Organic Bedding: What Should You Actually Look For?

Have a think about the bedding on your bed right now. Do you know what's inside it?

Most people don't, and that's completely fair. Nobody hands you a list when you buy a doona. You pick something that looks nice, feels soft in the shop and sits within your budget, and that's usually where it ends.

But that doona sits against your skin for seven or eight hours a night, every night. What's inside it matters more than almost anything else you'll choose for your bedroom.

So if you're looking at organic bedding and trying to work out how to tell one product from another, here's what we'd want you to know first.

When We Say It's Organic, We Really Mean It

Organic is a lovely word. It's also doing a lot of heavy lifting on a lot of labels that haven't earned it.

On its own it tells you very little. The detail underneath is where you find out whether a product is what it says it is.

A few things worth checking:

• What the filling actually is
• What the casing or cover is made from
• Where the wool was grown
• How it was cleaned and processed
• Whether the warmth or firmness options suit how you sleep
• The dimensions, and whether they fit your bed
• How you look after it
• Which certifications it genuinely holds, not just what it's described as

If a product can't answer most of those, that tells you something too.

What Goes Into Our Organic Range

Our wool comes from certified organic farms. We clean it with biodegradable detergent and have it processed into wadding here in Australia, rather than sending it offshore and back again.

Then it comes to us, and every doona and pillow is made by hand on the farm in Woodend, Victoria.

All the cotton across the organic range is GOTS certified, including the thread we stitch with. That last part gets skipped surprisingly often.

There's no superwash treatment either, so no polymer coating wrapped around the wool fibre. Nothing bleached, and nothing you'd rather not be breathing in for a third of your life.

You can see the whole organic bedding range if you'd like to compare what's there.

Choosing an Organic Wool Doona

This comes down to two things. How warm you like to sleep, and how cold your bedroom actually gets.

Our organic wool doonas come in three weights.

• Summer, 425gsm. The lightest of the three. Worth a look if you run warm or your bedroom holds heat.
• Mid-season, 600gsm. Moderate warmth, and the one most people end up using all year.
• Winter, 850gsm. Proper insulation for genuinely cold nights.

Treat the seasonal names as a guide rather than a rule. Your heating, your bedroom and how warm you sleep all matter more than the label does. If you're a hot sleeper in a cold house, the summer weight can still be the right pick.

Each doona has an unbleached, GOTS-certified organic cotton casing. Putting a cotton or linen cover over the top adds a layer of protection and gives you something you can wash separately.

One more thing worth knowing. Wool holds its loft, so it doesn't drift to the bottom of the bed the way feathers do. No shaking it out every morning trying to get it back where it should be.

Finding the Right Organic Wool Pillow

Pillows are personal, and firmness is where most people get it wrong.

Ours come in Kids, Soft, Standard and Firm, across standard, king and Euro sizes. All handmade at the farm.

Your sleeping position is the best place to start. Side sleepers usually want more support, because there's a bigger gap to fill between your shoulder and your head. Back sleepers tend to be happier with something lower and softer.

The other clue is the pillow you've already got. If it feels flat and you keep folding it in half, go firmer. If it feels like a brick and you're waking up with a sore neck, go softer. You know more about this than you think.

All the sizes and firmness options are on the organic wool pillow page.

Body Pillows, and Why Ours Come in Two Parts

A body pillow gives you a long surface to lean into. It makes a real difference if you're a side sleeper, pregnant, or just someone who likes something to wrap a leg around.

We make two sizes. The Buddy is 110cm x 31cm and takes roughly 2kg of loose wool. And the Body pillow which is full-size is 150cm x 38cm and takes around 3kg.

Here's the part we think is better than how most body pillows are sold. The cover and the filling come separately.

So you decide how full it is. The more wool you get, the denser and firmer it is. Use less and it stays soft and easy to reshape. If your preference shifts six months from now, you adjust the filling instead of buying a whole new pillow.

The organic cotton body pillow cover

Every organic cotton body pillow starts with the cover. Ours are 100% organic cotton with a zip opening, so getting the wool in and out isn't a wrestling match.

Because it's sold on its own, you're not locked into one fixed level of fullness the way you are with a sealed pillow.

Making it an organic wool body pillow

Add our loose organic wool to the cotton cover and you have an organic wool body pillow you can tune to yourself.

More wool gives you a fuller, firmer shape. Less leaves it softer and more flexible. Start somewhere in the middle and go from there, since adding is much easier than guessing right first go.

Looking After Wool Bedding

The short version is to do less than you think you need to.

Wool doesn't need regular washing. Airing it in the sun once a season does most of the work, and honestly that's all we do with ours.

For a spill or a small accident, spot clean with wool detergent and dry it flat in the sun. A doona cover takes the everyday wear for you and can be washed as often as you like.

Care does vary between products, so have a quick look at the instructions that came with your doona or pillow before washing, drying or storing it.

A Quick Checklist Before You Buy

If you take nothing else from all this, take these four.

• Materials. Know what the filling is and what the outer fabric is made from.
• Certification. If it matters to you, check it is actually certified rather than just described as natural.
• Size. Measure your bed and your pillowcases, and think about how you sleep.
• Care. Make sure you're happy with how it needs to be aired, cleaned and stored.

Final Thoughts

Choosing organic bedding has very little to do with the word on the label. What matters is knowing what you're sleeping under, and picking something that suits how you actually sleep rather than how it looks in a product photo.

Everything we make is handmade in Woodend, from wool grown on certified organic farms, and all of it is fully compostable at the end of its life. That matters to us, and we suspect it's part of why you've read this far.

If you're not sure which weight or firmness would suit you, just ask. I'd much rather help you get it right the first time. Have a look through the organic bedding range whenever you're ready.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which doona weight should I choose?

Start with how warm you sleep rather than the season on the label. The 425gsm summer weight suits warm sleepers and warmer rooms, 600gsm is the middle ground most people use year-round, and 850gsm is for genuinely cold nights. Your heating makes more difference than the calendar does.

Do I need to wash my wool doona?

Not routinely. Airing it in the sun once a season is usually enough. Spot clean spills with wool detergent, dry it flat in the sun, and use a doona cover to take the everyday wear. Always check the care instructions for your particular product first.

What's the difference between the body pillow cover and the finished pillow?

The cover is the 100% organic cotton outer with a zip opening, and it's sold on its own. The loose wool filling is separate, so you add as much or as little as you like. Together they make an organic wool body pillow you can adjust whenever your preference changes.

Which pillow firmness suits a side sleeper?

Side sleepers generally want more support, so Standard or Firm usually works better. Back sleepers are often more comfortable with Soft. If your current pillow feels flat and you keep folding it over, go firmer.

What does GOTS certified actually mean?

GOTS is the Global Organic Textile Standard. It covers the entire processing chain rather than just how the fibre was grown, which is why we use it across all the cotton in our organic range, including the stitching thread.

Where is Wool Valley bedding made?

Every doona and pillow is handmade by us on the farm in Woodend, Victoria. The wool comes from certified organic Australian farms and is processed into wadding here in Australia before it reaches us.

Is wool bedding too warm for an Australian summer?

Wool behaves differently to synthetics. Rather than simply trapping heat, it lets excess warmth and moisture move away from you, which is why it works year-round in our climate. If you sleep hot, start with the 425gsm summer weight.