"Woven Wind": Why Ideal Home Just Named Our Dohar the Ultimate Heatwave Essential

There's a particular kind of joy in being told something you've believed for fifteen years by someone who has just discovered it for themselves. That's exactly what happened this week, when Ideal Home's Sleep Editor, Amy Lockwood, named our Sleep Dohar her go-to bedding for the July heatwave, after testing it through two full years of British summers.

Her verdict, in her own words: "the one sleep solution I find myself reaching for again and again."

For those of us who have spent years championing the Dohar in the UK, this feels like a genuine milestone. So we wanted to take a moment to explain what makes this piece of bedding so special, and why a Sleep Editor with over ten thousand hours of pillow, duvet and mattress testing under her belt would choose a centuries-old Indian textile over the latest cooling gadget.

What Is a Dohar?

A Dohar is a traditional Indian summer blanket, made from three layers of finely woven mulmul cotton, a fabric a little like muslin but far softer, smoother and airier. The layers are stitched together with a contrasting edging, and traditionally, the middle layer is hand block printed, its pattern visible as a soft shadow through the outer layers.

In its country of origin, the Dohar carries a beautifully poetic name: woven wind. It's a fitting description for something so light it barely feels like it's there, yet so effective at regulating temperature through the night.

Historically, Dohars were used by Indian royalty, the Maharajas, to stay cool through the intense humidity of monsoon season, long before air conditioning existed. The fabric was designed to solve a very specific problem: how do you stay comfortable when the heat isn't just dry heat, but heavy, humid, sticky heat? It's a question Britain is having to ask itself more and more often.

Why It Works So Well in British Heatwaves

As Amy explains in her piece, British heat isn't just about temperature, it's about humidity. High evening humidity makes it much harder for the body to cool down enough to fall, and stay, asleep. A standard summer duvet, however lightweight, often isn't enough once the mercury climbs past 30°C.

The triple-layer construction of the Dohar is what makes the difference. The mulmul layer closest to the skin wicks away moisture and stickiness, while the outer layers create small air pockets that help regulate body temperature throughout the night. The result is a kind of sleep most of us have forgotten was possible during a heatwave: no boiling at midnight, no waking at 3am with a chill, just steady, even comfort until morning.

It also pairs beautifully with a fan. Because the weave is so open, airflow moves through the fabric easily, without the breeze ever feeling too sharp or too cold against the skin, something Amy specifically tested and noted in her review.

A Fabric With a History Worth Telling

One detail from the feature that means a great deal to us is the acknowledgement of what this fabric has been through. As we shared with Amy, the production of mulmul cotton and the Dohar itself suffered under British colonial rule, with local weaving deliberately undermined in favour of industrially manufactured fabric. It's a part of textile history that doesn't often get told. Read more about MulMul cotton here .

That makes it all the more meaningful that, generations later, this ancient craft is not only surviving but thriving, kept alive by skilled artisans in Jaipur, the same artisans who hand block print every Dohar we sell. Each one is made using techniques passed down through generations, with designs and printing methods that remain essentially unchanged from centuries ago.

When you choose a Dohar, you're not just choosing a more comfortable night's sleep. You're choosing a textile tradition that very nearly disappeared, and the people who have kept it alive.

Beyond the Heatwave

While summer is when the Dohar truly earns its keep, its usefulness doesn't end when the temperature drops. Layered under a duvet, it adds gentle warmth without bulk, making it a genuinely year-round piece of bedding rather than a seasonal one. It also makes an excellent lightweight throw, top sheet, or even a sofa blanket for cooler evenings.

We've also heard from many customers, and Amy touches on this too, that the Dohar is particularly well suited to anyone navigating menopause and the hot flushes that come with it. The same temperature-regulating qualities that make it ideal for a heatwave make it equally effective for managing those sudden overnight temperature swings.

For families, our baby and kids' Dohars offer the same breathable, hypoallergenic comfort in smaller sizes, perfect for cots, prams, or just keeping little ones comfortable through hot nights.

Still Difficult to Find in the UK

As Amy notes in her piece, the Dohar remains genuinely hard to come by in Britain. We're proud to say that Shades of Cool London continues to be one of the very few places in the UK where you can buy an authentic, hand block printed Dohar, crafted using traditional techniques by artisans in Jaipur.

It's taken fifteen years of belief in this fabric to get here, from a chance discovery in Goa, to building relationships with a wonderful, socially conscious factory that employs mainly women, to now seeing it recognised by one of the UK's most trusted interiors publications.

If the recent heat has left you tossing and turning, we'd love for you to discover what Amy, and Indian royalty centuries before her, already know. Sometimes the oldest solutions really are the best ones.

Shop the Sleep Dohar collection, and read Amy Lockwood's full feature on Ideal Home.