The short answer: pillow filling decides how a pillow feels, how long it lasts and how you clean it. For most people in the UK the real choice is between polyester hollow fibre and feather and down. The other eight fillings are specialist — usually more expensive, and better at one narrow thing rather than at everything.
Every pillow is two parts: the casing and the filling. The casing is the fabric shell — usually poly cotton, cotton or microfibre — woven tightly enough to stop the filling working its way out through the weave. The filling is the part you actually sleep on, and it is what determines almost everything about how the pillow performs.
You will also see the words pillow inner, pillow core and pillow insert used for the same thing — the filled pillow that goes inside a decorative cover. A continental or European pillow inner is simply a square one, usually 65 x 65cm, rather than the UK rectangular standard of 74 x 48cm.
Ten fillings you will actually come across in the UK, and how they differ on the things that matter.
| Filling | Feel | Support | Temperature | Lifespan | Washing | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polyester hollow fibre | Springy, pushes back | Soft to firm | Neutral | 18 months – 2 years | Machine washable, dries fast | £ |
| Feather and down | Moulds to your head | Soft to medium | Cool — breathes well | 3 – 5 years | Washable at 40°C, slow to dry | ££ |
| Memory foam (solid) | Slow-moulding, holds shape | Firm | Warm — traps heat | 2 – 3 years | Cover only; core never | £££ |
| Shredded memory foam | Mouldable, adjustable | Medium to firm | Warmer than fibre | 2 – 3 years | Cover only | £££ |
| Latex | Bouncy, instant response | Firm | Cooler than foam | 4 – 6 years | Cover only | ££££ |
| Wool | Dense, flat-ish | Firm | Excellent regulation | 3 – 5 years | Spot or dry clean | £££ |
| Cotton | Firm and flat | Firm, low loft | Cool | 2 – 3 years | Washable, very slow to dry | ££ |
| Kapok | Silky, down-like | Soft to medium | Cool | 2 – 3 years | Not machine washable | £££ |
| Buckwheat husk | Firm, shifts as you move | Very firm | Very cool — air moves through | 5 years + | Husks must be emptied first | £££ |
| Microbead | Loose, flows | Low | Warm | 1 – 2 years | Not washable | ££ |
Fine polyester strands extruded with a hollow channel down the middle. That channel traps air, which is what gives loft and springback — the fibre compresses under your head and pushes out again when you move. It is the most common pillow filling in the UK by a wide margin, because it is supportive, hypoallergenic, machine washable, quick to dry and cheap.
The catch is that not all hollow fibre is equal, and the label rarely tells you which you are getting. Recycled or mixed fibre — usually sold as plain "polyester filling" — has already been through a heat process, which crushes a proportion of those hollow channels flat. It compresses permanently within months. Pure virgin hollow fibre has never been used, so the channels are intact and the loft comes back when you plump it. It is the single biggest difference between a pillow that lasts two years and one that is flat by spring.
Feather gives structure and support; down — the soft, quill-free clusters from beneath the outer feathers — gives loft and softness. Almost every natural pillow is a blend of the two, and the ratio is what sets the price and the feel. More down means softer and more expensive.
It moulds around your head instead of pushing back, and it breathes better than any synthetic filling, which is why hotels have used it for a century. It is also softer than most people expect, so it suits back and front sleepers better than side sleepers, and it takes considerably longer to dry after washing — the step most people get wrong.
Solid memory foam is a single moulded block that softens with body heat and holds an impression. It is genuinely supportive and genuinely warm — the density that gives the support is the same density that stops air moving through it. Shredded memory foam is the same material chopped up, which restores some airflow and lets you add or remove fill to adjust the height. Neither can go in a washing machine; only the cover comes off.
Natural or synthetic rubber foam, either moulded solid or shredded. It responds instantly rather than slowly, so it feels bouncy where memory foam feels like sinking. It is naturally resistant to dust mites and mould, lasts longer than any other foam, and is the most expensive filling on this list. Heavy, and not washable.
Genuinely excellent at temperature regulation — it wicks moisture and works in both summer and winter — and naturally resistant to dust mites. The trade-offs are that it is dense and firm rather than lofty, it is heavy, and it generally cannot be machine washed.
Natural, breathable and firm, but with very little loft, so it flattens quickly and needs replacing or re-fluffing often. It also holds water for a very long time, which makes washing a slow business. More common in traditional and futon-style pillows than in mainstream UK bedding.
A silky plant fibre from the seed pods of the kapok tree, often marketed as a vegan alternative to down — and it genuinely does feel similar. It is soft, cool and light. It also compresses over time, cannot be machine washed, and is flammable, which is why you rarely see it in UK retail.
The hard outer shells of buckwheat seeds. They shift under your head so the pillow conforms exactly, air moves freely between them so it sleeps very cool, and it lasts for years. It is also heavy, noisy when you turn over, and firm in a way that most people either love immediately or dislike immediately. A niche preference rather than a mainstream one.
Tiny polystyrene spheres that flow like liquid. Common in travel and neck pillows, where the point is conforming rather than support. They compress and escape over time, they are not washable, and they offer little for sleeping on all night.
A "bamboo pillow" almost never has bamboo inside it. The bamboo is the cover fabric — bamboo viscose — and the filling underneath is usually shredded memory foam or polyester. Worth checking the fill description rather than the product name.
You need height and structure to fill the gap between shoulder and head. Firm hollow fibre with a box edge, or latex. Down alone is usually too soft.
Enough to hold the curve of your neck without pushing your head forward. Medium hollow fibre, or feather and down.
Your head is already near the mattress. Soft hollow fibre, down, or kapok. Anything firm angles your neck upward all night.
Medium hollow fibre. It is the only setting that does not actively fight any one position.
Buckwheat husk is the coolest by a distance — air moves freely between the husks. Of the practical everyday options, feather and down breathes best, then wool, then hollow fibre. Avoid solid memory foam: it is the warmest filling on this list, because the density that creates the support is the same density that blocks airflow.
Polyester hollow fibre. The common belief is that people are allergic to feathers, but the usual trigger is dust mites, which live in any pillow regardless of filling — they simply find natural fill easier to colonise. Synthetic fibre gives them nothing to feed on. Latex and wool are also naturally mite-resistant. Whatever you choose, a zipped protector does more than switching filling.
For firm support: buckwheat, latex and solid memory foam, then high-fill-weight hollow fibre. Note that firmness and weight are not the same thing — buckwheat and wool are heavy, latex is firm but moderate in weight, and hollow fibre achieves firmness through fill weight rather than material density. With hollow fibre, the number that matters is grams of fill: 700g gives a standard UK pillow a medium feel, 800–900g a firm one.
There is no filling that is straightforwardly green. Natural fillings — wool, kapok, cotton, buckwheat — are renewable and biodegradable but have their own farming and processing footprints. Down is a by-product of the food industry, which makes it efficient in resource terms but raises animal welfare questions that depend entirely on the supply chain. Recycled polyester diverts waste plastic but degrades faster, so you replace it sooner.
The honest environmental measure is how long the pillow lasts. A pillow that survives two years rather than eight months is two pillows that never got manufactured, and that usually outweighs the feedstock argument.
Polyester is the cheapest by some margin, and recycled polyester is cheaper still. The trap is that recycled fill is a false economy in anything load-bearing: it is half the price and a third of the life. If budget is the constraint, buy virgin hollow fibre in a plain casing rather than recycled fibre in a fancy one.
Body pillows and floor cushions need volume more than sophistication, so hollow fibre is the practical answer — anything else becomes heavy or expensive at that size. Decorative cushion inners are the same: hollow fibre for washable and light, feather for a softer drape that karate-chops into shape. Feather inners hold a styled look better; fibre inners keep their shape better.
If you are making or refilling rather than buying, you want loose fibre rather than wadding. Wadding is polyester pressed into a flat sheet for quilting; loose fill is what goes inside pillows, cushions and toys.
Quantities: roughly 700g for a standard 74 x 48cm pillow at a medium feel, 250–350g for a 16in cushion, 350–450g for an 18in, 450–550g for a 20in.
Reusing old fill is worth doing — tease it apart by hand to restore what loft it has left, and mix it roughly half and half with new fibre rather than using it alone. Fibre that has been fully compressed under a head for two years will not come back on its own.
A word on improvised stuffing. Fabric scraps, shredded clothing and old tights are sometimes suggested as free alternatives. They work for a draught excluder or a floor cushion, where nothing has to stay lofted. They are poor in a pillow: they compress into hard lumps, they hold moisture, and they cannot be washed and dried evenly.
Two fillings, both made up at our own base in Rochdale, Greater Manchester: 100% pure virgin hollow fibre — pure white, never mixed, never recycled — and natural duck feather and down. Because we are manufacturers rather than resellers, we can tell you the exact fill weight of every pillow we sell, which is not something most sellers can do.
We do not make wool, cotton, kapok, latex, memory foam, buckwheat or microbead pillows, and we are not going to pretend those fillings are worse than they are just because they are not on our shelves. Each of them is the right answer for somebody.
If you would rather fill your own, we sell the same virgin fibre loose as hollow fibre filling in 1kg to 5kg bags.
Choose this for firmer support, easy washing, a hypoallergenic fill or the lower price. It is the right answer for most people, and the only one of the two that comes in a genuinely firm feel.
Choose this for a pillow that moulds to you, sleeps cooler and lasts longer — if you are happy with a softer feel and a slower dry.
Choose this if you are refilling a flat pillow, making your own, or filling cushions and toys. Same virgin fibre, 1kg to 5kg bags.
Two parts. The casing is the fabric shell, usually poly cotton, cotton or microfibre, woven tightly enough to keep the filling in. The filling is what you sleep on — most commonly polyester hollow fibre or feather and down in the UK, and less often memory foam, latex, wool, cotton, kapok, buckwheat husk or microbeads.
There is no single best filling, because the right one depends on how you sleep. Pure virgin hollow fibre is the best all-round choice for support, washability and price, and it is the only common filling available in a genuinely firm feel for side sleepers. Feather and down is better if you want a pillow that moulds to your head and breathes well, and you accept a softer feel and a slower dry. Memory foam suits people who want a fixed shape and do not mind sleeping warm.
For allergy sufferers, polyester hollow fibre — dust mites cannot feed on synthetic fibre, and it washes at a temperature that kills them. For people who want natural materials, wool is mite-resistant without being synthetic. "Healthiest" usually comes down to how often the pillow is washed and how old it is, rather than the material itself: any filling becomes a problem after three unwashed years.
Polyester hollow fibre is inert and non-toxic. It does not off-gas in normal use. New memory foam can have a chemical smell for the first few days, which is residual off-gassing from manufacture and fades with airing. Natural fillings are not automatically safer — untreated wool and feather carry their own allergen considerations. If you are concerned, look for fillings that meet British fire safety standards rather than ones marketed as natural.
Virgin fibre has never been used or heat-processed before, so every hollow channel is intact and the fibre has its full loft and springback. Recycled fibre is reclaimed from bottles or textile waste and re-extruded, which crushes a share of those channels flat — it starts with less loft and loses it faster. Recycled is fine in something that never bears weight. In a pillow, virgin lasts several times longer.
Buckwheat husk, because air moves freely between the husks. Among everyday options, feather and down breathes best, followed by wool and then hollow fibre. Solid memory foam is the warmest — it traps body heat, and the cooling gels added to some versions help less than the marketing suggests.
Buckwheat husk, latex and solid memory foam give the firmest support. With hollow fibre, firmness is set by fill weight rather than the material: 700g in a standard 74 x 48cm pillow gives a medium feel, 800–900g a firm one. That is why two hollow fibre pillows of identical size can feel completely different.
No filling is cleanly green. Wool, cotton, kapok and buckwheat are renewable and biodegradable but carry farming and processing footprints. Recycled polyester diverts waste plastic but wears out faster, so you buy more often. The most reliable environmental lever is longevity — a filling that lasts twice as long halves how many pillows get made.
Polyester filling is recyclable in principle, but very few UK kerbside schemes accept loose textile fill — a textile recycling bank is the realistic route, and some accept whole pillows. Natural fillings like wool and cotton can be composted once separated from the casing. Reusing the fibre in a cushion or pet bed is better than either.
Polyester, and recycled polyester is cheaper again — but it is a false economy in anything load-bearing, because it compresses permanently within months. If price is the constraint, virgin hollow fibre in a plain casing beats recycled fibre in a premium one.
For a draught excluder, floor cushion or pouffe, yes — nothing there needs to stay lofted. For a pillow you sleep on, no. Fabric scraps compress into hard, uneven lumps, they hold moisture, and they cannot be washed and dried evenly, which is how pillows develop a musty smell. Loose hollow fibre costs little and behaves properly.
Pull it apart by hand to open up whatever loft remains, then mix it roughly half and half with fresh fibre — old fill alone will not recover. It works well in floor cushions, pet beds and draught excluders, where full springback matters less. Wash and dry it thoroughly first, inside a pillowcase or laundry bag so it does not escape into the machine.
Around 700g of hollow fibre for a standard UK pillow of 74 x 48cm at a medium feel — that is the weight we use in our own hotel pillows — and 800–900g for firm or box-edge. Below about 500g a standard pillow feels thin within months.
The filled pillow that sits inside a decorative cover — also called a pillow insert or cushion inner. UK standard is 74 x 48cm; a continental or European pillow inner is square, usually 65 x 65cm, and needs its own cover. Sizes are set out in our pillow size guide.
Almost never. The bamboo is the cover fabric — bamboo viscose — and the filling inside is usually shredded memory foam or polyester. Read the fill description rather than the product name.
Related guides: Pillow Buying Guide · Pillow Firmness Guide · Pillow Care Guide · Pillow Size Guide · Browse all pillows · Buy hollow fibre filling
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