King Goose Down Doona: Fill Power, Warmth and Grades

King Quilts Are a Bigger Thermal Job

A king goose down doona has a bigger job than a queen. It covers more bed, so it needs more down to stay evenly lofted right across the surface, enough overhang that nobody pulls it off their partner, and a warmth level that suits two sleepers who rarely agree. Size, down grade and warmth are three separate decisions, and they're easiest made in that order.

The mistake we see most often is treating a king as a queen with extra fabric. Spread the same amount of down across a wider quilt and you get thin patches at the edges, cold shoulders, and something that feels heavier than it warms. The fill has to scale with the area, which is why down quality matters to your budget on a king in a way it never does on a single.

Fill Power Beats GSM on a King Bed

GSM tells you how many grams of fill sit in a square metre. It doesn't tell you how warm that fill is. Down is measured by fill power, the volume a given weight of down lofts to, and a higher fill power reaches the same warmth with less material. On a king, that difference is multiplied across the biggest surface area you own.

It's why the grade of down matters more than the weight on the label. Our most popular pillow is filled with 95% Premium Polish Mother Goose down at 900 fill power, and a higher fill power reduces the amount of down needed to reach a given density. A heavier quilt isn't automatically a warmer one. Often it's simply a quilt filled with weaker down.

A note on fill claims. Fill-content claims such as "100% down" are representations under the Australian Consumer Law's prohibitions on false or misleading conduct, and the ACCC has taken enforcement action against quilt suppliers whose products didn't match their labelled down percentage. If a percentage looks too good for the price, ask what the supplier can show you. Read the ACCC's media release.

Choosing the Warmth Level for Your Room

Warmth is the decision to settle first when you're shopping for a king goose down doona, and that's the right order. It mirrors the order we recommend for pillows: choose the size, then the density, then the down quality that suits your budget. Settle how warm you want the quilt, then decide what quality you want to pay for.

The right level depends on your bedroom more than your postcode. A heated room, a doubled sheet layer or a partner who runs hot all pull the answer down. An unheated room in an older house pulls it up. Our guide to Australian quilt warmth ratings walks through the scale from lightest to heaviest, and if one of you wakes up throwing the covers off, our advice for hot sleepers is a better starting point than buying lighter and hoping.

The Down Grades Behind Our King Quilts

Every down we fill with is Class 1 or Class 1A, and each grade has a fill power behind it rather than a marketing name. Higher grades cost more per kilogram but need less weight for the same warmth, so a premium fill gives you a lighter quilt. These are the fills we work with:

• Rated 1A Icelandic Eiderdown: approximately 700 fill power, and thermally it functions as well as 900 fill downs. We use it in bespoke bedding.

• 98-99% White Polish Hand Select XXL Class 1A Mother Goose: 900 fill power at a turbidity of 1000, collected from the breast only and then sorted by hand with only the largest clusters individually selected.

• 95% White Premium Polish Goose Down: Class 1 at 850 fill power.

• 95% Polish Goose Down: Class 1 at 750 fill power, and 90% White Polish Goose down at 700 fill power.

• 95% European Duck down "TOP TOP": Class 1 at 700 fill power. Duck is generally more affordable than goose at a comparable warmth.

We don't publish a single king price, because the price moves with the grade and the warmth you choose. For scale, Hand Select Mother Goose down costs us over AU$800 per kilogram before customs and some freight, and a king quilt holds a lot of it. Compare the finished quilts in our luxurious range of down quilts, or contact us with your bed size and warmth and we'll quote the grades that fit your budget.

One Quilt, Two Sleepers, Two Warmths

King beds hold two people with two different thermostats, and the usual fix is two single quilts that slide apart in the night. We make His & Hers quilts instead: one king quilt, two sides, a different warmth level in each. You each get the warmth you asked for under one shared cover.

If your bed isn't a standard king, or the mattress depth means the standard drop leaves you short, we make bespoke sizes here in Australia. Our custom size order guide explains what to measure. Otherwise, our full quilt collection lists every size and warmth we hold, and you're welcome to contact us before you order if you'd like a recommendation for your room.

Made in South Australia From Imported Down

Every king goose down doona we sell is handcrafted here in South Australia, at N2, 21 Beafield Road, Para Hills West. Country-of-origin claims like "Australian Made" have to satisfy the safe-harbour test the ACCC administers under the Australian Consumer Law, which turns on whether the product was substantially transformed in Australia. Ours is made here, from imported down and German Weidmann casings.

Imported feathers and down have to be treated by a biosecurity method approved by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, such as gamma irradiation or moist heat sterilisation. We provide our Veterinary Health Certificates for all imported downs so you can see the down is sterilised to strict Australian standards and free from avian flu and other known diseases, and we believe we're the only Australian business that openly does so.

Standards Australia publishes AS 2479-2007, which sets the purity, composition, classification and labelling rules for down and feather filling in quilts and pillows.

Ordering, Pricing and Delivery

Ordering runs in the same four steps whether you're buying in Adelaide or abroad:

1. Confirm the size. Standard king, or measure your bed if you want a custom drop.

2. Choose the warmth level, or the two levels if you want a His & Hers quilt.

3. Choose the down grade that suits your budget, knowing the warmth is already set.

4. Place the order and we make it up. Delivery is free Australia-wide and internationally.

All Australian purchases include GST, and USA customers pay no tariff. We ship across Australia and internationally to the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and Singapore. Every quilt carries the consumer guarantees the ACCC administers under the Australian Consumer Law, so it has to be of acceptable quality and you're entitled to a repair, replacement or refund if it isn't. What we no longer build the business around is cleaning. We spent 27 years cleaning quilts and wound that side down after 2020, and it's now less than 1% of our income, so a quilt you buy from us comes new, not restored.

Care Intervals and Expected Lifespan

A premium European goose down quilt will comfortably last between 10 and 15 years with basic maintenance, which is what makes the higher grades worth costing out per year rather than per purchase. Quilts and mattress toppers want washing every three to five years, and down pillows every six to twelve months. Bedding sold in Australia has to carry care instructions under the Consumer Goods (Care Labelling) Information Standard 2023, so read the label before the first wash.

Between washes, the job is loft. Air the quilt, shake it out along both axes so the down redistributes, and don't leave it compressed under a heavy bedspread for months. Our washing guide for goose down quilts covers drying properly, which is where most down quilts are ruined.

Frequently Asked Questions

Duck Down on a King Bed

It's a sound choice. Our 95% European duck down is Class 1 at 700 fill power and is generally more affordable than goose. You'll carry a little more weight for the same warmth, which some people prefer anyway.

What Our Casings Are Made From

German Batiste from Weidmann in Germany. We use TE100 across quilts and pillows, and TE270 at 380 thread count, which we call Magic Touch. After 2020 we moved all fabric supply from Chinese suppliers to Weidmann.

Where the Down Comes From

Our downs are supplied by Cedrob. Our Polish Mother Goose down comes from the White Koluda goose, developed by the National Zootechnics Institute since 1962. Polish geese are raised on family farms with flocks averaging 3,000 to 6,000 birds, while other countries are dominated by farms with flocks more than ten times bigger.

How Our Down Is Sourced

All the down we source is a by-product of birds raised for meat. We look for certifications such as the Responsible Down Standard or Downpass so the down is sourced ethically, alongside the veterinary paperwork we provide.

How Long We've Been Doing This

Supreme Quilts opened on 1 August 2001, and owner Shane Grimwade managed the business it grew out of from 1993. As he puts it, "Over my 30+ years in the bedding industry." We're Australian owned and operated.