The advantages of choosing quality

The quality of a duvet is determined by the proportional down content as well as the size (and therefore) filling power of the down. The quality of duck and goose down of equal cluster size cannot be differentiated. As a rule, European down naturally tends to be slightly larger than Asian down. Large cluster down insulates and regulates the temperature better than small cluster down and is correspondingly dearer. However, it provides more favourable sleeping conditions and has a longer product lifespan.

The spring in the quill makes feathers the ideal filling material for pillows. Goose feathers are particularly suitable for firmer pillows; softer pillows tend to have a duck feather filling or a combination of duck and goose. The quality of your sleep, however, doesn’t just depend on having a soft place to lay your head; it should also be correctly supported, taking the load off the cervical vertebrae in the upper spine. By choosing bedding that carries the “Swiss Guaranty VSB” quality seal, you can be sure of experiencing the meaning of true quality.

Toleranzen gemäss VSB-Norm Nr. 2.0 für Daunen und Federn sowie die damit gefüllten Bettwaren (Duvets und Kissen)

What you should know about down and feathers before you select your duvets and pillows:

Why does your choice of bedding affect the way you sleep? 
Natural down and feathers are among the finest and most popular fillings for bedding products. This should come as no surprise. To the present day, we have never found or invented a better climate regulation system than down with its fine branched structure and the millions of tiny air chambers. A natural down duvet spends the night absorbing the moisture released by the body (anything up to half a litre) and then re-releasing it when it is aired in the morning. It also ensures the temperature in bed remains constant without creating a build up of heat – a necessity considering that the body temperature drops by around half a degree when you sleep.

Why is the VSB Swiss standard 2.0 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 90.48%. 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.

The details of the 2.0 standard can be found in this PDF file. (German PDF)