I’ve worn down jackets over the years, but never given much thought to where the down came from, or how it was harvested, if that’s the right word. Down, it turns out, is a byproduct of the meat industry. Feathers from ducks and geese that are raised for meat, mostly in eastern Europe and China, are collected, cleaned and processed into down, which is then supplied to the factories that manufacture garments that are insulated with down.
Unfortunately, some of those ducks and geese are treated cruelly, practices that have been documented by animal-welfare groups such as Four Paws, PETA and the Humane Society of the United States. Some of the waterfowl are “live plucked,” meaning their feathers are pulled out when they are still alive, which is said to be very painful. Others are force-fed in order to produce foie gras.
The abuse is unnecessary. The alternative is simply to collect the feathers after the ducks or geese are killed in slaughterhouses–assuring, in the meantime, that they were not force-fed or live-plucked beforehand.
Under pressure from the animal-welfare groups, Patagonia and The North Face over the past few years have independently developed standards for responsible down production. Both companies deserve credit for doing so, but Patagonia’s standard is stronger and more comprehensive–and the people at Patagonia worry that the more lenient standard written by North Face will become the industry norm.
I took a look at the issue in a story for Guardian Sustainable Business. Here’s the lowdown on down:
For decades, The North Face and Patagonia have competed in the marketplace for outerwear, backpacks and pullovers. Now they’re engaged in a smackdown over down – specifically over which company has put forward the strongest standards to protect ducks and geese, whose feathers are made into down insulation, from cruel practices on farms and in slaughterhouses.
This month, The North Face announced that it would begin selling down next year that complies with its Responsible Down Standard (RDS), which it describes as “the broadest and most comprehensive approach to animal welfare available in the down supply chain”. Patagonia says that’s simply not so, and that its own Traceable Down Standard provides “the highest assurance of animal welfare in the apparel industry”.
Four Paws, an independent animal-welfare group that advocates for the ethical treatment of, agrees that Patagonia’s standard is superior. While The North Face standard is “a step in the right direction”, Patagonia has “a lower tolerance for a set of things that we think are important for animal welfare”, says Nina Jamal, an international farm animal campaigner for Four Paws, which is based in Vienna.
The fact that these two longtime rivals are competing over corporate responsibility should come as no surprise. Patagonia’s founder, Yvon Chouinard, a celebrated rock climber, fly fisherman, environmentalist and author, has made his company a sustainability pioneer. And after Doug Tompkins, The North Face’s founder, left the company decades ago, he went on to acquire vast amounts of wilderness for conservation in Chile and Argentina and publish a book assailing factory farms. In 1968, Chouinard and Tompkins, who were then pals, took a celebrated road trip to Patagonia.
The issue of competing standards isn’t limited to the down industry, of course. There are competing standards for forest products, Fair Trade, green buildings and sustainable tourism, just to pick a few examples. Ordinarily, competitive markets product benefits for consumers, but they may not be the case in the “market” for standards, where the risk is that a proliferation of labels will confuse consumers and permit companies to shop around for the weakest standard.
I don’t think that’s a concern here, though, because people at The North Face and at the Textile Exchange, a nonprofit that is making The North Face’s Responsible Down Standard widely available, tell me they plan to strengthen their standard. Let’s hope they deliver on that promise–there’s no need for waterfowl to suffer in order to keep people warm.