When little Carmen was born, our lives changed forever. One of the first things my wife and I realised was how important sleep was - for all three of us.

In their first year, babies sleep for more than 14 hours a day (though not always at night, as new parents know!) Studies show that infants grow while they sleep and that the quality of infant sleep may affect later cognitive ability. That means that giving babies a warm, secure and comfortable place to sleep is vital.

Unconvinced by the products that I found on the market, I decided to start Zizzz.

Many relatives gave us baby sleeping bags as gifts for little Carmen. Though the gifts were certainly well-intended, my wife and I noticed that they all contained polyester filling. Have you ever slept in polyester bedding in a cheap hotel? If so, you probably spent most of the night tossing and turning.

The problem with polyester is that it isn’t breathable - it retains heat and moisture. First, the polyester traps your body heat, which makes you sweat. But because polyester also traps moisture, the sweat stays between you and the bedding. So before long, you’re too cold. Now, imagine how your baby must feel, sleeping inside a polyester sleeping bag for more than 5,000 hours a year.

The chances are good that your baby is sleeping inside polyester. Polyester is a type of plastic made from petroleum; in fact, the polyester used in clothes is the same plastic used in soda and ketchup bottles. Chemical engineers didn’t invent polyester to ensure good sleep, but designers use it in many products because it’s cheap.

At Zizzz, we only use 100% natural and renewable materials, which are designed to give your little one the best night’s sleep possible. We believe that our children, and yours, have the right to live a sustainable life - and to enjoy comfortable sleep.

You probably know that good sleep is crucial for your baby’s brain development. Feeling warm and safe should help your baby fall into a deep and restorative sleep. While a cold baby can be easily woken up, a hot baby might become overheated. Scientists believe that hyperthermia, or increased temperature, is one of the causes of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Zizzz uses materials that help your baby’s body to regulate its own temperature. A comfortable baby will sleep deeper and longer - and most importantly, safer.

We live in Switzerland. One of the best things about this country is the fantastic skiing. We wear fine wool fabrics while skiing - this gave us an idea. It's no secret that many skiers and athletes use wool because of its unique qualities in extreme weather conditions. This is because wool keeps you warm when it’s cold and cool when it’s hot. It also keeps your body dry when you exercise.

Eureka! This would be the perfect solution for Carmen’s sleepless nights.

The idea to use wool was just the beginning - finding the real solution was our challenge. Did a lightweight and washable wool filling for baby sleeping bags even exist? We searched far and wide, but finally found what we needed close to home: a wonderful fibre called Swisswool.

Swisswool is a patented, natural filling material made from 88% virgin Swiss wool and 12% vegetable fibres. It retains all the unique characteristics of wool and is machine-washable. We’re sure your baby will like it as much as ours does.

Our first step was to replace polyester with Swisswool. But we soon realized that there is more to safe and comfortable sleep than the sleeping bag filling.

For example, what covers the Swisswool? When babies sleep, their sensitive skin touches the interior of the sleeping bag, so we wanted to use the purest fabric available. The obvious choice was to replace normal cotton with organic cotton. Organic cotton has no traces of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides in it, so there’s no need to worry about allergies. At Zizzz, we only use fair-trade, organic cotton and OKO TEX textiles for our products.

And these are just two of the improvements we have made.

We produce our baby sleeping bags in Europe to ensure that no children are exploited in the manufacture of our products. Also, we don’t want our sleeping products to travel twice around the world before they reach you and your baby. It’s an enormous waste of energy.

The most important thing for us at Zizzz is that our products work properly. But that doesn’t mean that we should sacrifice visual appeal for functionality. So, we teamed up with some fantastic designers to give our sleeping bags a chic look. No stuffy, boring sleeping bags for Zizzz babies – have a look at our products and judge for yourself!

Many parents were so enthusiastic and satisfied when they saw how well their babies were sleeping that they asked us if we could also make bedding for them. So, our next step was to develop duvets for adults with the same great Swisswool filling. On the outside, they have a superfine fair-trade batiste. Zizzz duvets are made in Switzerland. Try one now and you will wonder why you slept that long with down or polyester filling!