A winter duvet is a duvet rated 10.5 tog or higher, made to keep you warm when the bedroom is cold. For most UK homes, 13.5 tog is the right winter weight. Choose 10.5 tog if your bedroom stays warm with the heating on, and 15 tog if the room is cold or unheated.
Here's how to match a winter tog to your bedroom:
| Your bedroom in winter | Tog to choose |
|---|---|
| Heating on through the night, room feels warm | 10.5 tog |
| Heating goes off at night, room cools down | 13.5 tog |
| Cold, draughty or unheated room | 15 tog |
| You run hot whatever the weather | 10.5 tog |
| You feel the cold | 13.5 or 15 tog |
Tog measures how well a duvet holds in heat, not how heavy it is. Our guide on what a tog rating means explains how it's measured.
Is 10.5 tog enough for winter?
Yes, a 10.5 tog duvet is enough for winter in a well-heated bedroom. It's the middle weight that suits most of the year in a home with central heating. If your heating goes off overnight and the bedroom gets cold by morning, 10.5 tog will feel thin and 13.5 tog is the better choice.
Plenty of people use 10.5 tog all year round, adding a blanket in January and taking it off in May. Our page on the 10.5 tog duvet covers when it works and when it doesn't.
Is a 15 tog duvet too hot?
Yes, a 15 tog duvet is too hot for most centrally heated bedrooms. It's the warmest standard rating and is made for cold rooms, older houses with poor insulation and people who feel the cold badly. In a warm room, 15 tog will make you sweat and wake up.
If you share a bed and one of you runs hot, go for 13.5 tog. The colder sleeper can add a throw on their side, which is easier than the warmer one sleeping half out of the duvet.
What tog suits an unheated bedroom?
An unheated bedroom in winter suits a 15 tog duvet. With no heating, the room can get close to the outside temperature on a cold night, and 15 tog holds the most warmth of any standard duvet. If the room is unheated but well insulated, 13.5 tog is often enough.
Our microfibre winter duvet comes in 10.5, 13.5 and 15 tog, in single, double, king and super king. The filling is hypoallergenic hollowfibre in stitched channels, so it stays spread across the duvet rather than bunching in the corners. Allow 24 hours after unpacking for it to loft fully.
For spring and summer, our duvet tog guide for each season covers the lighter weights from 1 to 7.5 tog.
Written by the Adam Home team at Ensor Mill, Rochdale.
