Down

Selected icon

Are down and feathers environment-friendly?

Down and feathers are continuously regrowing raw materials. They consist of natural protein and do not contain any harmful substances.
  • Down and feathers are a by-product of meat production. They originate mainly from countries with high consumption of goose and duck meat. Geese and ducks are not kept for the purpose of harvesting down and feathers.
  • Down and feathers are produced through the natural process of growing of the fowl.  
  • Down and feathers are biodegradable and even provide valuable fertilizer.

How are down and feathers collected from the birds? Are they plucked from the living animal?

Down and feathers as a by-product
Down and feathers are a by-product of poultry meat production. The amount of the geese and ducks kept for this purpose are closely connected to the corresponding meat consumption. In Asian countries, for instance, poultry meat is one of the main foods of the population.

What are the regions of origin of down and feathers?

Raw down and feathers, the so-called raw material, traditionally come from Eastern Europe (Hungary, Poland) and Asia (China, Taiwan) but countries like Canada, France and Russia also supply significant quantities. The regions of area are also called provenance.
 
The filling material is mainly imported from countries in which poultry is mainly kept for the purpose of human nutrition and therefore intensive poultry farming is conducted. That applies to China among others.

Which down are the best ones?

Usually, the larger down are considered the best ones, because they provide better fill power values than smaller down, and therefore they can store larger amounts of air in between. Since larger down derive from big adult birds, usually geese provide top quality. But also big ducks supply fine quality- down. However, goose down show a slightly different structure under the microscope.

What are down?

A down has a delicate shape like a flake. It consists of an almost invisible down core with down barbs soft as silk and endowed with delicate ramifications growing radiantly from the core. Down is a highly resilient material. For instance, if you compress a fistful of down in your hand and unhand them, the down will quickly develop and recover their original shape.