How to Choose Good Down Bedding Part I – Quality
2017-03-23
Down bedding sets which were sold on a home shopping channel generated KRW 2.5 billion in sales in one hour. Such tremendous sales show the recent popularity of down bedding. Down bedding is warmer and lighter than other materials and softly covers the contours of the human body adhering to the curves of the entire body. Thanks to such features, it does not interrupt your sleep even when you toss and turn or change your sleeping positions. In particular, down maintaining a constant temperature and humidity provides a pleasant sleep environment by emitting your sweat during sleep. However, the greatest weakness of down bedding is the cost comparison to other bedding products. The prices of down bedding are fairly expensive, ranging from 300,000 won to 3,000,000 won. Therefore, the most important standard is “quality.”
What should you consider when choosing down bedding?
It is generally known that the down-to-feather ratio, fill power, and country of origin should be considered when choosing down comforters. General down bedding labels contain only the down/feather type (goose or duck) and down-to-feather ratio, whereas PRAUDEN hang-tags show detailed information such as goose/duck, down-to-feather ratio, country of origin, and fill power. Most of the premium down bedding distributors provide such information even though product labels don’t contain such information. Refer to the following standards and choose suitable down bedding.
1. Types of down & feather
In 1988, Pan-Pacific, the parent company of PRAUDEN, launched goose down bedding products for the first time in Korea. Goose down bedding became popular in the late 2000s due to its higher prices than duck down bedding. Goose down, which has higher fill power than duck down, has better heat preservation ability and little odor. Therefore, goose down is suitable for bedding that is used for a certain period of time in confined spaces.
2. Down-to-feather ratio
In Korea, products with a down-to-feather ratio of 75% or higher can be considered down products. There is a high probability that low-priced goose down comforters or duck down comforters have a 70% or less down content. Consumers should take this into account when choosing a product.
<100% goose down cluster misleads consumers >
Source: SBS NEWS
In addition, consumers are confused between the marked and actual down-to-feather ratios. As the Korean down bedding market is still in the early stage of development, most products are imported from Europe. The down-to-feather ratio of down products is marked according to the labeling standards of down products by country. According to the labeling standards, there is a high probability that bedding products labeled according to the European labeling standards (EN) contain less down than products labeled according to the Korean labeling standards (KS). In the worst case, products with the same content labels may have a down content up to 10% different. Visit Journal of PRAUDEN for further details of the labeling standards.
3. Fill power (FP)
Generally, 600FP or over is considered as being a quality product, and 800FP or over as a premium product. As the down cluster size of geese is larger than that of ducks, goose down has higher fill power than duck down. If the down-to-feather ratio is 80% or higher, duck down has generally 500FP to 600FP and goose down has 600FP to 800FP.`
<A correlation between fill power and heat preservation ability>
4. Country of origin
Down quality is greatly affected by the country of origin. Waterfowl raised in cold areas such as Poland, Canada, and Hungary has more abundant breast down. As larger down clusters have better heat preservation ability, down from certain countries can be considered high quality down.
Even though Chinese down accounting for about 80% of the total global down production generally have small down clusters and low fill power, it can be reborn as down with high fill power through suitable processing.
5. Fabric processing and garment techniques
Fine feathers may come out through fabric during use. To minimize this, the number of stitches should be adjusted properly and down proof processing should be applied to the surface of the inner fabric. Down proof processing refers to a set of activities in which clothes are weaved extremely finely and the surface of fabric is coated with chemicals to prevent feathers from coming out. In addition, filling of down products is sometimes concentrated on one side after washing. This phenomenon can be prevented somewhat with “Baffle Box construction” that builds walls with fabric to make separate rooms.
What should you do if you can’t see filling of down products with your own eyes?
In 2015, it was reported that the goose down comforters sold on a home shopping channel contained garbage such as animal bones, cigarette filters, etc. It is difficult to see what is actually inside down products without disintegrating the product. Therefore, it is a great idea to choose a down brand whose quality has been verified by numerous customers for a long time like PRAUDEN.
<New goose down comforters contain garbage>
Source: SBS NEWS
PRAUDEN is Korea’s first premium down material brand that launched the down processing business in 1984 based on the business knowhow of Pan-Pacific. You can see accurate specifications of PRAUDEN down-filled products with attached hang-tags.
By PRAUDEN Living Part Choi Wu-jin
