Whatever your down insulation needs, Outdoor Research makes the down jacket for you. All Outdoor Research down jackets have been certified by The Responsible Down Standard RDS , ensuring that the down and feathers come from animals that have not been subjected to an unnecessary harm. Visiting from another country?
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Author: Outdoor Research. How does down insulation work? What do down fill ratings mean? As Down and Feather Company explains, the fill weight is what determines how soft or firm a product is. It is also what determines how well the product compresses. Like we mentioned above, a great feature of down is its ability to be stuffed into a backpack without taking on damage.
The heavier a down jacket is, the less it will be able to compress. The down to feather ratio calculates the percentage of down to the percentage of feathers in the product. The first number represents the percentage of down, and the second number represents the percentage of feathers.
Generally speaking, a higher first number means a higher quality and more expensive product. While down costs more, it is a much better insulator than feathers and thus is preferred in good insulated jackets. Why is it that down makes a better insulator than feathers? Recall that the down is plucked from underneath the feathers. Because the feathers are on the outside, they are what allows the goose or duck to float, fly, and stay dry. They are much more firm and have quilts that act almost as a stem.
Getting poked by one of these hurts! Feathers are ideal for harder and more durable products like seat cushions, but down is better for providing enhanced warmth and comfort in jackets, sleepings bags, and duvets. When purchasing a down jacket, should you pay more attention to the fill power or to the down weight? Here are some examples to help illustrate how fill power and down weight work together:.
At Triple F. Goose , we make it a priority to use both a high fill power without compromising the amount of down used in our parkas. Unlike most outerwear companies, we publish not only the fill power but also the down weights of our men's , women's , boy's , and girl's coats.
An fill power jacket will weigh less than the fill power jacket while providing the same level of warmth. This is why higher fill power jackets are used by performance athletes such as hikers, climbers, and skiers who seek lightweight jackets that provide mobility and warmth. Trying to make sense of the relationship among fill power, down weight, and the down to feather ratio can be a little confusing. To make matters easier, many companies use the Clo value.
The higher the Clo value, the warmer the product is. For example, a jacket with…. For reference, the naked body has a Clo value of zero, and a Clo value of 1 is what a person needs at room temperature.
Duck down is what you usually see in jackets, as it is pretty easy and cheap to produce. The vast majority of brands use duck down in their jackets, especially the more affordable ones. But it is also of lesser quality than goose down. That is because clusters of goose down tend to be larger than clusters of duck down. That results in higher fill powers, better quality, durability and lighter clothing. You would need more duck down, because the clusters are not as large and they cover smaller amounts of space.
Insulation is supposed to trap your body heat. The thing is, goose down is more expensive to produce, and so jackets that insulated with it are never cheap. So, it is not used as often. Howeve r, there are instances in which duck down is actually the better option — high quality duck down obviously performs better than mediocre goose down.
It measures the size of space one ounce of down is able to insulate, when it reaches maximum loft. Larger clusters are able to trap more air, and are better at retaining body heat. Fill power can be identified by the number that accompanies it.
That number usually ranges from to , and it indicates how many cubic inches a single ounce of down occupies. So, say you want to cover cubic inches with down — you can do that with a single ounce of fill power down, or two ounces of fill power down.
Jackets that are insulated with fill power down are usually warmer, but they are much harder to find. And these are usually jackets designed for some extreme weather conditions. If you are looking to get a warm winter jacket , look for anything with fill power and above. But not a lot of brands offer jackets with this insulation, and especially the cheaper ones. North Face is one of the few that makes these jackets, but they tend to be really expensive.
This is a very interesting thing that people often overlook. The heavier the amount of insulation, the warmer a jacket is.
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