A look at what’s up in down
It has unique performance properties and offers unrivalled warmth to weight. The natural material is also robust allowing it to be recycled, if properly cared for. But down is not without shortcomings and specific challenges. Technical innovation has solutions for some of these. A new set of start-ups is betting on plant-based and peatland-restoring alternatives.
Down is considered the best thermal insulation material in the world. Its performance properties are rarely brought into question. But, like any animal-based raw material, it suffers long-standing criticism from animal welfare activists and organisations. This is the talking point that new companies developing a down-like fluff from bulrush or cattail plants put forward. To this, down suppliers can reply that their raw material is a by-product of the food industry (from birds bred for food) that would otherwise go to waste. While the workings of this particular supply chain may often be difficult to spin into a positive marketing message, consumer attitudes are slowly shifting as an anti-plastic movement gains traction and microplastic pollution awareness grows. The landscape is thus changing, amidst unabated popularity for puffer jackets that drives demand for down.
Suppliers of premium and branded down have for the most part taken measures to secure sourcing from farms and slaughterhouses that can certify best practices. But responsible down products are a small portion of the global down market. In Textile Exchange’s Preferred Fibre & Materials report for 2022, the Responsible Down Standard (RDS) and Downpass account for, respectively, 3.2% and 1.2% of the 565,103 tonnes produced in 2021. As for recycled down, Textile Exchange pegs its market share at just under 1%, or some 5,580 tonnes.
Patagonia now claims that 85% of its down-padded products are made from second-life plumes. The North Face has also stepped up its use of recycled down so that this now represents nearly 30% of its offering. Many lifestyle and sports brands, from Moncler to Rab, offer puffers made from recycled polyester or nylon fabrics encapsulating 100% recycled down. Textile Exchange’s latest Material Change Index (MCI), a self-assessed survey that 424 brands contributed to in 2021, notes that the volume of ‘preferred down’ fell from 97% to 93%, but recycled was up as recorded by the 41 companies that filled the index’s down module. The volumes reported by the 15 companies having made the switch approaches 2,000 tonnes and increases each year. MCI authors conclude that this sends a clear signal to the industry.
Adding GRS to RDS
Allied Feather & Down, the developer with The North Face, of the RDS, now managed by Textile Exchange, views favourably any progress made in transparency, education and animal welfare. These, says company creative director, Matthew Betcher, lead to better quality overall. The next step forward would be to offer down holding both the RDS and Global Recycling Standard (GRS), the holy grail, as he sees it. The down specialist, headquartered in California, is launching such a programme with Renu:Trace. “Current recycled down offerings have one major flaw: they don’t necessarily comply with RDS protocol, meaning it’s impossible to know how ethically the birds in the supply chain were treated. Renu:Trace will fix that,” says Allied president, Daniel Uretsky. Achieving volumes of this type of down will take time, concedes Mr Betcher. “We are at the infancy stage of achieving a product offering that is both recycled and RDS certified.”
Allied launched its first RDS-certified down in 2015 along with a consumer-facing online traceability tool known as Track My Down. This platform will soon be expanded to include information on a product’s environmental impacts and steps that can be taken to offset them through a partnership with Protect Our Winters (POW). “Education is essential for consumers, and the new version of Track My Down fills out gaps in the information a brand can provide,” says Mr Betcher, adding that the platform has proven to be quite popular, with some 23,000 daily users. In time, information drawn from an LCA will enable the platform to indicate emissions, he says, as part of the company’s science-based targets.
Improving on down
A new high-tech reference at Allied Feather & Down is a gold-infused finish, supplied by Fuze, a US-based biomed company. This ExpeDry down was initially developed to offer antimicrobial properties, but was also found to speed up drying by 50%. “We discovered that the gold particles create an electrostatic barrier that weakens the hydrogen bond of water. It makes water evaporate faster and prevents moisture from turning into water droplets,” says Mr Betcher. This, he believes, “makes hydrophobic down obsolete.” It is, furthermore, a more sustainable solution he says, as “down will be easier to care for and will therefore last longer”.
To address some of the natural material’s shortcomings and specifically improve its performance in humid conditions, Cincinnati-based Downlite offers down treated to combat bacteria, with pur-down, and a PFC-free water-repellent treatment, activ-dri.
Innovation in down extraction
Technical innovation is also being applied to circularity, with the development of machines that can remove down from used apparel. The primary source of recycled plumes has been bedding. While extracting the plumes from duvets and pillows is fairly easy – a slash in the cover fabric releases its contents – more handling, or specialised machinery, is needed to draw out down enclosed in sewn or welded baffles. This process is being automated and such machines are now in operation at Re:Down, in China, and at Debrand, in the US, in a partnership with Downlite.
French-Asian company Re:Down sells only recycled down and created a down-extracting device with Iteratif, a circular solutions provider based in Chamonix, France. It has been installed in Re:Down’s China-based supply chain near Shanghai. “A vast majority of the recycled down we sell was being sent to China and Vietnam but shipping it from Europe to Asia is not very sustainable,” Eric Firmann, CEO and co-founder tells WSA. The company has two main sources of used down: bedding in Europe and clothing in China. The more complex process of extracting the natural filler from used garments is done in China where labour costs are lower, he says.
Downlite’s Recharged recycled down also comes in part from clothing utilising a machine developed by Debrand. The Vancouver-based reverse logistics company retrieves pre- and post-consumer products, including seconds, from brands and retailers. The device automatically removes unwanted materials, pieces of fabric, labels, zippers and sewing threads, and also separates white from grey, says Josh Werthaiser, Downlite’s president and chief finance officer.
As part of a strategy to become a zero-waste company, Downlite is currently testing a new outlet for unused material from its own manufacturing processes. “Washing and drying generate some down fibre and dust,” says Mr Werthaiser. This is “usable” waste, and research is under way to combine it with another filling material to create insulating batting for apparel. It has already been tested by brands, and has been found to offer high thermal insulation and washability, he says.
Recycled down is part of Minardi Piume’s offering, but the Ravenna-based company has also developed what it says is a “200% natural” filler it calls FlowerDown, which it makes from a blend of down and kapok. “These two materials work well together as kapok is naturally hydrophobic and antibacterial,” says Filippo Zaniboni, sales manager. The company has patented this process, as he says combining the two is tricky due to the tendency of kapok fibres to clump. “Our method mechanically spreads the kapok within the down, using neither chemicals nor additional energy,” he says. The percentage of kapok is usually around 20% to 30%, a proportion that he says works well for jackets, but it can go up to 50%. Adding kapok has the advantage of aligning the price of FlowerDown with that of a premium synthetic filler.
Vegetal down
As providers of a high-performance raw material that is recyclable, biodegradable and even compostable, suppliers of down suggest it is one of the most sustainable textiles used in apparel. But a few enterprising young companies are developing plant-based alternatives derived from plants widely known by the names bulrush and cattail. These companies believe they have a better solution that can also help restore wetlands and can be considered carbon-negative.
“Wetlands and peatlands are biodiverse, carbon-rich ecosystems that support 40% of all species on earth, including humans,” points out Julian Ellis-Brown, chief executive and co-founder of one of these companies, UK-based SaltyCo. “This critical ecosystem is shrinking, we have lost 89% of it in the past 300 years.” He explains that SaltyCo’s plan is to develop regenerative agriculture solutions to restore wetlands to their original state and create a new resources for apparel manufacturing at the same time.
He points out that one particular challenge the company faces is in convincing the owners of these wetlands to plant crops that have regenerative properties. Not all wetlands have the same needs, and a certain amount of flexibility is required, he says. The company estimates that there are 25 million hectares of farmed peatland worldwide and it is now working with farmers and Natural England, a government environmental body, to support peatland restoration.
The founders of Fluff Stuff share a similar goal. They want to reintroduce the cultivation of cattail plants in distressed peat moss areas in Finland and harvest the fibre to make a thermal insulation filler. Aalto University students Lukas Schuck and Tea Auramo are the company’s co-founders and postulate that reintroducing cattail farming could help Finland reduce its carbon emissions; a prototype machine to automate harvesting has been developed.
SaltyCo has created a Planet Positive Textiles platform to market its bulrush fluff-based filler BioPuff. “We are in the early stages of scaling up. We are now processing tens of kilos per day, and we expect to produce hundreds of kilos per day later this year,” says Mr Ellis-Brown. Next year, the company believes it will be able to deliver bulk orders, and it is in talks with lifestyle and activewear brands for a market launch this autumn. The company still faces a number of challenges. The first is that cattail fluff on its own does not make a good fibre fill. The team is looking for ways to improve its performance and properties by making it stronger with a biobased coating or blending it with another plant-based fibre. One technical issue that has been resolved is making BioPuff machine-washable. “It is the first question I get asked, systematically, and it is one of the main challenges of cellulose-based materials that tend to clump,” says Mr Ellis-Brown.
Fluff Stuff co-founder Tea Auramo tells WSA that the material the Finnish company is using, Typha fluff, has “excellent thermal properties, dries faster and has a comparable recovery from compression with down’s. Additionally, its breathability is better than that of down. The fibre performs well in washing tests, where it is again very similar to down.” The start-up says it is currently finalising product development and is in talks with a handful of brands.
For those that endorse the move to go plastic-free, down, kapok and cattail all fit the bill. “In addition to its longevity compared to synthetic fillers, on its own, down can be composted and biodegrades within days in the right conditions. It won’t release any microplastics either,” says Josh Werthaiser at Downlite.
Matthew Betcher, at Allied Feather & Down, has noted a shift in consumer attitudes through the company’s social media monitoring. “In the past, any reference to down would generate a lot of criticism, but with rising of awareness of microplastic pollution, the proportion of positive comments has risen. Now only 65% of comments suggest that synthetics are better than down. Public sentiment is changing. There is now more talk of a product’s end of life,” he says.
Down, arguably, has a cleaner end of life than its entry into the apparel supply chain and its performance and sustainability credentials are widely recognised. Some may prefer a plant-based alternative, but they may also find that the development of a material capable of emulating down does not come easily.
VF-owned brand The North Face spearheaded the Responsible Down Standard (RDS) and uses it exclusively. Its new Himalayan suit, designed by women for women, is padded with 900 fill power RDS-certified down sewn in baffles designed to minimise cold spots. The North Face athlete Dawa Yangzum Sherpa was part of the product development team.
Credit: Savannah Cummins / The North Face
