Winter is coming, are you ready to buy a down jacket?

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It’s the Double Eleven Shopping Festival again. It’s interesting to say. Every year on Double Eleven, I pay attention to the category of down jackets. The reason is probably because winter is coming, and I have vague concerns about buying more clothes. Sleeves, buying down jackets has a feeling of shopping in the wrong season. After adding down jackets to the shopping cart, they often give up the order. So these years, every Double Eleven, the down jackets in my shopping cart are updated, and the photos of the down jackets have become Taobao’s skin pendants, which are renewed every year.

Of course, I bought down jackets, but they were often not the ones in the shopping cart. I browsed on Taobao about Arc’teryx, Moncler, and Canada Goose, which cost about 10,000 yuan. The ones I added to the shopping cart were about 2,000 yuan in the north, but I ended up buying them. The ones that are within 1,000 yuan are the thin and light models of Bosideng and Uniqlo, and by the way, there are also pure down jackets from the offline stores in my hometown.

But for a long time, I have enough understanding of down jackets to write this valuable article to help people buy down jackets.

The history of down jackets

Human beings have a history of using animal skins to keep out the cold since ancient times. As early as the primitive society, human ancestors had initially mastered the method of making animal skins into clothing, covering their bodies with animal skins and leaves to keep out the cold. Later, hemp, cotton, Textiles such as silk, human clothing became abundant. Relatively speaking, the history of humans using poultry feathers to keep out the cold is much shorter. In the Tang Dynasty, people used goose down and cloth to fill the quilts. In Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, people used duck and goose feathers to fill the quilt covers.

It wasn’t until 1940 that the modern down jacket was invented. The protagonist was Eddie Bauer in the United States. As an avid outdoor enthusiast, he almost froze to death during an outdoor fishing process, so he decided to make a truly warm jacket. . Ball found goose feather down, which coincided with the invention of nylon by DuPont Labs in 1938. Nylon fabric has a tight texture. Compared with cotton, nylon fabric can prevent down from “drilling down”, so he combined the two to put Clothes filled with down into nylon fabrics, quilted and locked down, and the first down jacket named “Skyliner” and applied for a patent.

Ball and his store

However, in the early days of its invention, down jackets were not popular with ordinary people, but were favored by the U.S. Air Force. Since then, down jackets have been used as functional clothing, popular in the military and outdoor sports crowd. In the 1980s, down jackets began to become trendy clothing in Italy. , In the 1990s, down jackets were recognized by the public.

What is a down jacket

If you ask an ordinary consumer “what is a down jacket?”, the answer is likely to be “a garment filled with down.” This answer is not wrong, but it is not accurate enough. In the national standard for “down clothing” (GB/T 14272-2021), the following definitions are given for down clothing:

Clothing with down as filling and the stated value of down content not less than 50%.

So what is down? In another national standard for “Down and Feather” (GB/T 17685-2016), the following explanations are made for feathers and down:

Down is a general term for the down and feathers that grow on waterfowl. Among them, the nominal value of “down content” greater than or equal to 50% is called “down”, and the nominal value of “down content” less than 50% is called “feather”.

Fluff includes fluff, immature fluff, similar fluff and damaged fluff. The warmth of the down is the credit of the velvet. The velvet is in the shape of a flower, the center is the core, and the core radiates a lot of velvet. The velvet consists of many tiny hollow scales, which contain a lot of still air. The thermal conductivity is low, thus hindering the leakage of internal heat and the intrusion of external cold air. The single flock that falls off does not have the function of heat preservation.

Feather and Down

Because of its unique physical structure, down has become the material with the best thermal insulation performance in the world. At the same time, down is light and soft, which makes down jackets both warm and light.

Common types of down include goose down and duck down. Usually, the larger the body size of the waterfowl, the larger the feathers of the down, and the better the thermal insulation performance. The thermal insulation performance of goose down is better than that of duck down. Under the same down content, the bulkiness of goose down is higher than that of duck down. Correspondingly, the price of goose down jackets will be higher than that of duck down, and goose down is more commonly used in high-end down jackets.

Down content, bulk and down fill

When choosing down jackets, apart from personal preference and love for the appearance of clothes, down content, bulkiness and down filling are three important indicators for us to judge the thermal performance of down. According to relevant regulations, down jackets should be marked with the type of down, the content of down and the amount of down filling. The types of down have been mentioned before and will not be repeated here. Although there is no requirement for loft, many down jacket brands display the high loft of down on the product detail page to promote its warmth.

down content

Down content, that is, the mass percentage of down in down feathers, is closely related to the thermal insulation performance of down jackets.

As mentioned earlier, down includes fluff, immature down, similar down and damaged down. In addition to down, down and feathers also include down silk, feather silk, damaged feathers of waterfowl, and feathers of land birds (chicken, pigeon, ostrich and other animal hair), long hair flakes and impurities and other substances.

velvet

Down jackets of brands in different fields have obvious differences in down jacket content. For example, traditional sports brands such as Nike, Adidas, Anta and Li Ning, the down jackets they produce are usually 70%-85% down, while more professional down jacket brands The down content is above 85%, such as Yalu, Bosideng, Beimian and Archaeopteryx.

The down content is the standard that will be launched in April 2022, replacing the previous “down content”. The down content is the mass ratio of down and down silk in down and feathers, while down silk does not have thermal insulation ability. In other words, the use of down content to indicate the thermal insulation capacity of down is more strict and effective.

bulkiness

Bulkiness refers to the volume occupied by a certain amount of down and feather samples under a specified pressure in a container with a certain diameter, which represents the strength of the down storage capacity.

In the national standard for “down clothing” (GB/T 14272-2021), the measurement of bulkiness adopts the steam reduction method. The test process is simply to use a bulkiness meter to measure the inner diameter of 30(±0.1)g down and feather samples. The height inside the 288(±1)mm anti-static glass cylinder, so sometimes we can see the bulkiness expressed in height cm. However, the bulkiness of down jackets we see more is “FP bulkiness”, the unit is in³/30g, which means the volume of 30g down and feather samples under the specified pressure. Some down jackets can reach 1000 fluffy down.

The volume of down with different bulkiness

Bulkiness is related to down content and down type. Taking the down jackets in the north as an example, all the down jackets in the north are filled with goose down, with a bulkiness ranging from 550 to 800. The down content of goose down with a bulkiness of 550 (the products in the north are not marked with down content) is 75%, which is fluffy. Goose down with a degree of 600 has a down content of 80%, and goose down with a bulkiness of 800 has a down content of 90%. Bosideng’s down jackets can be used as another example. The down jackets of their products are usually 90% down, duck down usually has a bulkiness of 680, and goose down can reach a bulkiness of 800.

cashmere

The amount of down filling is an easy-to-understand concept, that is, the quality of all down-filled down jackets. The down content and bulk are the indicators of the thermal insulation performance of the unit down, while the down filling is the weight indicator of the down in the down jacket.

The amount of down filling is not only affected by the thickness of the down jacket, but also related to the size and style. For the same down jacket, the filling capacity of the large size is higher than that of the small size; the filling capacity of the long down jacket is higher than that of the short one for the same thickness. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the factors of size and style in judging the level of down filling of a down jacket.

Washing label of Bosideng down jacket

With the factors of down type, down content, bulkiness and down filling, consumers can roughly judge the thermal insulation ability of down jackets. If the budget is limited, you can choose duck down jackets with high down content, low down filling or high down filling and low down content. The brands to choose from include traditional sports brands, fast-moving consumer brands and domestic second-tier brands (such as Snow Flying). , duck duck, Yalu); if the budget exceeds 700 yuan, the range of options is greatly increased, you can choose down jackets with both high down content and high filling capacity, or you can choose goose down jackets, such as domestic brands Heixing, Tianshi , Junyu, etc.; if the budget exceeds 1,500 yuan, there are many well-known outdoor sports brands at home and abroad to choose from at this price, no need to recommend.

Fleece: Quilted and Laminated

When the down is filled into the down jacket, it is necessary to fix the down and lock the down, otherwise the down will form a ball and affect the thermal performance. When Eddie Ball invented down, he found a way to hold down feathers—quilting, which he still uses today. At present, the down jacket locking methods are mainly quilting and pressing.

Quilting

Quilting is the use of long needles to sew interlayered fabrics to secure the inner cotton, down and other fillers. Quilting is the most common way to lock down jackets, and the common stitching lines on down jackets are quilting lines.

Quilted Lock Fleece

Quilting can effectively fix the down and make it evenly distributed in the down jacket, but quilting also has some defects, such as down drilling, down from the pinhole position left by quilting, the severity of down jacket drilling depends on the protection of the down jacket. Depends on the level of drill down craftsmanship. On the other hand, the quilted pinholes will ventilate and seep water, which affects warmth retention. Some down jackets solve such problems through better fabrics and quilting processes, and some down jackets have windproof and waterproof shell fabrics on the outside.

Lamination

The rubber-locked fleece effectively avoids the problem of drilling down and ventilation and water ingress caused by quilting pinholes. The so-called gluing means that the fabric and lining of the down jacket are bonded together by hot pressing through a gluing machine, and “sticking” is used instead of “sewing”, so as to avoid the appearance of quilting pinholes. There are many brands of down jackets that use embossed lock down.

Glued-lock fleece process without quilting lines

Laminated velvet makes up for the defects of quilted velvet, but it has a problem that cannot be ignored – short lifespan. The adhesive bonding is not as strong as quilting, so the requirements for washing are higher. Even with careful maintenance, the glue will still open due to aging problems. I have a deep understanding of this. I once purchased a down jacket that uses embossed and locked down from Bosideng. When the number of times of wearing is very small and the washing is in accordance with relevant requirements, just three years later, the back of the clothes has a problem of unzipping. However, if the down jacket appears to be glued, you can contact relevant merchants for after-sales solutions (not necessarily able to solve it, such as me).

fabric

In the national standard for “down clothing”, the regulation on fabrics is that “fabrics quilted directly with down should have anti-drilling down function”. Some down jackets are directly quilted with the fabric, and some have down jackets that separate the down from the fabric.

At present, the materials of down jacket fabrics are mainly polyester (polyester fiber) or nylon (nylon, or polyamide fiber). Some down jackets use polyester, nylon and cotton blended fabrics. The wear resistance and air permeability of nylon are better than those of polyester, more Applied to high-end down jacket fabrics. According to the performance of fabrics, it can be roughly divided into three categories, ordinary woven fabrics, high-density waterproof fabrics and waterproof coated (film-coated) fabrics.

Ordinary woven fabrics are woven from nylon or polyester with lower density. Because of their low density, in order to prevent down drilling and do not directly contact down, there is an anti-velvet cloth or bile cloth on the inside of the fabric, so on some woven fabrics No down jacket quilting lines in sight.

High-density waterproof fabrics are the most common in down jackets. High-density polyester or nylon fabrics are used, which have certain windproof, water-repellent and breathable properties. They are light and soft, and are easy to carry.

High density waterproof fabric

Waterproof coated fabrics are more used in outdoor high-end down jackets, similar to jacket fabrics, but slightly thinner than jacket fabrics, and are more moisture-proof, wind-proof and breathable than high-density waterproof fabrics.

Waterproof coating

For most people, if the down jacket is only used for daily casual wear, the thermal performance and style of the down jacket are more important, and there is no need to be too picky about the fabric. However, for outdoor sports enthusiasts, the windproof and waterproof properties of down jacket fabrics are particularly important, especially waterproof. In addition to fabric waterproofing, there is also down waterproofing technology. Down waterproofing is to waterproof the down and form a water-repellent film on the surface of the down, so that the down itself is waterproof.

More and more down jacket brands use fabric technology as a promotional selling point, from the water-repellent and oil-resistant fabrics of 300 or 400 ANTA down jackets to the GORE-TEX fabrics used in tens of thousands of Arc’teryx down jackets, and the fabric technology of Beimian’s down jackets is even more Dazzling, in addition to GORE-TEX fabrics, there are also DRYVENT fabrics, DWR coated fabrics, windproof WindWall fabrics, and the combination of the peak series WindWall and PERTEX fabrics. In addition, there are eVent fabrics with comparable performance to GORE-TEX, Colombian Omni-Tex fabrics, etc. Among these fabrics, GORE-TEX fabrics and DWR coated fabrics are the most representative.

GORE-TEX fabrics

GORE-TEX is a film with good waterproof, windproof and breathable properties exclusively invented and produced by American Gore Company. It is made of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE). It can block the entry of water droplets, and the water molecules of water vapor can pass through freely, achieving a good waterproof and moisture-removing effect. GORE-TEX fabric is usually a three-layer structure, with the GORE-TEX film sandwiched in the middle and wrapped by other fabrics on both sides.

GORE-TEX fabric clothing is favored by outdoor sports enthusiasts and the military because of its excellent waterproof, windproof and breathable performance. Just like the down jacket that was just invented, the down jacket of GORE-TEX fabric is the perfect combination of the two, but that The high price is not perfect. Not to mention the nearly 10,000 Archaeopteryx down jackets, even the domestic Kaileshi down jackets using this fabric cost more than 2,000.

GORE-TEX fabrics are not only used in clothing (jackets and down jackets), but also in some outdoor shoes and gloves. Similar expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) film technology is used in the eVent fabric and DRYVENT fabric on the north side.

DWR water repellent coating

DWR is the abbreviation of Durable Water Repellency, which is a durable waterproof coating. By coating the surface of the fabric with a DWR coating, it has the ability of a lotus leaf to not be wet by water droplets.

A down jacket promotional page

DWR coatings do not have the same waterproof ability as GORE-TEX fabrics, which are defined as “waterproof”, while DWR coatings are usually defined as “water repellent”. DWR coatings can prevent short-term light rain or snow from wetting clothes. The effect is not good under long-term rain and snow. DWR coating is widely used in outdoor products, and the surface of GORE-TEX fabrics also has this coating, but the water-repellent coating will gradually wear down with wear and use, which will affect the waterproof effect. You can find the method of repairing the DWR coating on the Internet.

end

The above are some knowledge points about down jackets. Knowing them will definitely help you when buying down jackets. From my personal experience, if you don’t have outdoor needs, you should give priority to down jackets that suit your thermal performance and style. The former is related to money, and the latter is related to liking. Choosing the right thermal performance to avoid wasting money with down jackets that are too thick – after all, thicker down jackets are relatively more expensive, and too thin to keep warm – is actually another waste of money. It is very important to choose a down jacket of the style you like, and the number of times you don’t like the style will be greatly reduced – it is also a waste of money.

If you have outdoor needs, you should consider choosing down jackets with a certain waterproof capability. Compared with down jackets from traditional sports brands or FMCG brands, many outdoor brand down jackets are better choices. Although they are more expensive, they are more in line with actual outdoor needs.

If the budget is limited, domestic brands and duck down jackets should be considered as much as possible; and if the money is not bad, it goes back to that sentence – consider the down jacket that suits your thermal performance and style – of course, at this time, it has nothing to do with money.

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