Our Down - Hungarian Down
Nature’s best insulator
Hungarian down brings you the natural benefits of exceptional warmth and comfort. Each product reflects a legacy of quality and sustainable practices for a superior sleep experience.
Down Structure & Function
Down is an extraordinary natural material renowned for its exceptional heat retention and temperature control properties. To understand its structure and functionality, it is essential to distinguish between feathers and down.
Feathers, the outer covering of a bird, are firm, protective, and water-repellent, allowing birds to fly. In contrast, down resides beneath the feathers, directly connected to the body of the animal. It is incredibly light and soft, primarily serving the purpose of temperature regulation. The unique construction of down, with thousands of tiny fibers extending out from its center, creates an ideal structure to trap heat, making it an invaluable material for insulation.
Down quality measurements
Down content
Down percentage (% down) is a measurement metric used to quantify the amount of down in a product compared to other materials like feathers. This metric directly impacts the product’s insulation quality and softness, however other metrics are also as important factors for down quality.
Recovery power
Recovery power is a representation of down resilience against time and weather conditions. Products using Hungarian Down filling retain their original shape, insulating power and quality for longer.
Turbidity
It measures the cleanliness of the product. The test involves adding 10 grams of down into 1 liter of water. This container of down and water is sealed and vigorously shaken for 30 minutes.
The tester will look down into the opening of a marked container to see if a pair of crosshairs on the bottom are visible. Should the tester has trouble viewing the crosshair the cylinder is slowly emptied until it is visible from the top. This determines the turbidity value of the down.
Oil & Fat
To remove the fat and oil content as well as any bacteria, the down is washed at a very high degree with specially developed detergent. After the washing the oil and fat content is measured.
With a soxhlet extractor and distillation the lipids are removed from the material. Although a certain amount of lipids are required for down and feathers to remain resilient. Too many lipids will cause odor, too few will cause the down to break apart prematurely.
Filling power
Down filling power is a critical measure of the quality and effectiveness of down as an insulator. It refers to the amount of space one ounce of down can fill in cubic inches, indicating the loft or fluffiness of the down product. Higher filling power means better insulation and lighter weight, as less down is needed to achieve the desired warmth.
Hungarian down is often regarded as having superior filling power due to Hungary’s ideal climate and the traditional rearing practices that allow waterfowl to develop larger, more mature clusters of down. These larger clusters trap more air and, therefore, provide better insulation with less weight compared to down from younger birds or less optimal environments.
pH content
A measure of acidity or alkalinity of water soluble substances (pH stands for 'potential of Hydrogen'). A pH value is a number from 1 to 14, with 7 as the middle (neutral) point. For down, the usual requirement of ph value is between 4 and 8.
Example measurement of the 90% WGD material
Counterfeit materials
In recent years, low-quality down fillings from Asia have entered the market. These filling materials have questionable origin with a misleading label and lose their flexibility and insulating properties extremely quickly. Their properties are far behind the quality of the filling materials from the Hungarian duck and goose down we use.
The traceability of the filling material is ensured by the HDTS, Hungarian Down Tracking System. Each of our products is marked with a unique QR code that can be scanned to provide you with detailed information about the origin and quality of the filling material.
Premium Hungarian Down bedding since 1975
Aura Down Bedding
