Down With Down; More Down Substitutes

Thermore, an Italian based company, has been in the business of making polyester battings since the early 1970’s, I believe. I just read in the latest email issue of Textile World that they now have, in their opinion, a new polyester product that is an alternative to down. They call it EVOdown. I am only guessing here, but the “EVO” might be taken from the word “evolution” meaning that this is the evolution of down being replaced. The reason for this new-to-them product is because, and I quote: “The company reports the product has a soft hand and high-loft down-like appearance, similar to blown-in down or fiber ball production techniques—which have increasingly been used as down alternatives in response to the rising cost of duck and goose down, animal welfare issues, and lack of quality control; but often result in problems such as stability limitations, fiber clumping issues, heavy fiber migration and the development of cold spots.”

They further explain how this new-to-them product is made. They do not say it, but they are placing, I believe, two bonded layers of fiber on either side of an un-bonded layer of fiber. In the late 1970’s a company named E.R. Carpenter, located in the USA, headquartered in Richmond, VA made this product and trade named it Hollow Bond 2. It was approved for use in sleeping bags and winter jackets for the U.S. military, and was used from 1980 until 1993 when the Climashield continuous filament fiber replaced it. The Thermore people might have knowledge of this product. In order to use the Thermore product, it must be quilted. The end result is that it is nothing more than a chopped staple fiberfill product, but has a premium price.

What this tells me is that there is a need for a synthetic that will, as close as possible, duplicate down—which includes the appearance of the finished product. This company is following the supposed discussion from Primaloft who has said for years they had a down alternation, even though polyester fiberfill, which is what each of these companies uses, has been on the market since 1960 and therefore always has been an alternative to down. What these companies promote is cosmetic appearance versus performance of product. They prefer to sell their product based upon the appearance of performance since they equate their product to down which has demonstrated for years that as an insulation for sleeping bags and clothing it has the prominent drawback of not being able to perform when it gets wet, and down does get wet from not only the outside but, more importantly, from the inside; i.e. the moisture generated by the person in the bag. The reason that people have purchased vapor barriers is to keep their moisture from getting into the down. Without the vapor barrier, the movement of body-produced moisture while in a vapor state gets into the down, where it is cooled and ultimately absorbed. Once this occurs the first night that moisture already absorbed by the down is cold and as soon as new moisture shows up, the heat that it is carrying is absorbed by the moisture in the down so it too is now absorbed since it condenses very quickly. Is it any wonder why vapor barriers were created? Their purpose is to keep the moisture from the down. However, this creates another not so pleasant problem. Since the moisture has been retained within the vapor barrier where you are, all of the moisture is now surrounding you—on your skin—in any clothing that you are wearing so when you come out of the sleeping bag you get a chill even if the air temperature is above 32 degrees.

I ask, why would you want to duplicate the appearance of down even though the fiberfill does not absorb the moisture once you start quilting the polyester fiberfill it traps the moisture and of course all of the quilt stitching means definite cold spots. In addition chopped staple fiberfill does collapse further reducing its ability to insulate.

Due to the cost of down, I have read on The North Face web site that they are using Thermoballs in some jackets, a product made by Primaloft. It is quilted in what appears to be 1 or 1 ½ inch squares and they say it is equivalent to 600 fill capacity down. They do not give a temperature capability, such as 0 degrees and higher or 40 degrees and higher, just that it is equivalent to 600 fill down. From its appearance I would say plus 40 degrees and higher, and I am only giving it 40 degrees since the person wearing it will be wearing a layer or two under it.

As I see it these companies selling fiberfill are trying their best to step in as the cost of down prices itself out of the market. The companies that have products made for them with these products would do their customers a service if they learned about products such as Lamilite and since it is available to them start using it since it is far and away the best insulation in the world at this time and I do not believe that fact is going to change for a very long time, or ever.