Why are quilts measured in togs? Does anyone know where this comes from?

Question

Why are quilts measured in togs? Does anyone know where this comes from?

Answer 1

The tog is a measure of thermal resistance, commonly used in the textile industry.

The Shirley Institute in Britain developed the tog as an easy-to-follow alternative to the SI unit of m2K/W. Launched in the 1960s, the Shirley Togmeter is the standard apparatus for rating thermal resistance of textiles, commonly known as the Tog Test.

A tog is 0.1 m2K/W. In other words, the thermal resistance in togs is equal to ten times the temperature difference (in °C) between the two surfaces of a material, when the flow of heat is equal to one watt per square metre.

According to John Lewis, tog guidelines for duvets are as follows:

Lightweight summer duvet: 4.5 tog

Spring/Autumn weight duvet: 9.0 - 10.5 tog

Winter weight duvet: 12.0 - 13.5 tog

Another unit of thermal resistance of textiles is the clo, equal to 1.55 togs (1 tog = 0.645 clo).

Answer 2

According to the Collins Dictionary the word tog was chosen in a random way from 'togs' which means clothes or anything you wear.