Markets
Bedding for Continental Europe: Duvet and Pillow Formats Country by Country
Continental Europe sizes bedding by the duvet, not the bed, and each country has its own duvet cover and pillow format. Germany dresses a double bed with two single 135 x 200 cm (53 x 79 in) duvets and square 80 x 80 cm (31 x 31 in) pillowcases; France uses square 65 x 65 cm (26 x 26 in) cases and wide 240 x 220 cm (94 x 87 in) covers; Scandinavia runs long at 150 x 210 cm (59 x 83 in); and the Netherlands buys one large cover with 60 x 70 cm (24 x 28 in) pillowcases. The figures below are the reference points major retailers in each country sell to, to be confirmed against your buyer's own specification before ordering rather than treated as one fixed standard.
This guide goes deeper on continental Europe than a cross-market overview can. For how the region compares with the UK, US and Australia in one table, see the combined bed linen sizes guide.
The continental logic: buy to the duvet, not the bed
The single idea that unlocks European bedding is that the range is built around the duvet and its cover, not around a named bed size. There is no shared "Queen" or "King" ladder as in the US or Australia. A shopper picks a duvet cover by its own dimensions, and the same bed can take several cover sizes depending on how much drape the household wants. A fitted sheet takes the mattress size; the cover takes the duvet size; the two are specified separately.
Two habits follow from this and catch first-time suppliers. First, much of the region sleeps with no top sheet, so a set is usually a fitted sheet, a duvet cover and pillowcases rather than the flat-sheet sets of the US. Second, in German-speaking countries and Scandinavia a double bed is often made up with two single duvets side by side rather than one wide duvet, so two 135 x 200 cm or two 150 x 210 cm covers can be the double-bed order, not a single large one. Confirm which arrangement the buyer wants before you count pieces.
Germany, Austria and Switzerland
The German-speaking countries share one system. The everyday duvet cover is 135 x 200 cm (53 x 79 in). The comfort or tall size, sold heavily for taller sleepers and for more drape, is 155 x 220 cm (61 x 87 in). Wider one-piece covers exist at 200 x 200 cm (79 x 79 in) and 240 x 220 cm (94 x 87 in), but the classic double is two of the 135 x 200 cm singles, each with its own duvet.
The pillow is square. The standard sleeping case is 80 x 80 cm (31 x 31 in), with a narrower 40 x 80 cm (16 x 31 in) case widely sold alongside it. A range built for the UK housewife or the US Standard case will not fit a German pillow, so the square case is a genuine new cut, not a relabel.
France
France also runs square pillows but at a different size: the taie d'oreiller is 65 x 65 cm (26 x 26 in), the same square the UK and Australia sell as a decorative European sham. Many French beds also carry a long bolster, the traversin, which takes its own tubular case and is a separate line if the buyer wants it.
French duvet covers, housses de couette, are wide. A single is about 140 x 200 cm (55 x 79 in), and the common double is 240 x 220 cm (94 x 87 in), with 220 x 240 cm (87 x 94 in) also seen and larger beds taking 260 x 240 cm (102 x 94 in). Because French homes lean to wider double beds of 140 and 160 cm, the wide cover is the volume size, so sample the 240 x 220 cm first for a French range.
Scandinavia: Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland
Scandinavia is the market that runs long. The Swedish standard single duvet cover is 150 x 210 cm (59 x 83 in), longer than the 200 cm covers used further south, and the double is around 200 x 210 cm or 220 x 220 cm (87 x 87 in). Denmark sits slightly smaller, with a single duvet nearer 140 x 200 cm (55 x 79 in). A Swedish 150 x 210 cm cover will still dress a Danish or Norwegian duvet, the drape simply falls a little more generously.
The Swedish pillowcase is 50 x 60 cm (20 x 24 in), smaller and more rectangular than the German square, and Denmark uses a squarer 60 x 63 cm (24 x 25 in) case. Scandinavia is the strongest home of the two-duvet double bed: even couples typically use two single 150 x 210 cm duvets rather than one shared one, so a Scandinavian double order is often a pair of singles.
The Netherlands and Belgium
The Low Countries take one large duvet rather than two. Dutch and Belgian beds are frequently lits-jumeaux, two single mattresses pushed together to make a wide double, dressed with a single wide cover. Duvet covers, dekbedovertrekken, are sold at roughly 140 x 200 or 140 x 220 cm (55 x 79 or 55 x 87 in) for a single, 200 x 200 or 200 x 220 cm (79 x 79 or 79 x 87 in) for a one-and-a-half, and 240 x 220 cm (94 x 87 in) as the standard double, with 260 x 220 cm (102 x 87 in) for the widest beds. The extra length, 220 cm, is common because Dutch sleepers are on average tall.
The Dutch and Belgian pillowcase is 60 x 70 cm (24 x 28 in), a rectangle that matches neither the German square nor the Swedish case, so it is a third distinct pillow cut to plan for in a pan-European range.
Duvet cover and pillow formats at a glance
These are the finished sizes retailers in each market commonly sell. Confirm against your buyer's own range, as retailers differ at the margins and shoppers often size up for more drape.
| Market | Single duvet cover | Common double | Sleeping pillowcase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany, Austria, Switzerland | 135 x 200 cm (53 x 79 in) | 155 x 220 cm (61 x 87 in) or two singles | 80 x 80 cm (31 x 31 in) |
| France | 140 x 200 cm (55 x 79 in) | 240 x 220 cm (94 x 87 in) | 65 x 65 cm (26 x 26 in) |
| Scandinavia | 150 x 210 cm (59 x 83 in) | 220 x 220 cm (87 x 87 in) or two singles | 50 x 60 cm (20 x 24 in) |
| Netherlands, Belgium | 140 x 200 cm (55 x 79 in) | 240 x 220 cm (94 x 87 in) | 60 x 70 cm (24 x 28 in) |
The square continental pillow, decoded
The 65 x 65 cm (26 x 26 in) square is the piece that confuses cross-market buyers most. In the UK, Ireland and Australia it is the "European" or "continental" pillow, a decorative front pillow that is not slept on and is priced as an extra. In France it is the everyday sleeping case. Germany, Austria and Switzerland raise the square again to 80 x 80 cm (31 x 31 in) as their sleeping pillow. So the same square silhouette is decorative in one market and the main pillow in another, and the exact centimetre size decides which. If a brief simply says "Euro pillow", pin down the country and the finished size, because 65 x 65 cm and 80 x 80 cm are not interchangeable and neither fits a rectangular UK or US case.
What this means for your order
- Specify by the duvet size and the pillow size, not a bed name. Continental ranges are bought to the duvet, so put the finished cover and case dimensions on every line rather than a "King" or "Queen" label that does not exist here.
- Count the two-duvet double correctly. In Germany and Scandinavia a double bed is often two single duvets, so confirm whether the double order is one wide cover or a pair before you quote piece counts.
- Plan for three different pillows. A pan-European line needs the square 80 x 80 cm, the square 65 x 65 cm and the rectangular 60 x 70 cm, plus the Scandinavian 50 x 60 cm, so treat pillowcases as distinct cuts, not one case relabelled.
- Confirm before sampling. The dimensions here are what the market sells, not a rule, and a buyer confirms them against their own spec sheet.
Wide continental covers of 240 to 260 cm would carry a centre seam on a narrow loom. Cloth woven in widths to 136 inches lets those runs be made seamless, which European buyers usually expect at the larger sizes. A private-label order is often set per quality and per colourway rather than per size, so a single minimum from 50 pieces can be split across a country's size range instead of forcing a full minimum for each. Every bed linen piece and set is on our bed linen page; send the finished dimensions your retailer works to and we sample from those.
Common questions
Why is there no European "King" or "Queen" size?
Continental Europe sizes bedding by the duvet and its cover rather than by a named bed ladder, so covers are sold as centimetre dimensions such as 135 x 200 cm or 240 x 220 cm. The US and Australian King and Queen names do not map onto the continent, which is why a spec sheet should carry finished dimensions rather than a size name.
Why do German and Scandinavian double beds use two duvets?
It lets each sleeper choose their own warmth and stops one person pulling the cover across in the night. In practice a double-bed order in those markets is frequently a pair of single covers, two 135 x 200 cm in Germany or two 150 x 210 cm in Scandinavia, so confirm the arrangement before counting pieces.
Is the 65 x 65 cm European pillow the same everywhere?
No. It is a decorative, non-sleeping pillow in the UK and Australia, an everyday sleeping case in France, and in German-speaking countries the sleeping pillow is the larger 80 x 80 cm square instead. Always confirm the country and the finished size before sampling.
Do continental European sets include a flat sheet?
Usually not. Most of the region sleeps under a duvet with no top sheet, so a set is typically a fitted sheet, a duvet cover and pillowcases. This differs from the US, where the flat sheet is a core line, so do not assume a flat sheet belongs in a European set.