As you get ready for college you likely have received letters from your school of choice with a dorm checklist of items to bring to live in the residence halls. Most schools (like 3 out of 4) who offer dorms use extra long dorm beds. These longer size twin beds require extra long bedding versus your traditional twin sized bedding. This X-Long twin bedding is only an additional 5 inches in length and applies to some items on your bed.

The items that require you to purchase and use extra long twin bedding includes your fitted sheet, your mattress pad, your featherbed (if you are lucky enough to have a dorm featherbed) and your comforter. Now in reality some students can get away with a ‘normal’ sized twin comforter on their twin xl beds. However for taller students or students who want to have the ‘perfect dorm bed’ then yes they should consider using xl twin comforter.

Most students who move to and live in dorms will more than likely never wash their comforters. So aside from being durable and long lasting to take a beating – there are ways to help these students out. They could bring and use a comforter with a twin xl duvet cover added to it for ease of care. A duvet is a cover that goes over a comforter and is meant to fit it much like your pillowcase goes over a pillow. By using a twin xl duvet students can then simply wash the duvet cover versus having to wash a comforter.

Washing a twin xl duvet cover is easy and takes up as much room in the washer and dryer as throwing in a pair of linens like a fitted and flat sheet set. A twin xl duvet is basically two sheets of fabric sewn together on the sides with an opening at the end which is usually closed with a series of buttons and button holes. Duvet covers are meant to be used and washed every week or so depending on the student’s typical laundry cycle (or lack of).

Some students and parents like to consider using a dorm duvet cover because they can have the inner comforter of their choice (whether it is lightweight down or a nice down alternative like PrimaLoft). Another advantage of a dorm duvet cover is that it can allow additional fashion and color to a room versus a solid color comforter.

Of all the fabric choices out there to consider be sure to select a duvet fabric that is easy to care for yet feels great. In this realm you will find options ranging from cheap microfiber polyester covers to luxurious silky Tencel Lyocell. We would personally recommend Tencel Lyocell as it offers the strength of polyester, the feeling of silk, the care of cotton and the warmth of wool. Tencel Lyocell also has some other interesting characteristics such as excellent moisture wicking – which in a crowded and often damp dorm room is a good thing.