weighing down

THE TRUTH ABOUT MEASURING DOWN

One of my customers sent me a link to a page of the bean online catalog that shows down filled garments that according to the published information those garments contain 850 fill down. What exactly does it mean that the garment has 850 fill down?

Make a plexiglas box that is 12 x 12 x 12 inches square which equals 1728 cubic inches. Now put one ounce of down in that box and then with a plastic wand mix it up and then let it settle. Around the perimeter of the box mark from the bottom up lines in ½ inch increments, once the down has settled see at what line it covers. If it fills the box 12 x 12 x 6 inches that calculates to 864 square inches so you can say you have 850 fill down.

Now make a jacket or sleeping bag that has a consistent uniform loft of 6 inches; back panel, two front panels, two sleeves, now you can say you have a product that contains 850 fill down. The end result would be a very lofty garment or sleeping bag, but alas that is not how it works.

If you look at the bean garments or garments from every other brand you can think of the garments are quilted in small patterns reducing the thickness of the down to less than one inch and in many cases less than 1/2 inch and that is the loftiest part of the quilt pattern. If you were to remove all the down in the garment and were to weigh it the weight might be as much as two ounces, most likely less. If you were to put only one ounce in that box and fluff it with the magic wand it might hit the 6 inch level. Chances are you would need to put all in the box, because I do not believe the size of the down clusters can be separated from small to large efficiently. I once received a polybag of 1000 cubic inch fill capacity from a German company so the said, and when my production manager examined it; Kok was quality control at Marmot before he came to Wiggy’s and he showed me very small clusters as well as numerous not so big clusters. He did not believe for a moment that this sample was even 800 fill down. I believe companies just pull numbers out of thin air to impress consumers.

Is it possible that these ½ inch to one inch garments with the overall quilt pattern can provide the same insulation as a garment that is 6 inches thick; obviously no!

Every single one of the quilt stitches is a significant cold spot. All heat coming out of your body will move to the interior of the garment and the heat closest to the stitching flies out of the garment and initiates a draft just like a chimney and pulls the heat that is stopped by the thicker area t5o the quilt lines so that heated air follows right behind the air that already moved through the quilt stitching. The end result is that you get cold. So much for having a garment with supposedly 850 fill down.

They also state that the down has been treated so it is supposedly not going to be effected by moisture. Not so, you see when moisture does get into the down as a vapor it condenses because it has lost its heat and then is subject to freezing, the end result is that you are now in the process of building an ice box around yourself. If you were to get the truth from any mountaineer you would know they all live with and sometimes die because they have retained the moisture in their clothing and sleeping bags. Mountaineers always have ice crystals in the down bags they use and probably in their clothing that is down filled.

I have come to the conclusion that all and I mean all of these large companies do not know a thing about what it takes to make real warm clothing. The managers have no particular knowledge of components that can be used as insulation. What they do know is that they believe they can sell revamped products using the same old components that have proven not to perform but stick with them year in and year out because the suppliers of these non-performing components give them advertising dollars. They delude themselves into thinking that the general public will buy what they put on their shelves.

When I presented my ideas about making a sleeping that had no quilt stitching they wouldn’t even consider using what is now Lamilite. Today I sell more sleeping bags that sell for more than $125.00 than all of them combined because the general public appreciates a sleeping bag that actually performs at the noted temperature for the bag. With all of the success of my bags they still refuse not that I care to carry them. Today my outerwear sales are extremely strong for two reasons;1) the garments perform and 2) all of the guys out there selling flat down garments that do not perform are giving Wiggy’s the opportunity to show that the garments perform as the bags do. So I guess I should be grateful for their lack of desire to improve or is it just stupidity on their part.

These large companies are developing their 2018 product categories at this time, I can’t wait to read about the newest craze (correct descriptive word) they will present to the general public that is destined for the growing scrap heap of insulations.

I am of the opinion there is very little that these manufacturers and retailers sell that you can trust that will actually do what they claim. I further believe they do not care so long as their profits meet expectations. I know this for fact since I daily receive e mails from the sporting goods association that reports daily as to how companies are doing. There is constant buying and selling of companies by holding companies and then they are flipped in five years or less. This breeds an attitude of not caring. I have been approached many times over the years and I always ask the same first question of all; “what do you know about making sleeping bags”, aside from what they are and the answer is nothing, so I tell them if I sold out they would have wasted whatever money they paid me, because they will have gone out of business within one year. So I am here for the duration and then Marc will continue Wiggy’s.

I think the best place to have down is on the birds that grow it.