Source: Popular Science China
Recently, the topic of down jackets has been frequently searched. Some people in the garment industry said that 90% of the eiderdown rose from 350,000 last year to 590,000 tons this year; 90% of goose down has risen from 700,000 last year to 1.25 million tons this year. The skyrocketing cost has led some manufacturers to use 50% duck down to pass off as 90% goose down, and even mix waste silk in goose down.
How do we ordinary consumers choose down jackets? What kind of down jacket is warmer? How can I buy a cheap and good quality down jacket?
The easiest way to do this is to look at the wash label.
A complete washing label usually contains the product name, implementation standard, safety category, product number, fiber composition and content, product grade, manufacturer information and maintenance methods, etc.
Since April 1, 2022, the new national standard GB/T14272-2021 "Down Clothing" has officially replaced the old standard GB/T14272-2011. In addition to the basic product information, the national standard stipulates that the down filling of down garments should be clearly marked with the type of down, down content and filling amount. If the down jacket with the new standard is not clearly marked on the washing label or is missing, it is necessary to buy it carefully.
Among them, down content, filling, and filling amount are the main reference indicators for us to purchase down jackets.
Velvet content
The biggest highlight of the new national standard is that the "down content" is revised to "down content".
Velvet: Also known as velvet, it is composed of a velvet core and many tiny velvet filaments radiating out, just like a dandelion, round and fluffy, so as to store more still air and bring warmth.
Velvet: The monofilament that falls off the fluff, in the form of filaments one by one, without fluffiness.
Comparing the old and new national standards, it can be seen that although "50% of the specified amount is qualified", the new national standard makes the fleece waste without warmth no longer included in the down content, but only looks at the down content, and only the down content exceeds 50%, which is considered a qualified down jacket. Undoubtedly, the quality requirements for filling down are stricter, and the standard of down jackets has also been raised.
When we are buying down jackets, if we see that the down content is 80% on the tag, it means that the down accounts for 80% of the entire down, and the remaining 20% is feathers and shedding down silk. Under the premise of the same filling weight, the higher the proportion of down in the whole down, the better the warmth, so the higher the down content when purchasing, the better, up to 95%.
filler
Goose down and duck down
There are two types of filling for down, which are goose down and duck down. The longer the growth cycle of a goose and duck, the more mature its down is and the warmer it is. Generally speaking, goose down is larger and fluffier than duck down and has better warmth, meaning that goose down-filled down jackets will be warmer than duck down-filled down jackets for the same weight. Of course, because geese have a longer growth cycle and higher feeding costs, it means that the price of goose down is more expensive.
Velvet Image source: Courtesy of the author
At the same time, geese are vegetarians, while ducks are omnivores, which makes the goose itself relatively light in terms of poultry. If you are more sensitive to odors, goose down jackets will be a better choice.
White velvet and grey velvet
If you look carefully at the tag, you can find that the color of the velvet will be marked in front of different velvet, including white velvet and gray velvet. Gray down does not mean that it is dirty, and the down of some ducks is gray itself, such as the more famous lion-headed goose in Guangdong, which is gray down.
The price of gray down is usually a little cheaper than white down, because the appearance is not as good as white, and some down manufacturers will even use bleach to bleach gray down into white down to sell, of course, in this bleaching process, the quality of the down itself will also be damaged, so there is no need to think that white down must be better than gray down. Usually merchants fill the fabric of light-colored clothes with white fleece, and dark-colored clothes with gray fleece. In the new national standard, the color of the filler is no longer labeled, so as to eliminate the misunderstanding of "white down is better than gray down", because the color has no effect on warmth, enterprises can mark gray or white, or not.
Filling volume
As the name suggests, the amount of down is the weight of the grams of down filled in the clothes, which is a key indicator of warmth.
The amount of down will vary depending on the style and size of the down jacket. Generally speaking, more than 200 grams of filling can provide good warmth.
Different ambient temperatures require different filling amounts:
100g is suitable for 0°C~-5°C
150g is suitable for -5°C~-10°C
200g is suitable for -10°C~-20°C
300g is suitable above -20°C
Another key indicator is fluffiness, which is not explicitly required by the national standard to be marked on the washing label, but the fluffiness is usually used as an important indicator to measure the warmth of down jackets. Fill power is the volume occupied by a certain weight of down under certain conditions; The higher the fill power, the better the warmth.
We can press the down jacket to observe the rebound speed and shape: first lay the garment flat, wait for 3 minutes, then press with your hands and quickly withdraw, if it can quickly return to its original shape after loosening, it means that the fluffiness is good, otherwise it means that the fluffiness is not good. The higher the fill power, the better the warmth, usually 600 fill power will provide good warmth, 800 is the high quality down.
After understanding these indicators, I hope everyone can buy a warm, good-looking and suitable down jacket~
Author丨Yao Weiming is a textile chemical engineer