Down - snuggly comfort for winter
Customers walking into our store often ask us what is so special about Hungarian or Canadian or goose down – especially when they see the price tag. Why not just pluck a plain old local Karoo or Free State goose and stuff that into the duvet?
The fact is that geese in sunny South Africa with relatively mild winters just never get cold enough to grow the same amount of dense yet light and luxurious down that their cousins in colder climes deliver. Contrary to popular belief, the temperature does not affect the quality of the down, just the quantity.
Down is the soft “fluff” underneath the feathers that offer insulation and enables the bird to stay warm and dry. While the feathers have a hard quill, the down cluster is soft and fluffy with many filaments growing in all directions. Mature birds produce more and larger down clusters than young birds, but even in very cold areas a mature bird will yield no more than 150g of feathers , roughly a third of which is down. This explains the high price of pure down.
The quality and size of the goose down clusters determine the fill power or “loft”. The larger the down cluster, the higher the loft or “fill power rating”. Down from immature birds not only tends to have poor lofting ability, it also tends to collapse in a relatively short time, because its fibres are so fragile. A duvet made with mature down will be warmer, lighter and puffier. It will last much longer than one made with immature down. Fine Hungarian goose down has the highest fill power.
Goose down and duck down are very similar, but because geese are larger than ducks, the goose down clusters will be larger than duck down. This results in fat, fluffy pillows and duvets that deliver better insulation.
Down can vary in colour, from white to dark gray depending on the age of the bird and the season in which the down was harvested. Whether white or gray, it insulates equally well. White goose down is simply preferred because it does not show through the white casing, whereas a gray down can make the duvet look “dirty”.
Goose down is the finest lightweight insulator known, whether natural or synthetic. Its unique three dimensional structure creates thousands of tiny air pockets. These air pockets, trapped by the down fibres provide the superior insulating ability that goose down is known for. Quality goose down is also extremely resilient – when compressed, it will spring back to its original shape thanks to all those wonderfully warm air pockets.
Goose down is also extremely breathable. It allows moisture to pass through, drawing it away through the filaments while retaining the warmth in the air pockets. That allows you to feel comfortable regardless of the weather.
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