Demand for winter comforters is strong this season

Kim Soo-kyung, a comforter buyer at E-Mart, has taken 20 or more business trips to other countries this year because she had to either buy comforter materials for winter from Australia, Hungary, and China or order comforters to original equipment manufacturers. Kim said, “We used to have acrylic comforters or thick down quilts for winter blankets but the materials are getting more diverse.”

It gets cold earlier than usual this year. With the growing interest in the “quality of sleep,” a wide range of winter comforters are selling like hotcakes.

E-Mart saw strong sales of goose down or sheep wool comforters between September and Nov. 20, which increased by 26.8 percent compared with the same period of last year. Goose down is lighter and smells less than duck down.

The price of goose down and sheep wool rose more than double for the past five years due to the decreased global demand for geese meat and lamb. Instead, demand for goose down and sheep wool is rather climbing every year due to the increase in the production of beddings and clothes.

Other kinds of comforters are also popular. E-Mart saw a 73.3 percent increase in sales of flannels, which are called “warm cotton,” in the period from September through Wednesday compared with the same period of last year. Microfiber comforters, which are known to be effective for atopic syndrome, saw a 99.4 percent rise in sales. Meanwhile, the sales of acrylic and polyester blankets, which used to be popular, fell significantly by 38.9 percent and 69.2 percent, respectively.

GS Shop, a home shopping TV channel, sold on Nov. 7 a Hungarian goose down bedding set at 1.09 million won (1,026 U.S. dollars), which is equivalent to the price of a fur coat. For 70 minutes, some 800 sets were sold. “We always sell 20 to 30 percent more winter beddings than our goal,” said Kang Hee-eun, a buyer of a total fashion team at GS Shop. “We prepared 30 percent more winter beddings this year compared to last year.”

CJ O Shopping also increased the number of bedding brands this year. It used to sell goods from nine brands last year but added more to have 15 brands including Bellora, an Italian sheep wool bedding brand, and Casaon by Casamia, a microfiber comforter brand. It sold around 1,600 Bellora’s bedding sets, which cost around 400,000 won (376.8 dollars) per set, in a program aired on Nov. 6.

Even hotels joined the competition. Lotte Hotel launched a bedding brand “Haeon,” which provides goose down comforters at hotel rooms and sells its products at the hotels. Shin Hae-won who works at a PR team at Lotte Hotel said, “Many women in their 30s or 40s or soon-to-be-married couples buy them.”