The term "half-down" dates back very far into the 19th century. The entire plumage from a goose or duck (feathers, down and quill feathers) was collected and then washed and dried by hand. After this, the quill feathers – which are not suitable for bedding articles – were removed. What remained was the so called "half-down", a blend of feathers which usually contained between 15 and 20 per cent down. Therefore, the term was not at all used to describe a mixture containing "one half down and one half feathers", but it was applied for a blend made "partly of feathers, partly of down". When this blend was further separated, again by hand, one obtained "feathers" and "down". To characterise a filling’s content, these were the only terms used: "feathers", "down" and "half-down".
At the time when the first RAL regulations were laid down in 1932, those were the definitions which were drawn upon. Later on, the processing of feathers, including the sorting, was more and more mechanized and refined. Thus, in 1963 new terms were introduced: that of “feathery down” as well as that of “feathers which have not previously been used” for new feathers. Nine years later, in 1972 the terms “three-quarter down“ (containing 30 per cent down) and “downy feathers” (containing 9 per cent down) were added – and became the regulations commonly known as the RAL 092 A2.
The regulations of the RAL made sense as long as the distributors kept showcases in their salesrooms, where the customers could see the different blends of down and feathers. In that way, it became immediately obvious, that half-down did not contain “one half of down and one half of feathers“, and the customer had to simply choose the blend which corresponded to his individual needs. Thereafter the mixture was filled into the ticking.
With the passing of time, however, the number of finished bedding articles has increased. This meant that consumers would purchase a finished product in self-service stores and that they would not be able to closely look at the fillings anymore. In this situation, labels such as “half-down” or “three-quarter down“ would in most cases lead to misunderstandings. It was hard to understand for consumers, that a half-down filling had to contain only 15 per cent of down at least – the terms used in the RAL regulations were not plausible anymore.
Similarly, consumers would not find it understandable, that new feathers were not labelled as “new” but as “feathers which have not previously been used”. When this term was missing, the product could technically contain up to 30 per cent of reprocessed feathers. In order to clearly indicate new feathers at that time, the phrase “This brand guarantees new merchandise” was added on the feather label “Product of Nature“.
The percentages regarding the down content as defined in the RAL 092 A2 always referred to the weighted parameters. It was, however, the preamble of the 1970 version of the RAL 092 A2 which has in large part added to a continuing misconception. In this text it was argued, that the term “half-down“ could be derived from the filling material’s volume. If the volumes of the two components were measured, then the 15 per cent by weight accounted for by the down would have the same volume as the 85 per cent by weight of the feathers – for down weigh less than feathers. This line of reasoning was to justify why half-down are not made of 50 per cent of down, but only of 15 per cent.
However, this approach was never proven conclusively. If 15 per cent of down accounted for 50 per cent of the volume, the down in a three-quarter down filling would have to make up 100 per cent of the volume (as a three-quarter down filling contains 30 per cent of down by weight). This would be absurd because a three-quarter down filling still contains a remaining 70 per cent of feathers and their respective volume would exceed the given amount of space.
Quelle
Verband der Deutschen Daunen- und Federnindustrie e.V.
Source URL