We’d all love better bedding so read what Kim has to say about upgrading your bedding.
We’ve uncovered how you can sleep easy with bedlinen that has minimum impact on the planet. Every small step you can make towards sustainability is good. And putting a little extra thought into what bedlinen you choose could help you sleep better at night!
Electric Blankets
Electric blankets and throws might not be your first thought when it comes to being eco-friendly. But they’ve come a long way since your gran’s day. Now, they’re designed to be highly energy-efficient – and they’re an eco-conscious choice when compared to heating up the whole bedroom/house. An electric blanket/throw that targets heat to where you need it (your body) you can lower your energy consumption overall. On average, they can cost a little as a few pence to run over several hours. We love the Dreamland Hyyge Days Luxury Faux Fur Warming Throw, It’s super soft and strokeable, a cosy cuddle cocoon that heats up quickly in just a few minutes and comes with safety features built-in, including an auto shut-off system.
Bamboo Bedding
Bamboo is an eco-friendly and sustainable fabric choice. It’s one of the fastest growing plants on the planet, consumes much less water than plants like cotton, and absorbs more CO2 than most plants, too. It also requires no pesticides and is a biodegradable and compostable fabric – so your bedlinen won’t harm the environment in landfill when you eventually part ways with it. We love the
Bamboo bedding range at Belledorm. We’ve got one of their duvet covers and it’s one of the softest and silkiest things we’ve ever slept under. It’s naturally temperature-regulating, moisture-absorbing and breathable, too (bliss for menopausal ladies who may suffer night sweats).
Hemp Bedding
Hemp has the look and touch of linen – but is more sustainable. It takes less water to grow than linen, has a natural resistance to disease and can be grown without chemical fertilisers. It’s also biodegradable and decomposes naturally in soil. Try 100% Organic Hemp Bed Linen from The Secret Linen Store.
Vegan Down Bedding
Duvet Hog creates duvets filled with ‘vegan down’ made from recycled PET plastic water bottles! And you’d never believe it when you feel how soft, plumpy, marshmallow-like and light the filling is. It’s win, win all round: plastic gets a second life instead of being discarded in landfill or the oceans; geese and ducks get to keep their feathers. And Duvet Hog pillows and duvets are produced in an eco-factory using renewable energy with zero waste.
Second-Timer Down Duvets
The Second-Timer Down Duvets from Secret Linen Store are ingenious, too. They’re stuffed with 100% recycled down filling taken from garments and bedding that have reached the end of their life. The used down is manually taken, collected, washed and regenerated without the use of any environmentally harmful products to create a warm, breathable, light, clean and super luxurious filling.
Sheridan – An Australian Brand
We love the fact that more and more mainstream bedlinen companies and retailers are doing their bit to be sustainable too.
Take the chic Australian bedding brand Sheridan. They have a Tencel Lyocell Fibre range that combines cotton with Tencel, a compostable and biodegradable fabric made from wood pulp from sustainably managed sources and manufactured in a responsible production process. We also really like the fact they use leftover fabrics in their designs, rather than dump them in landfill. The beautiful Harlyn Quilt Cover has a super soft cotton base striped with leftover linen yarns to make multicoloured bands, so each stripe and each design is one-of-a-kind.
Dunelm
If Dunelm is your favourite place for bedlinen, look for their ’Conscious Choice’ label to shop their products made from sustainable materials. To get this stamp of approval, the item must be made from at least 50% more sustainable materials (by weight), compared to conventional alternatives. So, things like responsibly sourced cotton and recycled polyester. Many products also offer an extended guarantee of between 5-25 years. That’s to encourage people to keep products away from landfill. We love the Dorma Winter Garden reversible duvet set.