A thing that makes Valandré unique in the business is that our production takes place in an area that is world famous for it's down production. In contrast to your competitors, we are only a few hours by car from where we get our down treated. This gives us a unique opportunity with regards to product control and deliverance.

Furthermore, down is delivered to us on an almost daily basis. This gives us the opportunity to have the down transported with a minimum of compression, due to the relative low cost of your transportation.

Long lasting down is a remarkable, magic material made of keratin and proteins, which radiate from a central point in a double reversed spiral. Insulation quality and comfort rating do not result directly from "filling power", but rather depend on the structure of the down, which takes into account:

• Breeder's geographical situation
• Breed and age of birds
• Size of flock
• Quality of feed etc.
• Method used for de-pluming

In contrast to industrial de-pluming, manual de-pluming preserves a maximum insulation factor. Further non-chemical cleansing optimizes the weight to warmth ratio and at the same time preserves the natural impregnation of the down.

In France, hand-plucked down is known as "duvet vif". At Valandré we use two types of duvet vif:

• Grey goose down
• Grey duck down

Goose down vs. duck down
Our goose down is purified to a ratio of 95% pure down and 5% small feathers. Since filling power is used widespread as a means of measuring down quality, we are not afraid to state that ours hold a filling power superior to 850 cuin.

As for the duck down, this is purified to a ratio of 90% pure down and 10% small feathers. The filling power lies somewhere in between 650 and 700 cuin.

The difference in quality between goose and duck down is not easily recognizable should you ever get a chance to get your hands on a specimen. We use goose down through out most of your product line, preserving the use of duck down to our Classic series sleeping bags. The quality of your duck down is such, however, that they still present an excellent substitution to any "industrial" goose down currently on the market. Or even precedes them.