About Norvegr

Norvegr – The Short Story

Norvegr is a Norwegian heritage brand manufacturing luxury down duvets. With a philosophy firmly rooted in uncompromised quality, all Norvegr down is meticulously sourced and filled in channel constructed duvet casings. This technique ensures the smallest amount of down is used, while at the same time providing a maximum and even level of warmth and comfort.

Norvegr – The Long Story

As far back as the Viking Ages, down and feathers have been a part of Norwegian history, trade and craftsmanship. The most precious down was known to be hard to obtain, considered by the royalty and nobility of Europe as a highly sought after treasure.

For Norvegr, the story of the Vikings is of more than historical interest. It authenticates the legendary Norwegian tradition of trading luxurious down products that underpins the business today. Centuries have passed, but power still commands privilege, and there are few truer privileges than the bliss of a perfect night’s sleep. Norvegr continues to pursue the time-honoured tradition of creating superlative bedding for an exclusive, international clientele.

Norvegr is a family business honouring its traditions. The family started in the down trade in the 1950s, producing down duvets and pillows while maintaining and restoring such products. Located in the Norwegian city of Trondheim, a unique knowledge has been gained after decades of refining their trade. A stringent vision to pass these skills on results in an uncompromising product to this day.

The Norvegr product range consists of duvets filled only with the most exclusive down. The down comes from cold parts of the world, where the birds create the largest down pearls. It ranges from the Arctic White Goose and the Siberian White Snowgoose to the highly prized Norwegian eiderdown, which is hand picked from abandoned nests and hand cleaned. The annual quantity is less than 100 kilograms and is arguably the most exclusive down in the world.

With a channel construction utilized since the 1950’s, the best down attainable, and a philosophy of making uncompromising quality, the products are unusually light. These duvets provide an unmatched level of comfort, due to the unique breathing and temperature regulating abilities that down provides. With the low weight, down duvets can easily also be used in climates around the world where down previously was considered too warm. Norvegr supplies some of the world’s foremost luxury hotels including Belmond and Relais & Chateaux.

Choosing a weight

Norvegr duvets come in four weights.

Summer Duvet

Light airy duvets, making hot nights dry and comfortable beneath a very light duvet, filled with small amounts of down, spread in many channels, an almost see-through duvet. Summer duvets work well all the way down to 10 degrees Celsius outdoor temperatures with an open window in the bedroom, and also for bedrooms with air conditioning or closed windows.

At lower temperatures, we would recommend using a blanket on top of the duvet over your feet, or choosing an all year duvet. Summer duvets work well up to 30 degrees Celsius.

Temperature guidelines: 10°C up to 30°C, 50ºF up to 86ºF.

All Year Duvet

The down duvet for the sleeper in a relatively even temperature through the year, and for bedrooms with air conditioning.A many-channeled duvet filled with a higher amount of down than the summer duvet. Our all year duvets work well all the way down to 0 degrees Celsius outdoor temperatures with an open window in the bedroom, and also for bedrooms with air conditioning or closed windows.

At lower temperatures, we would recommend using a blanket on top of the duvet over your feet, or choosing a winter duvet.

Temperature Guidelines: 0°C up to 20°C, 32ºF up to 68 ºF

Winter Duvet

Warm, soft, comfortable duvets, even for sleeping in a cold room. Perfect if like to have your windows stay opened, while still keeping perfectly warm under your duvet.These duvets work well all the way down to minus 10 degrees Celsius outdoor temperatures with an open window in the bedroom.

At even colder temperatures, we would recommend using a blanket on top of the duvet over your feet, or choosing a Polar duvet. Winter duvets work well up to 15 degrees Celsius.

Temperature Guidelines: -10°C up to 15°C, 14ºF up to 59ºF

Polar Duvets

Wide channeled and well filled. These duvets are very warm, intended for those who get cold easily during the winter, and for cold winters in cold climates. Let your glass of water freeze to ice, while still keeping perfectly warm under your duvet.These duvets work well all the way down to minus 25 degrees Celsius outdoor temperatures with an open window in the bedroom.

At even colder temperatures, we would recommend using a blanket on top of the duvet over your feet, or closing the window. Polar duvets work well up to 10 degrees Celsius.

Temperature guidelines: -25°C up to 10°C, -13ºF up to 50ºF

Please note that these temperature guidelines are built on average observations, and individual preferences play an important role. The down that Norvegr uses, as well as their signature channel construction, allows for the duvets to cope with temperatures both above and below the guidelines. 

Choosing a duvet quality

Classic Collection

• Arctic White Goose
• Fill power 12cm/170 mm/705 LOFT.

Sea birds living in the Arctic develop highly impressive down in order to cope with sub-zero temperatures both in and out of the water. Down from the Arctic White Goose is snow-white, feels almost weightless, and yet keeps the body at ideal sleeping temperature. 

Premium Collection

• Siberian White Snowgoose Altai
• Fill power 14 cm/200 mm/810 LOFT.

This natural product is renowned worldwide for its outstanding insulation and fill power. The semi-domesticated geese survive the Siberian winter in temperatures of minus 40° Celsius, thanks to the remarkable quality of their down, which produces the best loft (fluffiness) ever measured among commercially available grades.

Its extreme habitat, the world’s coldest place for farming, is what pushes nature to produce its greatest response and makes Siberian White Snowgoose Altai the best commercially available grade of goose down in the world. Siberian White Snowgoose Altai down creates an unsurpassably warm, beautiful and extremely light duvet. 

Eiderdown

Eiderdown is highly priced and differs from all other types of down. Place a little down in your hand and the warmth can be felt instantly, spreading and expanding to cover a surface area in a mere moment. Holding up a ball of Eiderdown and the down pearls form a weightless yet solid ball. This is because the Eiderdown does not have quill shafts, but instead has a fizzed central point from which the down barbs spread outwards and where miniature hooks at the end of the barbs make the down stick together. Substantially more durable than a traditional quill feather makes for a highly durable and hardwearing duvet some of which have been in use for more than 100 years.

Norvegr sources its Eiderdown from the Norwegian island of Svalbard, where the Eider ducks are cared for by the locals and co-exist with the infamous Polar Bear. The annual quantity is less than 100 kilograms and is arguably the most exclusive down in the world. We fill the down in a channel constructed duvet casing made from the finest batiste from 100% pure Egyptian cotton. The seams are hidden inside the duvet on three sides, and there is no stitching right through the duvet casing. Instead we use baffle walls between the channels, to make sure that the down reaches everywhere inside the casing. This way, the duvet is equally as thick all the way through the channels, and you will not have any cold spots against your body.

Norwegian eiderdown

• The most exclusive quality there is.
• The best heat retention of all types of down.
• Down hand picked from abandoned nests and hand cleaned.
• An annual quantity of less than 100 kg.
• Washable
• Ten-year guarantee 
• Can be restored back to its original shape and be as good as new after ten years, with the guarantee extended another ten years.

This very particular type of down is found on the Norwegian island of Svalbard and comes only from the female Eider duck. There are many reasons why the Eiderdown material has been coveted for so long and its secret is quite literally kept close to its chest - found exclusively on the female Eider who meticulously plucks off her own breast to feather her nest.

After midsummer, the female and her ducklings leave the nest and head for sea - and harvesting can take place. Each nest yields approximately 15-20 grams of down which is hand collected and hand washed, taking a highly skilled person a full week to clean a single kilo of Eiderdown which was taken from up to 60 nests. The hand cleaning process is an essential step to ensure the preservation of its unique qualities. 

Choosing a Pillow Quality

Choosing the right pillow can sometimes be a challenge. There are specially designed pillows in the market for people lying on their side, on their stomach or on their back.

For those who are unsure of the pillow quality they desire, Norvegr has found the solution to be a bit simpler. If you do not have any special preferences, they recommend a somewhat larger Classic Collection pillow on the bottom, and then a top pillow, smaller or the same size as the bottom pillow. This way you can vary the support for your head the way you like, by using both, or using only one of the two. Offering two pillows like these, they cater to all kinds of people, necks and body shapes, and have happy customers. 

Standard Collection

The Standard Collection pillows are made from The Standard Collection Pillows uses 30% small feathers, and 70% pure down. Standard Collection pillows are slightly more firm than the classic collection pillows. This variety is also better for larger pillows to make the right bounce and consistency for larger pillows. Recommended if you want a firm pillow. 

Product Details

• Filled with a high down to feather ratio and small feathers.
• 70% down from arctic white duck and goose.
• Norvegr pillows contain large amounts of air and thereby breathe very well. This keeps your head cooler, absorbing the moisture you let out during the night.
• Down pearls are also much more resilient than feathers, which makes for pillows with a very good longevity.

Classic Collection

Norvegr’s classic pillow collection is made with a high fill power pure down, while the standard collection is made with a filling with a high down to feather ratio and small feathers. The advantage of making pillows this way comes from the unique qualities of the down pearls themselves. While a feather is two dimensional, a down pearl is three-dimensional. When using the right type of pure down or a filling with a high down to feather ratio, one gets a pillow with the perfect volume, however with a much lower weight than a feather pillow or a pillow with a high feather to down ratio. Recommended if you want a medium or soft pillow. 

Product Details

• Pure down from arctic white duck and goose
• The pure down pillows are soft enough to adapt to all peoples necks and heads, while at the same time they offer the support that you want.
• Norvegr pillows contain large amounts of air and thereby breathe very well. This keeps your head cooler, absorbing the moisture you let out during the night.
• Down pearls are also much more resilient than feathers, which makes for pillows with a very good longevity.

The advantage of making pillows this way comes from the unique qualities of the down pearls themselves. While a feather is two dimensional, a down pearl is three-dimensional. When using the right type of pure down or a filling with a high down to feather ratio, one gets a pillow with the perfect volume, however with a much lower weight than a feather pillow or a pillow with a high feather to down ratio.

Premium Collection

The Premium Collection is 100% down from Siberian White Snowgoose. This is pure goose down and the most luxurious pillow we offer. It is ever so slightly softer than the Classic overall, although not too far from it. For those that prefer goose down in their products this is a fantastic pillow.

• Down from Siberian White Snowgoose
• The pure down pillows are soft enough to adapt to all peoples necks and heads, while at the same time they offer the support that you want.
• Norvegr pillows contain large amounts of air and thereby breathe very well. This keeps your head cooler, absorbing the moisture you let out during the night.
• Down pearls are also much more resilient than feathers, which makes for pillows with a very good longevity.

Guarantee

All Norvegr down duvets come with a ten-year guarantee. However, because of the down’s fantastic abilities to regain its shape, and the durability of the most exclusive qualities, the down will last for decades when treated the right way. Therefore, if you invest in Norvegr down products, your duvets and pillows will potentially remain with you for a long, long time.

Restoration

After seven to ten years, we recommend that you send your duvets and pillows back to Norvegr. Their service department will open them, steam clean and dry the contents, replace the cotton casings and add new down if needed.

After having restored the duvets and pillows in the service department for you, they will be as fresh as new. At the same time, Norvegr will extend the warranty on your duvets for another ten years. After these additional ten years, the process of restoring the products can be repeated another time. The result will be equally as good, and they will extend the warranty a second time.

With the restoration process in mind, the duvets and pillows are eco friendly products. Their cost is also dramatically reduced given their potential life spans. For our standard, classic and premium collection duvets, and for the pillows, the cost of the process is one third of buying similar, new products at the time the restoration is done. For our limited edition duvets, price on request. The products come out fresh as new after their restoration.

Construction

The Material

The duvet and pillow casings are made in the finest batiste from 100 % pure Egyptian cotton. This fabric meets their extremely stringent requirements and is woven in a way that allows the down to breathe. It is impervious to down. The quality is woven to give the user a maximum of comfort, with a beautiful finish.

The Construction

Norvegr makes only channel constructed duvets. This is the way they have done it in their family for more than fifty years. Channel style duvets wrap better around your body both length- and widthwise, and will not let the air in the room in under your duvet. This kind of construction requires a high quality of down, for the down to stay in place inside the duvet. Box stitched duvets camouflage a lower quality down, since the construction gives it less space to move around.

The Details

Channel style duvets allow for filling and emptying of the down. Norvegr can empty the duvet casing and perform maintenance on the down, and adjust the filling if necessary. All Norvegr duvets and pillows can be restored. Within the channels, the down is allowed to circulate and give you the comfort and well being that only down is able to achieve. The air lets the down transport humidity away from your body during the night. On average, this amounts to almost half a liter per night.

Duvets are often made with an outside seam and a decorative piping to hide it. Norvegr duvets are made without outside seams. No stitching goes all the way through the duvet casing between the channels. Instead, there are 2,5 or 4 cm walls sewn between them. With no outside seams, and walls between the channels the down fills the duvets better. The duvets are equally thick all over and feel more comfortable against your body, with no irritating seems or piping brushing at your skin.

Health Benefits

Contrary to a lot of people's conceptions, down is the best choice for asthmatics and people with allergies. This is because allergy to down and feathers is very rare, whilst allergy to mites is the main problem for asthmatics and people with various allergies. Recent medical studies show that synthetic pillows may contain eight times more allergens (from mite) than down and feather filled pillows. The dust mites are killed at around 57°C, when washing the down products or restoring them in our service department.

Duvet Care

Making your bed

To get the most out of your products at all times, your duvets and pillows should be aired regularly, and the pillows should be puffed up after use. Every morning, give your duvet and pillows a gentle shake. Do not beat, vacuum or dry clean. Leave the duvet folded over once for an hour or so before you make up your bed. This allows for moisture inside the duvet and in the bed to escape. You may very well leave the duvet to air outside, but do not leave it directly in the sunlight.

Washing your duvets and pillows

Norvegr duvets and pillows can be machine-washed and tumble dried at up to 60°C, if you follow our washing instructions. We strongly recommend professional laundering, and would advise against washing your duvets at home. This is because you need a very big machine to properly tumble dry them.

The most gentle way to wash your down duvets and down pillows, will take quite a bit of time, but leave you with the best result. Use a wool detergent, and a gentle program on your machine. Rinse an extra time after the washing program is finished. Use a moderate sling, so the products are not completely squashed. Then put in the tumble dryer until they are almost dry, if possible with less than maximum heat. Take out before completely dry, and leave to dry on a table for the last few hours. Pat and turn them once in a while. This entire process can take around 12-18 hours to complete. If you are in a hurry, the products can be washed with full spin and then put in the tumble dryer until completely dry. We recommend to wash the products at 30°, but you can go all the way up to 60°C if you would like.

Norvegr Repair Service

Should an accident occur, and you tear a hole in your duvets or pillows, spill something on them, drop a cigarette on them etc, do NOT throw the products away. Norvegr can replace the cotton casing. If the down needs to be cleaned, they can do that too. Maintenance/restoration procedures cost much less than replacing the products. Please email info@thesleepshirt.com to enquire about the duvet repair and restoration services.

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