OUR ENVIRONMENT


Frank Thompson: “Birds are supposed to be stunned before they are killed, but I read that many are still conscious when entering the scalding tank.”


Ashley Gill: “We require guidelines to be followed during the slaughter process, including ensuring that equipment for stunning is in good working order and that animals do not regain consciousness before they are killed.”


Corley Kenna: “The TDS standard includes strict requirements on animal welfare beyond force-feeding and live-plucking, in order to ensure humane practices at every stage of the birds’ lives.” Richard Talbot: “It is very easy to make generalisations about farming practices in other parts of the world. Here in the UK and in Europe we have some of the strictest animal husbandry standards in the world. That in itself doesn’t stop individual cases of bad practice.”


Frank Thompson: “I don’t agree that down has no viable replacement. I have an arctic-rated synthetic insulated jacket which has served me well for five years.”


Richard Talbot: “We have yet to see any synthetic wadding or blown fibre that can replicate the properties of down. Down, sourced correctly, has the potential to be an entirely sustainable and appropriate source, provided you accept that down comes from birds that are killed. For those of us who eat meat, it would be hypocritical to suggest otherwise. Using synthetic alternatives are not without their own flaws. If virgin material, they invariably make use of oil and other natural resources. Whether virgin or recycled they have the potential to lead to waste and landfill, and also to synthetic microfibres entering the environment (perhaps one of the next big environmental campaigns).” Corley Kenna: “We respect but do not share the vegan view on animal welfare. Vegans may opt out of moral difficulties by avoiding any human use of domesticated animals. For the rest of us, the question is more complex. We must do everything we can to ensure that animals live as full a life as possible before they are slaughtered compassionately for food.”


THE MURKY ISSUE


From the outside, it looked like the outdoor industry was doing a great job. Then, last year, PETA made us all wince with another live-plucking video, claiming the down featured was in the Responsible Down Standard supply chain. Some digging revealed the problem: a loophole. Some slaughterhouses and suppliers are processing certified down alongside non-certified down or, even worse, down that knowingly stems from force-fed or live-plucked geese. As PETA pointed out this, “makes already- complex supply chains even murkier.” It is a murky business, but reserve judgment for a moment, and consider these two things. Firstly, changing culture has to happen in small steps. Secondly, PETA’s refusal to engage with outdoor brands is counter-productive to making this change happen. They just want down banned, and that’s it, black and white. Four years ago, Four Paws were similarly refusing to co-operate. At


the time, Richard Talbot had told me: “They don’t want to provide any constructive input into down supply, just to prevent use of down.” Now things have changed: Four Paws have gone from brand-bashing to brain- storming with brands, which has been beneficial for both sides, and for bird welfare.


Nina Jamal from Four Paws commented: “The developments have been tremendous. When Four Paws and PETA released our exposés, barely any brand knew where their down really came from, let alone the farms where the animals were raised. There was no real traceability. Now a fair amount of unannounced audits are taking place and the chain of custody is being closely tracked.” Her opinion on the recent PETA campaign? She explains that, initially, there wasn’t enough demand for certified down to persuade suppliers to change their practices. Now though, she thinks that is set to change.


“TRYING TO TRACE WHERE A JACKET’S WORTH OF DOWN HAS COME FROM IS AN ODYSSEAN FEAT”


THE BIGGER BEDDING ISSUE


You might think that outdoor gear companies should refuse to work with these farmers who duck the rules. However, chew on this figure: specialist outdoor brands in Europe and the US account for less than 1% of total down and feather production. How much leverage do you think they really have?


GET DOWN WITH THE FA C T S


Performance-wise, goose offers larger cluster sizes. However, there’s an overlap. The best duck down easily surpasses the poorest goose down for performance.


One goose typically provides around 100g of down


The down used by outdoor gear companies is essentially a by-product from a much bigger industry. Here’s how it all works. In order to grade it, down is blown through a giant filter several times. Each time, certain weights of cluster are removed. The down used by outdoor brands is essentially the gold panned off the top: the highest fill power down. That gold wouldn’t be available if the bedding industry wasn’t buying huge quantities of lower-quality down. Nina tells me that Four Paws have been negotiating hard with bedding brands, suppliers and shops since the beginning of 2016, making the point for stricter traceability. Before this date, she says, the majority of the bedding industry relied on a bird welfare standard called Downpass, which relied on “self declarations or certificates that barely included any farm controls.” At the end of October 2017, though, a new stricter version of Downpass was released, which Four Paws consider very close to the Responsible Down Standard, and they tell me the industry shift they have been working for is happening right now. Promisingly, Allied Feather and Down, the biggest supplier of down for outdoor, fashion and sport goods manufacture became 100% RDS or TDS certified as of November 2016. All this suggests that Four Paws have now generated enough leverage to change the system.


46 | CLIMB. WALK. JOIN.


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