Many consumers think down and feathers are the same thing and reference them as the same. In fact nothing could be more different as the cost, feature set, and firmness are all impacted by the fillings.
Down filling comes from the underbelly of ducks and geese and is very soft and airy. Down costs approximately five to ten times as much as feathers. Down filling is used for comfort and is used in down pillows, down comforters, down blankets and on the top of down top feather beds.
Table Top Protectors
Feathers on the other hand come from the other parts of a duck or goose. Feathers are rigid and provide support for items like feather pillows, feather pillow forms, feather beds and more.
Both Down & Feathers are processed the same way and are usually equal in their hypoallergenic standards based on what manufacturer you are buying from. Higher amounts of feathers are useful for items that need to be firmer and durable.
The biggest difference between down and feathers is in their usage. Down and feathers can both be machine washed and dried and can provide years of comfort for the home user. Down usually can be washed and dried faster than feathers due to the moisture trapping of the quills on feathers.
Many 3, 4 and 5 star hotels like to use a 50/50 pillow on their beds (This is a pillow comprised of half down and half feathers). Hotels will also use a down comforter on the bed and in the best and most luxurious properties a feather bed on top of the mattress.
While down provides soft luxurious comfort, feathers can provide support. Both down and feathers can last several years thus providing comfort for night after night. Down and feather bedding are equal in their ability to be allergy friendly due to the higher thread count cotton fabric typically used. In fact some British research has shown that down and feather bedding actually saw an improvement in home related allergies for their users.
Any product labeled Down in the United States must contain by law a minimum of 75% down clusters in the filled bedding item. The other 25% consist of more down, small feathers and/or fiber (which is the broken off pieces of down clusters). There are only several down bedding manufacturers in the United States and many of the biggest ship their filling to other users of down including outerwear, sleeping bag makers and fine furniture companies.
Sometimes consumers have a negative perception of feather bedding due to the nature of feather pillows and feather beds having poking feathers. In truth even the best feather bedding item can poke once in a while due to the nature of the pointy feather quills. Therefore for items like feather pillows and feather beds it is recommended to use quilted protectors to add comfort. It is also important to consider buying a more luxurious blend of feather filling such as a 10/90 versus the more common 5/95 feather/down blends.