The "flying silk" in the filling of fake down jackets can cause illness! Experts: Five tips to identify

Nowadays, most people living in northern China have already put on down jackets. However, did you know that there may be no down in the down jackets you wear? Recently, the down jacket incident has aroused widespread concern among consumers about the quality issues of down jackets and duvets.

What exactly is flying silk, what was it originally used for, and what harm does a down jacket made of flying silk have on the human body?

The China Textile Engineering Society consulted Cao Zonghua, Secretary General of the Down Clothing Sub-Technical Committee of the National Technical Committee for Clothing Standardization. He said that before talking about flying silk, we need to briefly introduce down.

Down is also called down flower, which is mainly the down that grows at the bottom of the chest and abdomen of ducks and geese and does not contain feather stalks. This part of the down is fine, soft, fluffy, and in the shape of a flower, resembling a plump dandelion. It is very warm and can be used to make down jackets and duvets. Ducks and geese also have a large number of feathers less than 7 cm long growing on their bodies, commonly known as feather flakes in the down industry. The single fiber that falls off above the root of the feather flake is feather silk, and the single fiber that falls off below the root of the feather flake is down silk. The mixture of down silk and feather silk extracted from the crushed feather flakes is commonly known as flying silk in the down industry. Its thermal insulation performance is relatively poor, and its price is much cheaper than real down.

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Cao Zonghua said that according to the new national standard for down jackets, only clothing with down as filling material and a down content of no less than 50% can be called down jackets, and products with a down content of less than 50% can only be called feather clothing, and there is currently no corresponding national or industry standard for feather clothing. The down content of regular down jackets is usually between 70% and 90%, with the highest down content being 95%, and the content of flying silk (down silk plus feather silk) should be less than 10%. In this incident, the company broke up the feather pieces, extracted the flying silk without down, and used it as filling to impersonate down jackets, which is extremely bad.

The potential harm of flying silk filled clothing to the human body cannot be ignored. Cao Zonghua said that if the tiny granular dust mixed in the flying silk is not removed after the wool is crushed to extract the flying silk, these flying silks containing dust are filled into the clothing, and when the clothing is slapped or squeezed for quilting, the dust is easy to overflow from the quilting needle holes, which can easily cause asthma patients to relapse or induce allergic rhinitis. If the companies that produce flying silk do not disinfect the flying silk, it may also contain a large amount of impurities and bacteria, which can easily irritate the skin when worn for a long time, causing symptoms such as itching, redness and swelling.

Faced with the uneven quality of down jackets and duvets on the market, how can consumers identify which ones may be filled with flying silk? Cao Zonghua introduced some simple and practical methods.

Don't buy low prices. Consumers should be wary of low-priced products and have some basic common sense. Take the common down jackets on the market with a duck down content of 90% as an example. The purchase cost of duck down with a down content of 90% is more than 500 yuan/kg, and the price of down accounts for 1/3 of the total price of a down jacket. Calculated based on a down jacket with a down filling volume of 100 grams, plus taxes and corporate gross profit, it can be said that under normal circumstances, it is impossible to buy it for less than 300 yuan.

Buy down jackets with good rebound. Lay the down jacket flat, press it gently and let it recover naturally. If the down jacket rebounds quickly, it means that the fluffiness is good and the filling is likely to be high-quality down; if it rebounds slowly or not at all, it is likely to be filled with flying silk.

Touch it. A good down jacket should feel soft and fluffy, like holding a cloud in your hand. If it feels hard and clumps easily, be careful.

Weight comparison. Real down jackets are light and warm, while flying silk fillings are usually filled with a lot of fillings to achieve the warmth effect, and they feel heavier, perhaps two or three pounds.

Smell identification. Natural down has a slight down smell, but after multiple processes of sterilization, washing, and deodorization, the smell will be greatly reduced. If the down jacket has a noticeable odor or bad smell, it is not advisable to buy it.

Cao Zonghua reminded that consumers should be vigilant when buying down jackets, carefully identify the quality of the fillings, go to regular shopping malls to buy regular brand clothing, or buy products through regular e-commerce platforms with supervision. At present, live broadcast rooms are the hardest hit areas for low-quality down jackets. It is recommended that regulatory authorities strengthen market supervision, crack down on illegal businesses and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.