# Down comforters -- must they be "noisy"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-comforters-must-they-be-noisy/646866>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 11, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-comforters-must-they-be-noisy/646866 "2013-01-11T15:35:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-comforters-must-they-be-noisy/646866/1 "2013-01-11T15:35:35Z")

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My wife and I have a down comforter made by the Company Store. My wife can’t stand the “noise” of the crinkling sound made by the cotton “shell” (not a detachable cover, just the surface which holds in the feathers).

We thought this might be a Company Store issue, but reviews of comparable products from Land’s End and L L Bean mention the same problem.

We also have a polyester-fill comforter (for not-so-cold nights) which also has a cotton shell, but which doesn’t make that noise. I’m guessing that there’s something about down which requires that the cotton shell have some property which also happens to be noisy. (I don’t THINK the noise is coming from the down itself, but I could be wrong about that.)

Anyway, has anyone come across a down comforter which DOESN’T make that noise? Or, perhaps, can recommend a down substitute (i.e., with similar warmth) which doesn’t make the noise?

(I ask this in GQ, because the central issue – what’s causing the noise – is a factual question.)

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**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-comforters-must-they-be-noisy/646866/2 "2013-01-11T15:52:05Z")

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I think we have some Ikea down duvets that are less noisy, but that might be a function of thickness rather than the material they’re made of. In my experience, the more puffed up full of air a duvet is, the noisier it is; maybe that’s because the material is under tension instead of relaxed.

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**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-comforters-must-they-be-noisy/646866/3 "2013-01-11T18:42:58Z")

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Are you using a duvet cover? I have a down comforter that is somewhat noisy in the way you describe, but it seems to me that the duvet cover abates it significantly.

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**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/down-comforters-must-they-be-noisy/646866/4 "2013-01-11T20:09:09Z")

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Thank you, both. Yes, I think the thicker down comforters do seem to be noisier – good observation. And as for stuffing the comforter inside a duvet cover, that does sound like something worth trying out.