Content Claims - Down Content

Navigating content claims for down and feather products can be confusing! We’re here to help with a quick guide to some of the content claims regulations that we hope will help you shop with confidence! It is important to choose brands that understand and work within the regulations that apply to their products.

The following information applies to the Canadian and US markets only. The majority of our readers are from these countries, so we’ve tried to keep it simple!

It is not legal to advertise a product as 100% down, all down, pure down, or similar.

Of course, if a product actually contains 100% down, it may be advertised as such, however, this is virtually impossible to achieve by today’s methods and technologies! There are always other materials present in a batch of down that cannot reasonably be filtered or sorted out. Perhaps we can get to 100% down cluster content in the future, and the regulations are written to leave open that possibility.

It is also prohibited to make statements designed to mislead consumers such as, ‘100% premium down’, ‘100% Canadian down’, etc. These statements have 2 different interpretations, one of which is misleading as to the down cluster percentage of the product.

For a product to be advertised as a down product, it must contain at least 75% down cluster.

The remaining material may be made up of feather, down filament, feather filament, residue, etc (and there are maximum allowable percentages for these other types of materials). In other words, down is a mixture of things, but in order to call it down, the mixture must be of a certain quality – it must contain enough down cluster material so that it looks, feels and performs the way we expect of down.

Brands may just use the term ‘down’ (ex. This product is filled with white down), or they may specify the down cluster percentage in the product (ex. This product is filled with 85% white down). Advertising the down cluster percentage of a product is not required (except for on the sewn-in law label for products sold in the USA).

If a product is advertised as 75% down or 85% down, it doesn’t mean that it has feather or some other material added into it. It simply reflects that it is not possible to remove other materials entirely from commercial down.

Customers often ask if our products are ‘all down’ or ‘100% down’, and are usually surprised at the long answer we provide! We understand the general intent behind the question – customers are looking for down products that effectively feel and perform like ‘all down’ products – soft, fluffy, airy, delicate, light, and insulating. The short answer is that any of our products that are advertised as down products fit the bill. They all meet the minimum requirements to be considered a down product, and while they’re not 100% down, we haven’t added feather or other materials in.

If a product contains a blend, it should list all components of the blend, in order of highest to lowest percentage.

Manufacturers can mix different materials together to create blends that perform differently than non-blends. The most common are feather and down blends, although blends that include consequential portions of down fiber, feather fiber, chopped feather and synthetic fibers are becoming more popular. One purpose of a feather and down blend might be to achieve the best of both worlds – the affordability and heft of feather with some added luxury and softness from the down.

Brands can simply name the blend components (ex. This product is filled white feather and down), or they may specify the percentage of each component (ex. This product is filled with 70% white feather and 30% white down). Advertising the percentages of each component is not required (except for on the sewn-in law label for products sold in the USA).

The ordering of the components is very important. A blend that contains more feather than down must be described as a ‘feather and down’ product. Describing it as a ‘down and feather’ product is not acceptable.

Content claims can be very difficult for consumers to sift through. Intuitively, one would assume that 85% down is not down, but a blend of down and other material(s).

In essence, what is known as ‘down’ is a mix of materials and is not ‘pure’. The spirit of the regulations is to ensure that consumers are not falsely led to believe otherwise. However, it misses the gist of what most consumers want to know and overcomplicates the issue. It’s further complicated by the plethora of companies that mis-advertise their products, using the terms down and feather interchangeably, making 100% down and pure down claims, among other things.

Most casual consumers want to know if, for all intents and purposes, a product looks, feels, and performs like a down product, or like a feather product, or like a blend. Having a simple, clear (and lawful) answer to this question would be fairer for consumers and businesses alike. If we know that down is a mixture, shouldn’t we be able to describe a product as ‘all down’ if it only contains that mixture? Consumers should not have to get a PhD in down and feather products and the regulations to make informed decisions, but hey, we don’t make the rules! In the meantime, we’re here to help you make sense of it all.

Detailed information on content claims regulations:
Canada:

• Guide to the Textile Labelling and Advertising Regulations
• Guide to the Labelling of Down and Feathers
• Detailed requirements for Textile labelling requirements – Fibre, down and feather content

USA:

• Down…But Not Out: Advertising and Labeling of Feather [&] Down

IDFL:

• Information & Articles