The 5 Best Down Pillows We Found After Months of Nighttime Testing (2024)

"Down" refers to the smaller, fluffier feathers recovered connected the bellies of animals similar ducks and geese. These feathers assistance waterfowl interval connected the aboveground of lakes, and helps some support and insulate them. As such, they're fantabulous for things similar insulated jackets, comforters, and, astir applicable for america here, pillows.

Since these feathers travel from animals, determination are other ethical concerns implicit however they're collected. Historically, immoderate manufacturers oregon their suppliers person employed cruel practices similar unrecorded plucking that harm the prime of beingness of the animals they root your pillow's filling from.

You tin look for certifications from organizations similar the Responsible Down Standard (RDS) and Downmark to find ethically sourced down. Both organizations acceptable circumstantial criteria suppliers and manufacturers indispensable travel to guarantee that carnal products travel from farms that don't maltreatment their animals.

Not each down is created equal, and higher prime down tin pb to much comfortableness and amended sleep. It would beryllium bully if the nebulous conception of "quality" could beryllium reduced down to a azygous number. It can't, but determination are a mates of metrics you tin usage to amended gauge your pillow's quality.

The archetypal is fill power. This measures however overmuch aerial is trapped successful a azygous ounce of down feathers. If 1 ounce of (uncompressed) down takes up 500 cubic inches, past it has a capable powerfulness of 500. This origin contributes to however fluffy the down is, arsenic good arsenic however overmuch vigor it traps. This tin beryllium a tricky fig to trust on, due to the fact that immoderate products like down-filled jackets are designed to support vigor in, truthful much capable powerfulness is better.

With pillows, connected the different hand, portion much capable powerfulness means much fluffiness, it tin besides mean much vigor gets trapped, starring to a never-ending hunt for the chill broadside of the pillow. In immoderate cases, you'll find that pillow manufacturers person stopped including the capable fig successful their descriptions, specifically to debar this confusion.

That's wherever fill weight comes in. This tin often beryllium confused with capable power, but alternatively it refers to however much down is successful the pillow, measured successful ounces. So, for example, a pillow with a little capable value mightiness person 12 ounces of down, portion a higher capable value pillow mightiness person 20 ounces. Both capable powerfulness and capable value tin lend to however fluffy oregon steadfast a pillow is.

Most pillow manufacturers volition eschew displaying either of these numbers excessively prominently, and alternatively connection selections for 2 oregon 3 levels of support. While we instrumentality these factors into information portion testing, your champion stake erstwhile buying immoderate pillow is to see however you sleep—on your side, your back, etc.—and prime the capable level that's astir apt to support your caput and assemblage supported successful a mode that suits you best.