We have a small number of supply chains located both in Europe as well as China that provide us with virgin down. We use both Grey as well as White duck and goose down for our clothing and sleeping bag ranges in a range of qualities.
Our virgin down comes primarily from slaughterhouse-based supply chains (where a single large or defined group of farms supply a slaughterhouse directly). This more ‘industrial-based’ system has become increasingly common over the past decade.
Collection-based supply chains (where many small farms or individual small-holders provide down to local collectors who then sell it on) may offer advantages over slaughterhouse-based supply chains, especially when it comes to aspects of welfare but by their nature, standards can vary wildly, documentation can be fragmented and they can be more difficult to audit reliably.
Our recycled down is not presently covered by Down Codex rules that relate to virgin down. This is because our recycled down comes entirely from a large variety of post-consumer recycling sources within Europe.
Supply Chains
No matter which type of down you are looking at, the down commonly used by us and others find its way into products principally via two types of supply chain - either via a Collection Based System or an Industrial System. Both have their pro’s and con’s. However it is generally accepted that from a traceability perspective, collection-based systems carry the greatest risk due to the complexities in accurately documenting any chain of custody.
By continuing to champion the use of duck down, we are choosing to purchase our greatest volumes of down in one of the ‘lowest risk’ farming sectors, which even without audits reduces our exposure to the issues of live plucking and force-feeding which are more commonly associated within geese farming.
We operate just two supply chains for Duck Down. One of these is located in China, Asia while the other is in Germany, Europe. Both have been audited to DOWN CODEX® requirements.
For the very highest quality products we continue to use only the most exceptional qualities of Goose Down commercially available.
We have only one source of Goose Down. It is a small supply chain based in Russia which has been audited to DOWN CODEX® requirements. We have worked with this supplier for almost a decade and believe this is one of the best down sources available anywhere.
According to research published by the IDFL, whilst Goose Down typically has average fill powers 5 to 10% higher than Duck Down, their research consistently shows that superior quality duck down has performance consistently above that of mediocre or poor Goose Down. Indeed, if fill power of a Goose Down and a Duck Down sample are equal, performance of the two down samples are exceptionally similar.
A premium quality Goose Down sourced from Western Russian.A combined mother goose farm, hatchery and slaughterhouse supply birds to two farms. The farms and slaughterhouse are located within 20 km of each other and are all part of the same company. Birds are free range with access to water and plentiful space. Slaughter is carried out using traditional methods. Pre-washing of the down takes place locally before being transported to Germany for final processing. This goose down is used in our Extreme sleeping bags and our finest down clothing.
Date of last audit: August 2018
A high quality duck down sourced from Northern Germany. The down is sourced through a series of industrial-sized farms i.e. a large-scale farm each rearing tens of thousands of birds which collectively supply a single slaughterhouse. The slaughterhouse is located approximately 100km South-West of Berlin with the farms themselves all located within a 2-3 hour radius. The farms are run by experienced farmers and are regularly visited by veterinarians in accordance with local laws and regulations. This Duck Down is used in some of duck down sleeping bags and is also used in some of our duck-down-filled clothing.
Date of last audit: September 2018
This Pure Duck down is sourced from the Jiangxi province in Eastern China. A representative sample of the farms were visited in the winter of 2019. At the same time the slaughterhouse, hatchery, feather processing unit and intermediary unit were also visited. Randomly selected barns on each farm were visited and auditors were given free access to all infrastructure of the farms. The farms generally allow the birds access to open water in their environments. Ducklings and feed for the birds are provided by the slaughterhouse and all ducklings are sourced from the hatchery. Average weight of duck at slaughter is around 1.25kg. Ducks are usually slaughtered at the age of 50-60 days. Down is shipped to a pre-processor and an intermediary before being sold onto to our supplier in Hangzhou province, China.
Date of last audit: December 2019
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