Down and feather
It might seem strange, but we have found that many people are not familiar with the difference and connection between feather and down. According to the public opinion, it is only a matter of grade of fineness, if the two expressions appear in product specifications describing filling of pillows and quilts. Thought his is not far from reality, it is important to know, that there are more complete quality and technical details in question and these affect not only fineness, but other characteristics of the product concerning grade of comfort. The percentage of feather and down has influence on the filling power as well as on the weight of the ready-made product, the softness of the pillow, and also on insulation and water absorption capacity. These details are all very important for the product’s characteristics, durability, comfort and sanitary aspects during use.
Just like feathers with a rigid shaft, soft down without shaft also comes from waterfowl. The difference is that former mentioned are typically located on the back of the animal, and soft, light down is located on the breast. Like feathers, down is also responsible for insulation of the body, but unlike the feathers, these are not exposed to harsh environmental effects, so – because of evolutional reasons-their structure is much lighter, airy. It is also important to note, that feathers are 2 dimensional and down are 3 dimensional: this is a basic difference that affects their characteristics and their use as a filling of bedding items. Generally speaking, down represents more quality than feathers, and one can obtain bigger down from the body of more mature animals, which provide bigger filling power, so higher quality. Raw material like this improves the durability of the product and also results in excellent insulation.
Qualities:
As a manufacturer of down and feather products, when assessing customer needs, an important question is which market we are producing the items for. The target markets determine the quality expectations of the filling material based on various internationally accepted standards.
Into the pillows and duvets produced by us, we can put any filling material quality specified by IDFL standard.
The expression filling power is a measure used worldwide to show how big space can be filled with a unit of down. The higher this number is, the better is the insulation capacity, and naturally the price of the filling and the ready-made product is higher. The reason for this is that we need less filling material of a higher quality down to reach the desired grade of comfort. Bigger down results in a lighter quilt and this in total ads on to the quality of sleep and well-being.
Why is Hungarian down good?
The natural conditions of our country- its climate, greenery, great areas of water side habitats- provide excellent conditions for the life of the waterfowl. The high quality, healthy filling of the bedding comes from the plumage of geese and duck kept here, and with the help of adequate expertise based on century-long experience, the products and producers of the Hungarian industry have become world-wide famous.
The quality of down and feather is watched by the farmers already during the keeping of the animals. The birds are fed only with good quality feed of natural basis, the health of the ducks and geese is checked constantly and in case of suspecting any illness- according to the interest of the whole stock- they separate and start to vet animals in question. The strict control is valid not only for the animal keeping, but also for the processing of the feather, starting from the recollection through cleaning and classifying to the final usage. These high quality expectations and internationally acknowledged standards guarantee that the outstanding raw material results in outstanding, premium category items, that truly make Hungary be proud of them.
Goose and duck down and feather characteristics:
Down duvets and pillows are already of high quality compared to their synthetic counterparts. Since they are products of animal origin, the bedding item is always natural. The thermal insulation capacity of both goose and duck down is extremely good. Properly processed goose and duck down serves as an excellent filling material. Among their differences is that goose down is larger in size compared to duck down, thus providing better filling power. Due to this property, goose products can be classified as luxury quality on the market. Furthermore, the difference arising from the nature of the birds is that geese are purely herbivorous, while ducks are omnivorous. This diet also affects the plumage of the animals.
Animal welfare:
Hungária Down Ltd operates responsibly. Environmental consciousness and – originating from the industry’s peculiarity- animal protection and animal welfare are factors that we demand without exceptions and we corporate them in our activities at every stage of the production process.
We require not only high quality raw material from our Hungarian and EC providers, but we also insist on their work according to our principals regarding environmental consciousness and animal welfare, as we all have a shared responsibility in this aspect. According to our principles and our customers’ expectations, we only purchase down as secondary product from the processing of water-fowl, but we require the down to comply with high standards of hygiene and also to have ideal filling power for our products. We do not use down or feather plucked from live animals.
Magyar és más, európai uniós beszállítóinktól nem csupán a magas minőségű alapanyagot követeljük meg, hanem azt is, hogy maguk is ezek szellemében végezzék munkájukat, hiszen közös a felelősségünk ezen a téren. Saját elveinknek és vevőink elvárásainak megfelelően cégünk kizárólag a víziszárnyas-feldolgozás melléktermékeként keletkező, ugyanakkor magas tisztasági kritériumokhoz igazodó, termékeink szempontjából pedig ideális töltőerővel bíró pelyhet veszi át. Nem használunk fel élő állatról tépett tollat, pelyhet.
Feather processing:
Although for an outsider it might seem very simple how the feather and down become filling of bedding, in fact the production process requires complex, sophisticated machinery. Additionally, the procedure consists of different operations building on one another, so it requires time. All this is necessary, so that the consumers can rest among completely clean, healthy pillows and quilts suitable for their needs of comfort.
The procedure starts with the recollection of feather and down originating from geese and ducks kept under strictly controlled circumstances. These are already pre-washed in the slaughterhouses, only after this do they arrive to the factories of processing companies. Here the raw material is being washed with chemicals and tumble dried, followed by drying at 110-120 grades Celsius and sterilization. Feather and down cleaned this way is guaranteed to be free of bacteria and virus.
In the following stage of processing, precision equipments sort the feather and down according to their size; later on these are being re-mixed according to the market standards and costumer requirements. This is one of the reasons, why we experience during our journeys, that the softness of pillows is different, and quilts are lighter or heavier in our hotel rooms of USA, Canada or Asian countries.
The freshly produced filling material is checked by a professional laboratory to ensure strict quality standards. During the testing, the filling material must meet a number of conditions and only then is it filled in the pillow and duvet.