Brands leading the way in animal welfare

I’ve mentioned before that Mr Green and I have a feather mattress.

I can’t begin to tell you what a decadent bed we have!

The mattress was given to us by an octogenarian friend who had had it in the family for 100 years.

Yep, babies were born on it and people died on it, but we love it – talk about carrying the energies of our friend’s family with us!

We have a down duvet too. So it’s like getting into a nest at the end of the day.

And my winter coat is a down filled jacket which keeps any chilling wind away from me.

But what I didn’t realise was some of the terrible effects of down.

I guess I was naive.

I just thought feathers and down were collected as a by-product of other industries such as eggs and meat.

Turns out it’s a whole lot harsher than that.

I won’t go into horrific details so Google it if you want to find out more.

Fortunately, as is always the case, there are some manufacturers who are ahead of the game.

Leading brand The North Face are committed to 100% certified and responsibly sourced down across all product lines after adopting the Textile Exchange’s Responsible Down Standard. It’s not in 20 years time either, they will have 100% RDS certified down in all its Fall ’15 products in the EU.

The Responsible Down Standard is a third-party certification standard that can be applied to any waterfowl-based supply chain to help ensure humane treatment of animals from gosling to end products. The goal of RDS is to enable traceability and change the down industry as a whole, not just one brand’s supply chain.

Mr Green has climbed mountains in his hey day, so I know all too well the importance of garments that are technically advanced and can keep you alive when the mercury plummets.

He’s camped on the sides of mountains at temperatures of -10, so, ya know, you need to conserve your body heat somehow! But isn’t it great that you can now do that without leaving a trail of suffering and pain behind you?

I love to see brands leading the way to raise awareness and transform the way we purchase items. And it helps us feel powerful too because everything we buy is a vote with our money.

To find out more information about North Face and their commitment to responsibly sourced down, click here.

What about you – have you heard about any brands changing their policies to raise awareness of and improve animal welfare?