Washing pillows and comforters: how to do it right!

27. February 2026 | Categories

In spring 2020, the motto is: stay at home. To slow down the spread of the global coronavirus pandemic, everyone who can is currently staying at home. Because we spend so much time within our own four walls, tidiness and cleanliness are becoming increasingly important. Traditional spring cleaning is more popular than ever in times of coronavirus. What could be better than the feeling of freshly laundered bed linen? Exactly: sinking into completely clean pillows and comforters! To make sure nothing goes wrong when washing your pillows and comforters, we have summarized all the important information for you here:

Washing pillows and comforters: Do they have to be?

Each of us loses moisture, skin cells and sebum during the night. On average, we produce at least half a liter of sweat at night! The moisture naturally evaporates quickly, but the salts and skin oils it contains remain behind. Around 0.5 to 1 gram of dead skin cells are removed from our skin every night. In combination with moisture, these provide an excellent breeding ground for house dust mites.

Care for your bedding

Bed linen catches a large proportion of this dirt. There is no question that they therefore need to be washed regularly. But despite bed linen, some of the night-time soiling gets inside comforters, pillows and mattresses. Salts and skin oils can cause down and feather fillings in particular to stick together in the long term. This makes them heavy and reduces their volume and insulation performance.

How often should pillows and comforters be washed?

We should wash our bed linen relatively often: once or twice a month is a good guideline. Your pillow and comforter don’t need to be washed as often, of course, but you should give them a treat once or twice a year. Incidentally, pillows are subject to more wear and tear than comforters and should therefore be washed a little more often. Try washing them every three months or so.

Natural hair cleans itself

Natural hair blankets made of wool, cashmere and camel hair have a self-cleaning effect. Due to their high natural fat content, dirt and odors do not stick to them easily. You therefore need to wash them less frequently than other bedding if you shake them out regularly and air them out well.

When should comforters and pillows be replaced?

If you treat your bedding with care and look after it a little, you will enjoy it for a long time. Shake comforters and pillows regularly in the morning and let them air out well. This will help them retain their original volume and great properties for a long time. For reasons of hygiene, however, you should replace comforters and comforters after 7 to 8 years and pillows after 2 to 3 years.

Observe the care label!

So we should wash pillows and comforters once or twice a year – but what do we need to bear in mind? First of all, you should take a look at the care label. The most important information is summarized here. At how many degrees can I wash my comforter? Can the pillow be tumble dried? Are there any special instructions to follow? The small symbols on the washing instructions will tell you the answer.

Can you wash pillows?

Don’t worry: all pillows made from our functional fiber and Feather/down assortments can be washed without any problems. If you follow a few rules, washing won’t harm them at all. For our pillows with a removable inner pillow, you can also wash the outer cover separately to protect the filling.

Can I wash my down pillows at home?

IMPORTANT: Only wash your feather and down comforters and pillows at home if you have a tumble dryer! The fine down and feathers clump together during washing and need to be separated again. This only works so well in the dryer that the bedding regains its usual fluffiness and warmth. You can wash your feather and down pillows in a household washing machine with a capacity of 5 kg or more.

Never vacuum!

You should also never vacuum down pillows and comforters, as otherwise the cover could lose its downproofness and small feathers and down could be sucked out.

How do I wash my comforter?

You can wash our complete fiber range conveniently at home in a washing machine with a capacity of 4.5 kg or more. Feather and down comforters can be washed at home with a capacity of 7 kg or more.

Washing pillows and comforters: How full can the laundry drum be?

For oversized comforters or comforters, we recommend that you wash them in a launderette, as the washing machines there have a larger capacity. It can help to look at the weight of comforters and pillows to make a correct assessment: You can easily wash them in your household washing machine up to about one kilo filling weight. Pillows should always be washed individually. The washing drum must not be too full: It is best to only fill it halfway. If the drum is too full, the detergent cannot be distributed evenly and your washing machine can damage itself in the long run.

Washing pillows and comforters: Everything at a glance

Which detergent can I use for pillows and comforters?

No fabric softener!

First things first: never use fabric softener! No matter whether feather/down, natural hair or functional fibers: fabric softener would stick together the fine filling fibers and the branches of feathers and down, which would drastically reduce the lifespan and bulking power of your bedding. Always use liquid detergent without optical brighteners.

Liquid mild detergent

You can use mild detergent for our easy-care fiber range. You should use an alkali-free mild detergent for feather/down comforters and pillows. Special down detergents are particularly gentle. Natural hair should only be washed with wool detergent. In any case, it is better to use too little detergent than too much. A third of the normal dosage is sufficient for bedding.

At what temperature are comforters and pillows washed?

The material of the comforters and pillows determines the temperatures at which they can be washed. Our functional fiber ranges are particularly easy to care for: you can wash all comforters and pillows at 60°C in the easy-care program of your washing machine. Exception: The cooling Famous pillow with Outlast® Heatspreader should only be washed at 40°C. For feather/down bedding, it is best to use the wool wash program up to 40°C.

By the way: house dust mites die in the washing machine at a temperature of 60°C. To remove the small creepy-crawlies even at lower washing temperatures, you can put comforters and pillows in the freezer overnight before washing them. Do you suffer from house dust allergies? Take a look at ^{AllergoProtect®} at!

Washing cashmere and camel hair

You know it from your cashmere sweater: wool products are often a little difficult to wash. Comforters and pillows filled with natural hair are usually not washable at home, or only to a limited extent, because they can shrink or felt quickly.

Rinse & Spin

All detergent residues must be thoroughly rinsed out to ensure that the bulkiness and insulating properties of our bedding are not compromised. However, be careful when spinning: Fiber comforters and pillows should be spun at a maximum of 1000 rpm, bedding with feathers should only be spun at a maximum of 800 rpm. The quills of the feathers could break under higher loads.

How do I dry fiber comforters and pillows?

You can either air dry our pillows and comforters with fiber filling or tumble dry them. However, the temperature in the dryer must never be too high, otherwise there is a risk of the fibers melting together. The same applies to tumble dryers: do not overfill as this could cause a build-up of heat. Take comforters and pillows out of the washing machine immediately after washing. Shake the laundry well so that the filling is well distributed again. When air drying, it is best to lay pillows flat on a clothes horse, comforters can also be hung on the line. The faster the bedding dries, the better: it is best to place it in a warm place, in the sun or near the heating. You should keep fluffing and turning pillows and comforters as they dry.

How do I dry down comforters and down pillows?

Feather and down bedding must be dried in the dryer so that the fine feathers and down are separated again. Pay attention to the capacity of your dryer. For bedding with a filling quantity of more than 850g, we recommend using a dryer with a drying capacity of 10kg. If your dryer at home is too small, it is better to take your down pillows and comforters to the nearest launderette. Put them straight into the dryer after washing. You can dry our feather and down range on a normal heat setting. It is best to add tennis balls or special dryer balls to the machine. These help to fluff up the bedding properly. After drying, there must be no residual moisture left: dry them in at least three cycles for 30 minutes each. In between, you should leave the items to cool down for about an hour and shake them up again and again.

What is the best way to store comforters and pillows?

Under no circumstances should you store comforters and pillows in the wardrobe immediately after drying. They should only be stowed away when they are really completely dry. Please do not use plastic packaging, but an air-permeable container. You can use our bed packing bags, for example, as they are ideal for storage. Always store comforters and pillows in a dry place. For natural protection against moths and a fresh smell, you can use lavender sachets.

Can neck support pillows and toppers be washed?

The cores of our special and neck support pillows and the foams of our toppers are not washable. However, they are equipped with a removable cover to protect them from soiling. If necessary, you can remove the cover and wipe the cores with a damp cloth. Allow them to dry thoroughly afterwards. The covers of our special and neck support pillows and mattress toppers are easy to wash. The covers of the ^{NeckProtect®} pillows and side pillows, as well as the Vario Nature and Vario Space covers from our pillow bar are washable at 40°C. All others can be washed at 60°C. Some of the covers are even suitable for tumble drying: Please pay close attention to the care symbols on the respective washing label.