Produce Down Jacket in Apparel Industry (Part 2)

Produce Down Jacket in The Apparel Industry (Part 2)Linda Marpaung
Asst. Editor Textile Merchandising
B.Sc. in Science
Merchandiser Manager in Apparel Industry
Bogor, Indonesia
Email: lindamrp29@gmail.com

 

To produce well down jacket, we should know about the important factors which can influence the result. On this article we will review down filler, type of fabric to use and factory set up to the down jacket. For more inquiry in this article, you can read the first part of Produce Down Jacket in the Apparel Industry.

1. DOWN FILLER:

Down filler is the main material which needed to produce down jacket. Down was taken from the feathers of birds’ family such as duck, goose. Down is soft and have an insulating ability. Down for the birds needed to keep their body warm, but human take that for their clothes to make warm cloth (down jacket) and bedding (bed and bed cover)

The down filler used for down jacket is produced in China, Hungary, Vietnam and others countries.

How are down removed from the ducks, there some method usage, such as: after killed, live plucking and gathering from live duck by combed of the mature feather.

• Taken from after killed duck

For this method, feathers or down is removed from the killed duck. The process by entering the dead ducks’ bodies into hot water for a few minutes in order easier to pull out.

• Taken when ducks till life

Feathers or down taken away from the live duck by torn the feathers from their skin and this can be hurting their skin and body. This is untreated, no medicine and expected to grow new feathers again.  Then repeat the process again.

• Take feathers from live ducks

On this method, feather or down was taken by combed the duck‘s feathers and for the mature feather will be easy to fall down.

However all three methods of down “harvesting,” the live plucking was terrible.E ven all method cause animal suffer but as human, we also have the reason. Human should find a way to keep the good life. In this case, warmth is important to human. For people which living in cold climates, they need clothes to keep their bodies warm.T hat‘s why down jacket industry keeps continuing process. As additional info, for some buyer, they asked guarantee “Non-Live plucking “ to make sure down taken from killed duck, not by live-plucked.

Base on the variety of color down classified by White Down and Gray down

Down can vary in color, from white to dark grey depending on the age of the duck and the season in which the down was harvested. The color of down does not affect its ability to insulate. In other words, a dark gray down will insulate just as well as a white down of the same size cluster and maturity.

White down is generally more preferable use than the gray down since a gray down can see through, making the clothing appear “dingy ‘. Especially for clothing with light colorway, It must use white down White down is more expensive than gray down that‘s why we are finding grayer down being used that white down. This is the way to keep cost down.

Down Fill Power:

Fill power is how the quality and size of the down cluster are defined. The larger the down cluster, the higher of fill power rating, which is the number of cubic inches one ounce of down will fill under specific laboratory testing condition.  Fill power can range from 300 cubic inches per ounce to 800 cubic inches per ounce and above, for the highest quality down.

Fill power is important, and it what buyers focuses on as a measure of quality down because it is relatively easy to measure and quantity. Down fill power rating: 400 – 500 (MEDIUM) , 500 – 550 (GOOD), 550 – 750 (VERY GOOD), 750 – 900 ( EXCELLENT )

2. FABRICATION FOR DOWN JACKET:

Usually fabric for down jacket produced by coating fabric which the purpose for water repellency and down proof. By using the down proof fabric we expecting the duck /goose down more stable in the panels, not easy to come out.

The out shell fabric will often be coated with a Durable Water Repellency (DWR) coating to offer some resistance to rain. Waterproof down jackets will combine this waterproof coating with a waterproof membrane to help keep moisture out.

Suppose the fabric not made by down proof, usually, we use lining fabric with the special coating and we call it with down bag. The function of down bag is same to avoid duck/goose down comes out from the panels.

There is lightweight and heavy down jacket.  A super lightweight down jacket will be made with a thin, light material for the outer shell. Although ideal for reducing weight they can be more vulnerable to snagging and abrasions. This type of jacket is great if worn on cold days. If we are looking for a jacket to wear regularly for many years to come, it is worth looking for a slightly heavier and thicker outer shell which will last far longer.  Usually, there is some test of the fabrication and fabric mill send FDS (Fabric Detail Sheet) for buyer approve before they send to the factory to make sure quality can apply for a down jacket.

3. FACTORY FACILITIES:

If we talk about factory facilities mean factory set up to set up the filler machine and down room management. How factory must provide all machine and arrange special manpower to learn and apply all the things that they learn for down. As explained in the beginning down jacket industry basically same as produce others type of garment, the different only before the sewn need to insert the down to each panel. Very important to apply down room management to get good garment product to satisfy buyer but besides by good manage we can keep production room stay clean and keep the health of sewing operator.T hey are the one to face the dust of down every time.

After finish process from down room, then they bring all panel to sewing line and in the sewing line, they join the panels same as the process to make garment product.