Down and feathers – a wonder of nature

Down and feathers are a wonder of nature and a high-value natural product. Thanks to millions of air chambers, down ensures a pleasant environment for sleep. Despite advances in technology, its insulating effects remain unmatched. With its excellent properties, it also performs valuable functions such as filling material for bedding, down jackets or sleeping bags.
As a perfect complement to down, feathers are the perfect filling material for pillows, where they are pleasantly soft against the head but also offer the required stability for the neck.

Down grows as fine flakes on the breast of geese and ducks. Unlike feathers, down has no quills and therefore is a peerlessly light and airy filling material for duvets. Thanks to millions of air chambers, down provides an excellent environment in the bed. Not only does it insulate against the cold, it also has the ability to absorb a large amount of moisture. This means that down absorbs the moisture released by the sleeping person and releases it in the morning when the down duvet is aired.

Down is three-dimensional and looks like a delicate snowflake. Down has about two million fluffy down legs. This creates innumerable small air chambers, which enable its outstanding insulation properties (heat storage).

From the barely visible core of the down, raylike, silky soft down legs with finest branches grow out, retaining a lot of air. Because of its three-dimensional structure and its ability to constantly recover, down encloses a large amount of air in proportion to its weight. Good down has about 2 million fluffy down strands that interlock with each other. They form a layer of insulating air that protects against the cold.

Feathers form the outer, main protection of the animal’s body. Feathers are a separate species and have a completely different structure to down. Feathers are flat and two-dimensional and have an elongated and curved quill, from which soft feather hairs branch off on both sides. The quill gives the feather its elasticity, which in a pillow has the decisive supporting function.

Down and feathers are 100% natural products. They are washable, suitable for allergy sufferers and, with good care, provide us with years of valuable service and wonderful, restful nights.
Only waterfowl, namely geese and ducks, are suitable for down and feathers. Due to their living conditions, down grows under the protective plumage of water birds. It serves as thermal insulation. Down is a three-dimensional, filigree structure of tiny, tightly fitting hairs on the branches. This enables it to store a lot of heat-insulating air. Radiating silky-soft down legs with finest hairs grow out of the core.

The quality of down and feathers increases with the age of the animals. This means that the feathers obtained from young geese and ducks are lower in both quantity and quality.

That's why we at duvetsuisse.com only use down and feathers from adult breeding animals for our high-quality duvets and pillows.

The basic principle is therefore: feathers support, down warms and gives softness and comfort.
We at duvetsuisse.com test as much as possible to be absolutely sure that our high quality requirements are met.
As down and feathers are natural products, their quality is subject to fluctuation. Only constant and standardised controls by internationally accredited laboratories can ensure consistent quality. Only when a down and feather filling has fulfilled our requirements does it find its way into our duvets and pillows.