Tips on buying bedding

When purchasing bedding articles it is generally advisable to pay attention to tested quality. High-quality down-proof fabrics and selected filling materials (down and feathers) are used to manufacture these. The tested products undergo strict controls in the course of the various production and cleaning processes.

Down- and feather-filled bedding articles carrying the NOMITE® brand feature a particularly down- and feather-proof fabric ticking, which makes them suitable for house-dust-allergy sufferers.

Inside our homes, most house dust mites are found in mattresses. Shed skin scales and mites easily penetrate the open-pored fabric of the mattresses, so that the mite allergen is dispersed with every move the sleeper makes. House-dust-mite-allergy sufferers are strongly advised to fit a mite-proof cover encasing the whole mattress. Large quantities of mite allergens can also be found in upholstered furniture, carpets, cuddly toys and indoor air (e.g. in the dust stirred up when vacuum-cleaning).

The down-proof fabric used for down and feather bedding functions as yet another virtual “mite barrier”. It is very tightly woven to prevent down and feathers from leaking through the fabric. House dust mites and human skin scales, on which the mites feed, cannot penetrate into the ticking.

Consequently, long-term studies have found only extremely small concentrations of mites and allergens inside down and feather bedding. Down and feather beds achieve, therefore, extremely positive results when compared with synthetic bedding. They are completely safe from an allergologic point of view. Bedding articles filled with down and feathers neither host house dust mites nor do they provide a source of food for them. (1)

Even recent international research conducted in the form of long-term surveys examining a possible relation between down and feather bedding articles and house dust allergies, has unanimously refuted the popular view that such bedding articles pose an increased risk for house-dust-allergy sufferers. (2), (3)

1. Jürgens, H. W., Abschlussbericht „Ökologische Untersuchungen zu Hausstaubmilben” (Final report: “Ecological studies of house dust mites”), 1992
2. Nafstad et al., ClinExpAllergy 2002 Aug; 32(8): 1150-54
3. Ponsonby et al., J ClinEpidemiol 2002 Jun; 55(6): 556-62