The North Face uses down in outerwear and sleeping bags
because of its superior insulating properties and warmth-to-weight ratio.
A couple of years ago, they became aware of the potential mistreatment of
animals in the food supply chain from which they sourced their
down.
They had been relying on self-declarations from their
suppliers but it became clear that this was not sufficient. The down supply
chain is very complex and the animals and raw materials typically change hands
many times, making validation difficult. Due to this complexity, they were very
deliberate in their development of the RDS and sought input from experts in
animal welfare, standard development and materials traceability. A team from
The North Face traveled to China and Eastern Europe to evaluate their supply
chains in those regions. Because down can be sourced from small farms as well
as large slaughterhouses, the team evaluated everything from hatcheries to
family farms to processing facilities
The company developed a standard that addresses the down
supply’s diverse challenges by tapping the expertise of two key partners, Control Union
Certifications, an accredited third-party certification body with
expertise in agriculture and farm systems, and Textile Exchange, a global
nonprofit dedicated to sustainability in the apparel and textile
industry.
The North Face gifted ownership of the RDS to Textile
Exchange, which will allow any organization seeking to source down more
responsibly to use this tool. Adam Mott, Director of Sustainability explains
that, “Our hope is that the collective use of the RDS will effectively promote
positive animal welfare conditions and traceability in the down supply chain at
a much larger scale than we could accomplish alone. We firmly believe that by
driving positive change across the global supply chain, the RDS will benefit the
industry at large.”
The RDS v2 Stakeholder Review period is officially open.
Textile Exchang is asking any interested parties to take time to review the
revised draft of the standard, in order to provide feedback. The revised
standard is a result of the work of the International Working Group. The review
included stakeholders from throughout the supply chain, animal welfare groups
including Humane Society International, PETA and 4-Paws,and brands and
retailers. A webinar introduced the standard to stakeholders. The form includes
all the written comments collected through the feedback form, written responses
to each one, with key themes listed first. Further changes to the standard were
made as a result of the review, as well as phone conversations with
stakeholders.
The Textile Exchange is very grateful for their contribution
of time and expertise into making this the strongest possible standard for the
down industry. To participate in the Stakeholder Review, please follow the
guidelines listed on their website. If you have any questions, please send them
to Integrity@TextileExchange.org.
You can learn more about the Responsible Down Standard at the
Textile Exchange website.
On Apparel Search, we have a directory of feather & down
suppliers. We are not currently sure which of them would be certified or
not. If you plan to work with any of those suppliers, we suggest that you ask
them to confirm if they have been certified or not.
Below is a bit more on the subject of down
clothing:
Learn about
TurboDown on the Fashion Blog. You can also use the search to find
additional posts regarding down or any other
subject.
Learn about selecting insulated
vests & jackets in the research section of our textile education
guide.
You may also have interest in Fjällräven
Down and reading the down
definition.
Thank you for taking the time to read our apparel & textile industry blog post. We hope that you have found this news to be informative. If you have comments or questions, please add your thoughts in the discussion area below.