Why is the VSB Swiss standard 1.05 stricter?

There is an EU norm for goods declarations concerning down and feather-filled bedding. The SN/EU norm 12934 allows manufacturers to declare a duvet as having 100% down content as long as the actual down content exceeds 90.5%. The so-called “down fluff”, the smallest down fibres, are also included in this figure.

The Swiss Bedding Manufacturer’s Association (VSB) maintains that the down fluff should not be included for high quality bedding products and that the 100% label is confusing for consumers. Both old and new VSB standards only allow a maximum down content of 90% to be declared. The VSB standards have stricter maximum tolerance levels and are therefore more consumer-friendly.

EU standards also allow the description „Goose down“to be graded as „Class I“as long as the proportion of material from other classes does not exceed 5%. A product classed as “Goose down” is also permitted to have a maximum of 30% duck down. The VSB is of the opinion that the use of the term “Class I” may be misleading for consumers and has decided against using such labels. EU standards only refer to the contents as “down” or “feathers”.

The standards established by the VSB in 1988 distinguish between the following five product descriptions: down, feathery down, downy feathers, small feathers and feathers. These terms have been used successfully in the Swiss market and are more helpful for consumers than restricting descriptions to just two terms: "down" and "feathers". The VSB will continue to use them.