Bed sizes across Europe, and why your duvet cover does not fit

There is no European standard for bed sizes. There are national habits, and they disagree. This is why a duvet cover bought abroad so often arrives looking wrong.

Mattress widths, by country

• Single — 90 cm almost everywhere. The reliable one.
• Double — 140 cm in France and Germany, 135 cm in the UK, 160 cm in Italy and Spain. The word means four different beds.
• King — 180 cm in Germany and Scandinavia, 150 cm in the UK. A UK king is narrower than a German double.
• Super king — 200 cm in Germany, 180 cm in the UK.

Read that list twice. A British king and a German king differ by 30 cm — a whole person's width.

Duvet sizes, which are a separate problem

A duvet is not the width of the mattress. It has to hang over both edges, or it gets pulled off one side every night by whoever moves more.

The working rule: duvet width equals mattress width plus 45–50 cm. A 180 cm mattress wants a 230 cm duvet. A 140 cm mattress wants a 200 cm one.

Our sizes are cut to that rule:

• Single 135 × 200 cm — for a 90 cm mattress
• Double 200 × 200 cm — for 140–160 cm
• King 230 × 220 cm — for 180 cm
• Super King 260 × 220 cm — for 200 cm

Length, which people forget

Standard mattress length is 200 cm across most of Europe, 190 cm in the UK, and 210 cm in Scandinavia and increasingly in Germany. If anyone in the bed is over about 185 cm tall, check that the duvet is 220 cm long rather than 200 — the shortfall shows up as cold feet at four in the morning.

Fitted sheets: depth is the number that fails

Width and length are easy. Depth is what makes a fitted sheet ping off the corner at two in the morning.

Mattresses have got deeper. A 1990s mattress was 18 cm; a modern pocket-sprung one with a topper is easily 32 cm. A sheet with a 25 cm skirt will not stay on it.

Measure the mattress from the top surface to the bottom edge, including any topper you actually sleep on. Our fitted sheets have a 40 cm skirt, which covers up to about 35 cm.

The rule when you are between sizes

Take the larger one. A duvet with too much overhang looks generous and drapes well. A duvet with too little gets fought over. In eight years of returns, we have never had someone send back a cover for being too big.

Measure this, not that

Measure the mattress, not the bed frame, and not the old duvet — old duvets shrink, and you would be copying a mistake. Three numbers: width, length, depth. Send them to us if you are unsure and we will tell you which size to take.