Animal down in clothing

Down is a prized commodity for the outdoor equipment industry and is used in insulated, padded and puffer jackets, and sleeping bags.

Every year, hundreds of tonnes of down are processed, from millions of ducks and geese, mainly in China. These geese and ducks can have their feathers plucked while alive, repeatedly for years, and the more you ‘live-pluck’ a bird, the more sought-after their down is for its higher ‘fill-power’ (warmth per volume). Down and feathers may also come from birds that have been cruelly force-fed for the controversial pâté, foie gras.

Many outdoor gear manufacturers state that the feathers they use come only from birds that were reared and killed for meat, and that were only plucked after slaughter. Indeed, most of the world's down is removed from ducks and geese after slaughter. However, there may be very little traceability within the supply lines of companies to guarantee that this is the case.

Since 2008, international animal welfare charity Four Paws has worked with some leading outdoor brands, and many of these companies have now started to make the supply chain of the down that they source both traceable and transparent.

The down pyramid: The hierarchy of what to buy

If you are thinking about buying a product with down, you could start at the top and work through the list until you find a product that matches your needs:

1. 100% recycled synthetic down
2. Synthetic down with some recycled content
3. Synthetic down with no recycled content
4. 100% recycled goose and duck down
5. Goose and duck down with some recycled content
6. Virgin goose and duck down 

How we rated the companies in the animal products category

On the score table in the outdoor clothing guide, to get full marks in the animal products category, a brand and its wider group needed to be free of animal-derived materials and have a policy committing to not using animal products in future.

None of the brands in this guide achieved this, but the closest was Páramo, which currently doesn’t use any animal-derived materials, but didn’t have an explicit policy saying this so it scored 80/100.

We award more marks for brands that have policies on this issue because it shows that they have committed to not using animal-derived materials at all.

Brands that sold animal products but were considered to have adequate animal welfare policies (such as certified down) could score up to 40 points. 

Brands that used animal products but did not have adequate welfare policies scored zero.

Other animal issues with clothing

Down is not the only animal welfare and rights issue associated with clothing. Many people including vegans will also wish to avoid wool, leather, fur and silk for example. Our article on clothing and animal welfare and animal rights has more information on these materials, and recommendations for brands to look for which are vegan friendly.