The power of down will never cease to amaze us!
Our passion for down
At Re:Down, we love down. It is an amazing 100% natural product with excellent insulation properties. It is softer than cashmere and “feather” light! When you see the clusters flying in a sorting machine, falling softly like snow flakes on the coldest winter nights, you easily understand the poetry of down…
Down and feathers have so many applications. We all know well the thermal properties of down used in jackets or in comforters. Feathers are a perfect filling material for pillows, cushions, upholstery. But did you know that down and feathers are rich in organic nitrogen? They are not only biodegradable but at the same time a very good fertilizer.
Down and feathers are a precious gift from nature. It looks fragile but it is durable. The resource itself, the supply, is fragile due to our mass consumption habits. It is up to us to take care of it.
Time to re-imagine the world of down
The management of textile trash is one of the big challenges for all developed countries. Just in Europe, we estimate the amount of annual textile waste to 7.500.000 tons! Down and feathers filled products are only a fraction of this but still an enormous quantity. Re:Down collects those old products before they end up in the landfill and regenerates down and feathers.
Down is durable. Very often, in a used duvet, the down remains in good condition whereas the fabric is damaged. It can be re-processed and re-used.
The need of high quality down has increased a lot in the past few years with the worldwide growing demand for down jackets. This has created a severe lack of virgin down and an explosion of the raw material prices. The same price fluctuations happen when a bird flu comes up: all sick ducks and geese must be killed and the meat nor the down can be used. Less supply, higher prices.
Re:Down is completely disconnected from the virgin down business: our raw material does not come from slaughter houses nor depends on bird flu! Post consumer resources are growing year after year and our business model guarantees stable prices.
Bad practices in the virgin down industry have been often highlighted: force feeding, live plucking, cruel slaughter conditions…The mistreatment of the animals became a serious issue, and improvement measures have been taken. Re:Down offers only down and feathers from post consumer goods,with no new animal input.