A ‘tog’ is an industry standard name used for measuring the warmth of a duvet. The higher the tog rating or tog value, the warmer the duvet or quilt though the tog doesn’t represent how heavy, light or thick the duvet or quilt may be. Lightweight duvets and quilts can insulate your body from the cold just as effectively as heavier ones. This is because some duvet and quilt fillings are better insulators than others.

Togs are measured in units of thermal resistance. For example, if a duvet or quilt had a tog rating of 4.5 then it would be more appropriate to be used in the summer months. At the other end of the scale, duvets or quilts with a tog rating of 13.5 or higher would be used in the colder months of the year.

summer >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> winter

The most common tog ratings for duvets or quilts vary between four point five (4.5) tog, beeing the bedding industry minimum to fifteen (15) togs which is regarded as the highest tog rating available.

A common misconception made by consumers is that a synthetic duvet or quilt, ie: filled with Hollowfibre or cluster fill fibre will be colder and less effective than a natural fill duvet such as goose or duck down. This simply is not the case. Goose or duck down is lighter and has more fill power than synthetic filled duvets. This means that less natural filling is required to achieve the same tog value as a synthetic duvet.

4.5 tog 6 tog 7.5 tog 9 tog 10.5 tog 12 tog 13.5 tog 15 tog

Tony Pollitt is the owner of Duvetsonline. Providing high quality bedding to UK consumers.