About the Law Label For Down Bedding

The Law Label is a disclosure label required by law and must be attached to our comforters, pillows and featherbeds. It can only be removed by you, the consumer.

The label must tell you, in language defined by law, the type of filling, and in the case of down comforters, pillows and featherbeds, the exact minimum percentage of down and feathers used. This is the best way to determine the exact contents of the product you intend to buy. Don't depend on advertising and packaging.

Goose down, duck down, feathers and fiber. To read the law label you should understand that there are several types of fill that, under the law, can be labeled "Down". Some manufacturers take advantage if this.

Down is the soft, fluffy cluster taken from the undercoating of geese or ducks. Goose down is much more expensive than Duck Down. Both goose and duck down is much more expensive than feather. Flight Feathers have a hard, spiny quill. Body feathers have a softer quill. Feathers are relatively inexpensive, they are heavy and do not insulate nearly as well as down. Down has little weight, but great insulating abilities. Fiber refers to pieces of damaged or broken down cluster or feather.

Down, Feather and Fiber are all present to some degree in products sold as "Down". This is because the mechanical process used to sort down from feathers is not perfect. Some feathers and fiber, in a trace amount, will always remain in the purest down fill. Given this fact, it is inaccurate (and not legal) to state that a product contains "All Down," "Pure Down," or "100% Down." If a sales person uses these terms to describe their product, please raise an eyebrow.

Since all down products contain some trace of feathers and fiber, regulations require manufacturers to tell you the minimum percentage of down cluster in the product. As long as it contains at least 75% white goose down cluster, the product may be labeled as "White Goose Down." 75% down is about average for most down products offered for sale in the United States these days.

A better quality down that measures 650 fill power might be labeled as "minimum 85% down" cluster. So, our typical 650 fill power down comforter or pillow would be labeled as follows:

ALL NEW MATERIAL CONSISTING OF
WHITE GOOSE DOWN
(minimum 85 percent down)
CONTENTS STERILIZED

Minimum 85 percent down does not mean that the product is inferior. In fact, this product would contain over 13 percent more "down" cluster than the 75% minimum that is required by law to be classified as "White Goose Down". Any product with 85% down cluster would have such a small trace amount of feather and fiber that it would be practically undetectable.

Mechanical limitations make it virtually impossible sort down better than 90 to 95 percent. Our hand sorted fills, such as 800 or 900 will have a higher minimum percentage (around 95%) than stated on the label.

What doesn't appear on the Law Label? Many states do not require that the color of the down or the type of bird be disclosed. For example, many states allow the use of the term “White Down” without specifying if it is goose or duck down. Many states also allow the term “Goose Down” without disclosing if it is gray or white.

If the label does not say "white goose down" then the product is most likely filled with gray down or even with inferior duck down.

There are many factors that determine the quality of a down or feather fill that are not addressed by the law label, including the cleaning and sanitization process. In the end, it is important that you purchase only from a manufacturer that you trust.

FTC facts about advertising and labeling of down products