spoke to four experts from popular bedding brands and tested multiple comforters on their performance, durability, and return policy to find the best comforters for you. The best comforter, also commonly referred to as a duvet, should have features like a baffle-box construction to keep filling evenly distributed and loops to secure one of the best duvet covers, while filling and shell material can come down to personal preference. Our best comforter overall is Brooklinen's Down Comforter; it's a great pick to use year-round with a fluffy and well-made construction. If you are looking for a budget option, Target's Room Essentials Comforter is a down-alternative option that was notably soft and a fraction of the price of Brooklinen.
Find out more about how Insider Reviews tests and reviews home products.
Our top picks for the best comforters
Best overall: Brooklinen All-Season Down Comforter - See at Brooklinen
Best budget: Room Essentials Down-Alternative Comforter - See at Target
Best down-alternative: The Company Store Conscious Down-Alternative Comforter - See at The Company Store
Best cooling: Lands' End Essential Down Comforter - See at Lands' End
Best overall
The Brooklinen comforter gives the true wrapped-in-a-cloud feeling. It's light and compressible, and the down inside stays evenly distributed thanks to the baffle-box construction. Brooklinen's comforter felt the most luxurious and comfortable of all the contenders.
The outer shell is soft and stays quiet as you move in bed. While the comforter may compress quickly depending on how you sleep on it, it re-fluffs easily if you give it a shake.
On the downside, it had the most noticeable down smell. I had to fluff it in the dryer a few times for the smell to subside.
Because of the high fill power, it may be too warm for some sleepers. One of my testers, who normally sleeps with a thin silk blanket, thought it was too warm and liked the Lands' End option better.
Overall, the Brooklinen comforter is still one of the best comforters when it comes to versatility for many sleepers, especially if you don't want to bother with switching blankets every season. In case it's not the best fit for you, Brooklinen also has lightweight and ultra-warm options you can try.
Read our full Brooklinen All-Season Down Comforter review.
Best budget
The comforter from Target's budget-minded Room Essentials brand is made from polyester with a brushed percale cotton shell. Many down-alternative fill comforters with a similar construction tend to be thin and flat.
Still, this model surprised me with its moderate thickness and fluffiness, rivaling more expensive comforters. It's not as airy or compressive as down, but it's undoubtedly cushiony and comfortable.
The shell is exceptionally soft — the softest of all the products in this guide. While it's still best to use a duvet cover to preserve the longevity of a comforter, Target's is the only one I'd consider sleeping under without a cover because of how soft and cozy it feels.
Though it's marketed as a mid-weight, all-season comforter, I think it works best for warm or mild seasons. It provided comfortable, breathable insulation for spring nights in California, but I don't see it being warm enough for a winter's night in the Midwest.
We'll continue to monitor this model for long-term durability to see whether the quality matches the price.
Best down-alternative
The Company Store's comforter is thoughtfully constructed from a mix of traditional and environmentally conscious materials, resulting in a piece of bedding that's both comfortable and ethical.
The fill is made from polyester spun from recycled plastic bottles plus Tencel lyocell, a naturally breathable and cool material made from wood fibers. Meanwhile, the shell is half cotton, half Tencel lyocell that's been woven into a smooth, silky sateen weave.
The comforter has a box construction, which keeps the fill in place throughout the night. It's a good middle-of-the-road option that's neither too warm nor cool.
Overall, the comforter feels very similar to down: fluffy, soft, and compressible. The main difference I noticed is that the shell is a little stiffer and crinkly. Another significant difference is there's no down smell.
Whether you prefer not to buy animal products or want to be more environmentally friendly, this is one of the best comforters when it comes to comfort and warmth.
Best for hot sleepers
Those who sleep hot should look for a comforter with a lower fill power. The Lands' End comforter has a fill power of 550, which makes it less insulating. At the same time, it's cushiony and fluffy enough that you won't miss out on the luxury of sleeping with a down comforter. It also compresses well, but again, less so than a product with a high fill power. We named it the top down pick in our guide to the best cooling comforters.
The Lands' End has the lowest down smell of all the down models I tested. That's because the down and feather filling is washed a couple of times to get rid of odor and dust. It's labeled "hypoallergenic" by the International Down and Feather Lab. Because of this, it is one of the best comforters for folks with allergies and sensitivities.
My testers who regularly sleep hot found this lightweight comforter the least stifling of all the contenders. It acts as a soft cover-up layer, but it doesn't trap heat. In addition to being a great year-round option for warm sleepers, it's suitable to put on your summer bedding rotation (along with the best linen sheets).
What to look for in a comforter
The best comforters can be made of wool, down, cotton, or a combination of the three. Depending on your preference of fill and shell materials, comforters can vary when it comes to price and weight.
Filling
Comforters are typically filled with at least one of the following materials: Wool, down, and synthetic materials.
Wool: Made from sheep's fur, wool is great for people who are looking to layer during the winter months, or for folks who are generally cold.
Down: Down is made from the fluffy fibers underneath the feather layer of a duck's or goose's underbelly. It's used in bedding like pillows and comforters as well as clothing and outdoor equipment like sleeping bags. It's insulating, breathable, and soft. Down comforters have that fluffiness that wool does not. Look for comforters with a Responsible Down Standard (RDS) certification, which ensures the sourcing, manufacturing, and final down product are ethical and humane.
Synthetic materials and down alternatives: Synthetic materials are the animal-friendly alternative to down and are made to mimic the properties of natural down. Down alternative comforters are perfect for people that suffer from allergies, whether it be from wool or feathers.
Fill power
If you buy a down comforter, you'll want to consider fill power, which is the amount of space, measured in cubic inches, that one ounce of down occupies (e.g., a 700-fill power pillow takes up 700 cubic inches of space). If you tend to sleep hot, you want a product with a lower fill power. The higher the fill power, the lighter and fluffier the comforter is, and, somewhat counterintuitively, the warmer it is. A lower-fill-power comforter won't feel as fluffy and cloud-like, but it'll be less insulating. It's also a good idea to switch comforters based on the season unless you live somewhere with mild weather year-round.
Shell material
We recommend opting for a duvet cover. Most comforters these days also come with corner loops or tabs so you can put a duvet cover over it. A duvet cover protects your comforter from your body oils and is easier to wash. If you aren't looking to cover yours, the shell or exterior fabric will be important to you. You'll want something that feels comfortable, smooth to the touch, and fits your sleeping needs. The main shell materials to look out for are percale and sateen:
Percale: A type of cotton weave that feels matte, crisp, airy, and breathable. One thread is woven with another thread into a tight grid pattern.
Sateen: A type of cotton weave that feels smooth and silky. It's less breathable and also tends to snag more easily. Three or four threads are woven over one thread into a looser grid pattern.
Construction
Comforter construction is important because it gives you insight into the durability of your comforter. Depending on the weave it will reflect how the stuffing will lay inside and how warm you will be.
Baffle-box construction: A design that separates the top and bottom layers of the comforter with a vertical fabric layer. This maintains an even fill distribution and consistent fluffiness.
Sewn-through construction: A design that sews the top and bottom layers of the comforter directly together, with no middle layer of separation. This can lead to uneven distribution of filling and cold spots, which is why baffle box is generally the preferred design.
Laundering or maintenance
If you are looking to clean your comforter at home, make sure you buy a comforter that isn't dry clean only. Maintenance can vary depending on the materials your comforter is made of or filled with, so make sure you pick a comforter that is accessible to you and your needs. If it's made from a synthetic material, it's OK to wash it in the machine with a gentle detergent. If it's made from down, it's best to only air dry or put it in the dryer on air fluff.
How we test comforters
I spoke to four experts to learn more about the most important features of a comforter: Chelsea Nightengale, the general manager of The Restoration Hotel; Dale Fox, the founder and CEO of Foxden Hospitality; Sarah Abitbol, the CEO of bedding brand Riley; and Katie Elks, the Director of Design and Product Development at Brooklinen.
I evaluated each of our comforter contenders on the following criteria:
Performance: I slept with each contender in the same duvet cover (Casper's Hyperlite Duvet Cover) for a minimum of three nights. I paid attention to the comfort and feel, breathability, and sizing. I noted whether the inside material shifted during the night, whether the comforter had corner loops, and any other special features. I also had family members test each product for a minimum of one night.
Cleaning and durability: I washed and dried each product according to brand instructions and noted whether the filling bunched up or fell out and if there were any loose threads. We didn't consider any dry-clean-only products since we believe you can get a great comforter that is machine washable.
Return policy: Outside of comfort and durability, I looked at the return policies of each brand and only considered products with a minimum 30-day return policy. Since bedding purchases are very personal, you must have the freedom to return your comforter if it doesn't fit your expectations.
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