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Benefits of High Fill Power (Loft) Goose Down

By Darren Salkeld

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 23Sep2010 Word count: 663 Viewed: 1164 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

The Higher the Goose Down Fill Power, the Better the Goose Down Quality!

When examining any goose down product, there are numerous factors that contribute to the quality of it. There are things such as turbidity and oxygen number, which are both measurements of cleanliness, and essentially determine if your goose down is truly hypo-allergenic or not.

Premium goose down will have a high turbidity number and a low oxygen count number. Net Down content is another important measurement of quality. The net down count is a measure of the amount of down clusters in the goose down.

For example, there is no such thing as 100% pure goose down. That's right, there is not any product in the world that contains 100% down clusters, so don't let uneducated sales people try and convince you otherwise.

Here is the real deal when it comes to net down content...

There is a minimum net down cluster content needed for products to be labeled as "down" on the law labels. This applies for both Goose down and Duck down. In order for a product to be labeled with the word "down" in the contents portion of the tag, those contents need to have no less than 75% net down clusters.

To determine the net down content, 100 grams of goose down are carefully separated. In an atmospheric controlled scale container, every fiber, dirt particle spec, cluster, feather, filament, etc. are all individually and precisely weighed.

A calculation is made which determines the "net" down content. The higher the down content, the better. This brings me to the filling power of goose down.

Goose down lofts, or expands. When fill power is tested, exactly one ounce of goose down is placed into the testing machine. Because feathers, particles, fibers, dirt and other foreign matter have weight, but no loft, the fill power will be less in goose down that has less net down cluster content. The higher the net down content is, the higher the fill power will be, always.

Fill power is measured in cubic inches per ounce and it essentially measures how much volume one ounce of goose down will occupy after it has gone through the compression and expansion test process.

While this may be difficult to understand for a person who is not well versed in goose down, I will put it in a language that is easier to understand. If you have a higher fill power goose down, it will expand more for one ounce of weight than a lower fill power goose down will. The higher fill power goose down will essentially trap more air per ounce, allowing you to use a lighter comforter and still remain just as warm, and have the comforter appear just as puffy.

The quality of the insulation is not the only thing that goose down fill power has an effect on, but also the value. If you have a higher fill power, then your goose down comforter will last much longer than a lower fill power product. Although it may cost you more up front, it is definitely a better investment in the future to outright buy a high fill power goose down comforter and avoid the fire-sale brands. You will enjoy your time with your purchase much more!

As you can see, goose down fill power is incredibly important. If you are concerned about getting a high quality goose down comforter, the first thing you must look at is fill power. Likely, if you have a high fill power the other high quality measurements will also be there, but you must ensure that the fill power is high before considering anything else.

Don't be afraid to ask specific questions to salespeople. If they can't answer, then they themselves may not be educated in the fine details necessary for your health and well being. A high quality goose down comforter is an investment that will last a long, long time. Choose wisely, and enjoy!

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