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Everything You lot Need to Know About Buying Ethically Sourced Down Products
A growing number of brands are prioritizing the welfare of the birds that supply the feathers blimp into items similar jackets, comforters, and pillows.
There'southward nothing quite like down—it's a natural, incredibly warm, and breathable insulation that nosotros stuff into winter jackets and sleeping bags, couches and blankets. No wonder ducks look so comfy paddling around ponds on sub-nil days.
Nonetheless the way some farmers harvest this fluffy material might make birders uncomfortable. The vast majority of the 270,000 metric tons of commercial down produced each yr is a byproduct of goose and duck meat industries in Asia and Europe, where the birds might be live-plucked or force-fed for foie gras before heading to the shambles. Animal welfare advocates consider these barbarous practices that they want to meet eliminated from downward's complex supply concatenation.
Concerns about down sourcing spurred Taiwanese creative person Sheng-Wen Lo to sidestep the entire down manufacturing process: In 2017 he decided to collect goose feathers and fill a coat himself. So on summer mornings he pedaled to parks, ponds, and forests in search of loose down and small feathers left behind past geese.
Squatting and picking up each private plume was a meditative procedure. And a fourth dimension-consuming 1. Gathering down is a tradition that native people in the Arctic and farmers in Iceland and Norway have practiced for hundreds of years if not longer, but Lo was new to the method. Information technology took him almost 2 months to collect the iii,000 downwards feathers that he washed and stuffed into a coat he'd gutted—less than half of the viii,000 typically found in a down jacket. On an art fellowship to the Arctic, which spurred the project, he used thermal oestrus cameras to certificate his down glaze'due south insulating ability. When he wore the glaze for just 30 seconds, his surface torso temperature rose by almost 4 degrees Fahrenheit.
"People don't think near the source of their purchases because it'southward all too convenient," says Lo, whose work concentrates on human-animate being relationships. "All of my recent piece of work is about fighting this mentality, fighting taking things for granted."
Conscientious consumers don't have to go to the extremes Lo did to notice products filled with ethically sourced downward—today there are several standards that rails the supply. The effort started in 2010 when 4 Paws, a Vienna-based animal welfare group, asked companies to prove that their downward was ethically sourced. The chore was complicated because companies merely weren't certain where the downward was coming from, says Bryan Mortensen, audits and certification managing director for the International Down and Feather Laboratory (IDFL), a group that tests and certifies down feathers and textiles. "They couldn't trace it back [to the source]."
Companies including Patagonia, The Northward Face up, and others quickly got to work tracing the material used in their products through the supply concatenation. They adult standards for ethically sourced down, putting in identify traceability measures that now require on-site audits at the parent farms where egg-laying birds are kept, conditions under which birds live, and where they are killed. The listing of brands using these standards, which have become stricter since 2010, is growing. (While down bedding accounts for roughly half of the feathers harvested each year, outdoor bedding brands lag behind outdoor wearing apparel companies in obtaining certification.)
"The whole industry has changed for the meliorate and really progressed," says Melanie Lary, a campaigns officer for Four Paws.
The Science of Downward
Down feathers grow beneath stiffer outside feathers. Each down plume is a iii-dimensional sphere consisting of a network of filaments that branch into barbs that co-operative into barbules. The complex structures, which are the size of dandelion blooms, trap air close to the pare, keeping waterbirds' core temperatures toasty when the mercury plunges. (Feathers that cover down accept quills with branched filaments that repel h2o and help birds fly).
"Down gives astonishing amounts of thickness with very, very little weight—that's the key to its warmth," says Matthew Fuller, a downwards expert and projection engineer at outdoor gear company Mountain Equipment. Information technology isn't simply about providing warmth; downwardly is remarkably durable, lightweight, compressible, and springy. "Information technology's the perfect combination of mechanical properties."
So even if a hiker smooshes her downwardly sleeping pocketbook into a pack, the material recovers its shape chop-chop. That ability to bounce back lasts for decades, vanquish after squash afterwards clasp.
All of this makes down one of the all-time insulating materials in the earth. The main drawback, from an insulating standpoint, is that it doesn't retain heat when it gets soaking wet, as moisture causes the structure to collapse. Manufacturers are addressing this quirk by treating down with a hydrophobic mixture that helps information technology repel water. (Ducks and geese have a built-in water-proofing system: They smear a waxy substance produced past a preen gland at the base of their tails over their down, dispensing the stuff equally they clean and comb their feathers into place).
Most downward products are a mix of down and feathers. In the U.s., a down product has to exist at least 75 percent down in order to be called a downward product. The higher the downwards-to-feather ratio, the better a product's insulating quality, but that oftentimes means a higher price tag, likewise.
Sourcing and Beast Welfare
No birds are raised solely for down production. While some comes from wild eider ducks, most comes from geese and ducks raised to meet the need for Christmas geese in Europe and Peking duck dishes in Asia, for case. Between 2009 and 2013, farmers raised an estimated 653 million geese and 2.7 billion ducks for food, according to the International Down and Feather Bureau. As much as ninety percent of all down comes from Asia, and the bulk of that is from Mainland china, due in role to increasing wealth leading more than people to swallow meat. At to the lowest degree 75 percent of the world's supply is duck down. Hither are the most common downwards sources:
Eiderdown
Eiderdown comes from wild Common Eider ducks that live in northern climes including Canada and Iceland, and it is some of the most coveted—and expensive—down in the industry.
All commercial eiderdown comes from females. Hens pluck their ain breast feathers to line the nests they build on rocky shores, and rarely get upwardly during the nearly iv-week incubation flow, largely relying on their fat stores to become them through. Some are so defended to their duty that they starve to expiry.
Eiderdown's reputation as the warmest downwardly may be warranted: A comparing of goose to eiderdown revealed that, in the latter, barbules cease in hooks that concur the downwards together. That means that if a hen gets upward to drink water, her hard work won't fly off in the current of air, and it makes the insulation even warmer by trapping more air.
A main upside is that no birds are harmed during collection. What'due south more, the purchase of eiderdown can support habitat conservation, as it does on Canada'south Lower St. Lawrence Islands. And in Iceland, where eiderdown collection is a multimillion-dollar industry, farmers protect nesting colonies then they can collect the down once the chicks fledge. The downside is cost: Since eiderdown is mitt-collected, information technology is past far the nearly expensive downwards; comforters can command price tags of upward of $16,000 and a jacket might become for $ii,000.
Goose Downward
Goose down is considered a superior insulator to that from ducks, a quality quantified by make full power—a measure of volume. The higher the number, the more space, measured in cubic inches, 30 grams of down can capture. Though many factors affect how warm a coat or comforter volition keep you, generally speaking the higher the make full power the warmer the product.
Farmers usually harvest goose down later on the birds are slaughtered for meat, and most geese are killed about xv weeks after hatching. But farmers may also pluck the feathers when geese are still alive, a painful procedure akin to someone ripping out homo hair, animal welfare and advocacy groups say. This usually happens to egg-laying geese, which tin live for upwardly to five years, on parent farms. Though geese and ducks naturally molt one time and twice a yr, respectively, farmers may pluck the feathers more often to go the nearly downwardly they tin can, a process that can happen up to 16 times in a goose's lifetime, says 4 Paws' Lary. And larger, older birds grow larger fill clusters, which can trap more air.
Though it's unknown how much down comes from alive plucking, parent farms produce, at most, 13 percent of the global supply, says Matthew Betcher of Allied Feather and Down, the leading supplier for downwardly for dress. "It garners all the attention because information technology's shocking," he says. (Lo's cyberspace search for information on live plucking in Mandarin yielded a number of tutorials.) The Red china Plumage and Down Industrial Association condemns the practice but has not outlawed it. The European Spousal relationship prohibits live plucking, making some goose down from there ethically harvested. Alive plucking isn't the only ethical concern; some geese are also forcefulness-fed to produce foie gras.
While goose downwards isn't as pricy equally eiderdown, it is expensive, and consumers can expect to shell out hundreds of dollars for a coat.
Duck Down
Domestic ducks raised for meat in Asia and Europe provide the largest per centum of downward used today. These birds, ofttimes the Pekin breed in Red china, may also be live-pluckedand force-fed to produce foie gras.
Most ducks simply live for roughly ten weeks before they're slaughtered; during the last two weeks is when some farmers forcefulness-feed them to engorge their livers to create foie gras. Birds that can sustain this treatment accept evolved over millenia to fatten upwardly quickly, a trait that likely allowed their predecessors to build upwardly fuel stores to sustain them during migration.
The huge demand for duck meat means in that location is a lot of down byproduct available, which in turns makes this fantastic insulator more affordable than its competitors.
Standards
In the by decade, as the downwards industry has come nether closer scrutiny, several standards have been created for ethically sourced down. Certifying bodies now evaluate all parts of the supply concatenation: parent farms, hatcheries, raising farms, slaughterhouses, processing facilities, and manufacturers. Each standard has its own label, and Allied Feather and Down besides developed Track My Downwardly, which allows consumers to search the company's database using a lot number on a product tag. Here are the standards, from nearly strict to to the lowest degree.
Global Traceable Down Standard
Created: 2013
Certification requirements: No GTDS-certified downwardly can come up from alive-plucked or force-fed birds, and all animals must have access to the Five Freedoms of animal welfare: freedom from hunger and thirst; freedom from discomfort; freedom from pain, injury, and disease; freedom to express normal and natural behavior; and freedom from fear and distress. Tertiary-political party certification groups visit each facility in the supply concatenation to investigate the conditions.
Requirements for maintaining certification: Certifying groups audit each facility along the supply chain every three years to ensure that it'south following the certifying criteria and that certified down is not mixed with non-certified down.
Shortcomings: Few brands are certified to the GTDS, presumably because information technology has been the strictest standard.
Extra stuff: This standard, developed past Patagonia and then transferred in 2015 to NSF International, a product testing, inspection, and certification organization, applies to apparrel, household, and commercial products. (Find certified brands here.)
Responsible Down Standard
Created: 2014
Certification requirements: No RDS-certified down can come from alive-plucked or force-fed birds, and farms must likewise comply with the five freedoms. Third-party certification groups visit each facility in the supply concatenation to investigate the weather condition. Every bit of this year, that includes parent farms.
Requirements for maintaining certification: Each facility is audited every year to ensure that it's post-obit the certifying criteria and that certified down is not mixed with non-certified downward.
Shortcomings: Parent farms, where birds may be live-plucked, was an optional, non a mandatory, part of the certification until concluding year.
Extra stuff: This is the most pop certification, with 150 committed brands and retailers. (Its popularity is likely due, in function, to the fact that parent farms previously did not take to be certified). The certification was first launched by: The North Face; Fabric Exchange, a nonprofit focused on sustainability within the textile industry; and Marriage Control Certifications, a group that inspects and certifies supply chains, with assist from Centrolineal Plumage and Down. Downwards standards also led Material Substitution to develop standards for wool, mohair, and alpaca. (Find certified brands hither.)
Downpass
Created: 2011
Certification requirements: The group requires that no Downpass certified down come from live-plucked or force-fed birds. Farms as well have to abide by a list of animal welfare requirements, which are reviewed by contained auditors.
Requirements for maintaining certification: Mystery shoppers around the earth help to verify that down used in products with a Downpass label is what it says information technology is. These shoppers send the feathers to a quality command institute that analyszes the feathers to ensure that the label accurately states the plume type and makeup of material. The terminal report is confirmed with a notary. Certification lasts ii years.
Shortcomings:Downpass was originally created past the bedding industry in the 1970s nether a dissimilar proper name, but the standard did not have animal welfare requirements. In 2011, the grouping began working with certification groups to evaluate farms and exclude those that alive-plucked from certification. Certifying parent farms is optional, though the next update, which could be released as early on as 2022, will likely make doing and so a requirement.
Extra stuff: The number of companies certified to the Downpass standard has grown significantly in the past decade, increasing to 99 from nine.
International Down Standard
Created: 2008
Certification requirements: The International Down and Plumage Laboratory (IDFL), which certifies suppliers for GTDS and RDS, too has its own down standard, which requires traceability and no live-plucking or force-feeding.
Requirements for maintaining certification: Facilities are audited every 12 months.
Shortcomings: Brands don't need to go all the manner back to the parent subcontract to obtain certification, and the standard does not require independent testing once the feathers are in a product.
Extra stuff: IDFL too tests down for limerick, performance, and cleanliness.
Downward Alternatives
For consumers who would rather avoid ownership down altogether, there's a plethora of synthetic options that attempt to mimic downward or provide insulation in situations or circumstances when downwards might not.
Critics of synthetics say that the materials aren't every bit environmentally friendly as down because they don't last as long, are often made from polyester, and can shed microfibers when washed. They unremarkably don't exhale as well, either. In 2019, the International Down and Plumage Bureau commissioned a lifecycle assay of down compared to polyester fill up and reported that the ecology touch on of downwardly compared to polyester fill up is up to 97 percentage lower.
But synthetic substitutes do have their upsides: They can perform when moisture or compressed, for instance. And thanks to technological advances, several constructed fillers rival downwards in terms of warmth and breathability. They're often cheaper, too.
A number of companies, including Rab and Columbia, accept their own proprietary constructed downs. Some boast breathability, some stretchiness. Other brands employ NASA-developed aerogel; Great Auk Outfitters uses it in its down-less parkas.
Here are a few of the top performers and innovators.
Primaloft
Developed by the U.South. Army more than iii decades agone equally an alternative to downwards, PrimaLoft, with its light weight and high compressibility, is one of the all-time-performing down alternatives. A range of brands, including Fifty.L. Edible bean and Athleta, use the product (and its kin, similar PrimaLoft P.U.R.E., and PrimaLoft Active). The downsides are that it has only a 3rd of downwardly'south insulating ability, and it is made from polyester and will not break downward naturally. Before this year, the company released PrimaLoft Bio, a biodegradable synthetic down alternative made from 100 percent recycled material.
Thinsulate
3M adult Thinsulate in the 1970s. It'south some other pop down alternative, used by Spyder, Carhartt, and other companies, that keeps insulating when moisture. The company also created an insulating cloth fabricated from 100 percent recycled plastic bottles.
Polartec
Polartec start fabricated its synthetic insulating textile for the U.S. Special Forces and invented modern constructed fleece in 1981. The visitor'due south various down alternatives are breathable, allowing the textile to maintain its insulating power during desperate temperature shifts. Brands from Arc'teryx to Marmot use Polartec insulation.
Innovations in Down
Despite down alternatives, there's still high demand for the real matter. Some brands are now creating or using existing down and synthetic hybrids that perform better in damp conditions and often reduce the cost of a jacket or sleeping handbag. Some brands likewise apply downwards and wool hybrids, which they say stay drier than down alone and conduct less rut, making them preferable in warmer climates.
I way that brands are dealing with the ethical problems related to downwards is by using a growing amount of recycled feathers. Five-year-sometime company Re:Down, for instance, treats recycled downward from bedding and has partnered with NaturTex, a company that makes comforters and cushions. And Patagonia has committed to using lxxx percent recycled down in its products.
For Lo, the feel of making his own down coat made him want to prove others how hard, and rewarding, it tin be, so he created a guide for others to make their ain coats. He's also running a contest on social media. The get-go person to collect enough down feathers to make a coat wins the ultimate prize for any serious bird nerd willing to dauntless frigid atmospheric condition: a complimentary trip to the Arctic.
| Dwelling (pillows, bedding, article of furniture, etc.) | Outdoor (sleeping numberless, blankets, etc.) | Apparel (jackets and other vesture) | |
| GTDS Certified | None | Patagonia | Patagonia |
| RDS Certified |
|
|
|
| Downpass* |
|
|
|
* Well-nigh companies certified by Downpass are international.
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Source: https://www.audubon.org/news/everything-you-need-know-about-buying-ethically-sourced-down-products
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