What is down insulation? Down explained
What is down insulation?
Down is the fluffy clusters that are found underneath the tougher outer feathers of ducks and geese. Its natural purpose is to insulate them from the cold, which is why it makes such a great insulation for us, too.
Often when people talk about down, they imagine it as feathers. However, feathers are only a very small proportion of the insulation. We use far more down than feather in our gear.
Down is made of very fine fibres that provide the lightest and most efficient means of trapping and holding air in position.
This trapped air provides an incredibly efficient thermal barrier. Its performance is unrivalled by any other natural or synthetic equivalent. Individual down clusters loft (expand) to fill an area that is vast relative to their size. The down’s volume is then made almost entirely of trapped air, so any down-filled gear remains incredibly lightweight and compressible.
Down cluster ratio.
This is the amount of feather and down mix found in your down clothing.
The higher the ratio, the more down the item contains.
Our duck down gear has a cluster ratio of 80:20, where there is a maximum of 20% feather content.
Our goose down items have a higher ratio of 90:10, where the minimum down content is 90%.
Feathers weigh more than down and are generally more robust and rigid. This means that the higher the percentage of down, the better the warmth for weight.
We are certified to the Responsible Down Standard, certified by Control Union 839597. The Responsible Down Standard (RDS) independently certifies down and feathers against animal welfare requirements and tracks it from farm to final product.
