The standard
EN ISO 23537-1:2022 covers thermal, mass and dimensional requirements for sleeping bags. It replaced the 2016 edition, which had replaced the older EN 13537. Part 2, on material properties, has a 2023 edition. For temperature, the standard works within limits down to −20 °C. Children’s bags and expedition bags are outside its scope.
Comfort and limit
Consumer guides usually explain the two main figures like this: the comfort temperature is where a person who sleeps cold stays comfortable, and the limit temperature is where a person who sleeps warm can still get a night’s sleep in a curled position. That is a general explanation, not a quotation from the standard. It does show why a single number on a label needs context.
Is it mandatory?
We read it as a voluntary standard that can help support a claim and show a product is safe under the GPSR. That is our interpretation rather than legal advice. We have not found a CE requirement for sleeping bags.
What to ask a supplier
- Which figure is this: comfort, limit or something else?
- Is it from a test report? Which laboratory, what date, which model?
- Does the report cover this exact fill weight and shell fabric?
- What are the fill type, fill weight and total weight?
- If there is no report, where did the figure come from?
When you have no report
You have three honest options. Describe the use (“summer camping”, “indoor and festival use”) without a temperature; quote the figure as the supplier’s own; or order a test for your model. Do not turn a supplier’s figure into a “tested” claim. That is the one to avoid.
Reading a range
Our sleeping bag range runs from light envelope bags and double bags to goose down mummy bags, plus liners and emergency bivvies. Liners and bivvy bags are different products, so keep them apart from rated bags in your listings. “Four-season” on a spec sheet is a supplier’s description and not a test result.
If you sell under your own brand
A company selling under its own name counts as the manufacturer under GPSR Art. 13, so the claims on the label become yours. See our private label page for what that means in practice.
