Recycled Down With a Second Life

How Re:Down turns old jackets, duvets and sleeping bags into the recycled down in our Filoment Hoody, with the same warmth and durability as new down.

The Filoment Hoody's insulation has already had one life. Re:Down collects down from worn-out jackets, sleeping bags, duvets and pillows in Europe and China, and recycles it close to where it was collected. Our jackets are made in China, so their down comes from Re:Down's Chinese plant. Down kit you send back to us through Continuum goes to Re:Down too, to its plant in Hungary.

Emily Barker, one of our clothing designers, says most of the job isn't glamorous: "It's picking through material samples, or arguing over half a millimetre of baffle width. But it's where the difference gets made." Choosing what fills those baffles is part of it.

Once the old shells are opened, the fine down clusters are sorted from the feathers. The down is washed without chemicals in warm water, then dried and sterilised at 135°C for 30 minutes. It's tested in their own labs at every stage, to IDFL standards. About 90% of the down goes back into circulation. No new birds are involved: every gram comes from products people have already used.

We've used certified recycled down for several years. Our down jackets, Filoment, Fantom and the new Zone, are filled with 100% certified recycled down, traced from the old duvet or jacket to our finished jacket under the Global Recycled Standard.

Recycled down keeps the same warmth, loft and durability as new, and it's certified to the same fill-power standard. 650 fill power is 650 fill power, recycled or not. Fill power measures how much space the down fills, and that loft is what keeps you warm. As Emily puts it: "Same fill power. Same ability to squish down to nothing in your rucksack. The only thing that's changed is where it started out."

You might be used to seeing kit labelled duck or goose. Re:Down is always a mix of the two, because once down has been in a jacket or a duvet there's no way to separate them. It's silver-grey too, since white and grey down are blended to get the most out of every batch. Neither changes how warm it is.

Recycled down can't yet guarantee it started life on an RDS-approved farm the way RDS-certified virgin down does. That's the trade for giving it a second life instead of a first one.

Got an old down jacket, sleeping bag or duvet with a bit of life left in the fill? Continuum takes it back for free and keeps it out of landfill. We send it to Re:Down in Hungary, where it's recycled into filling for jackets and duvets made in Europe.