Released On 11th Jan 2023

Let’s talk about feather! Our environmental and ethical production ethos 

Few things feel more luxurious than a plump feather cushion, but in these days of increased interest in sustainability and ethical production, we are often asked about the credentials of feather inners vs other fillings.

Fine Quality Cushions will always be respectful of the environment, and we are mindful of customers’ concerns for animal welfare. This extends to the feather and down that we source for our cushion fillings.

Feather fillings

Feather is a completely natural product which is biodegradable and, if collected as a by-product of the meat industry, extremely ethical. 

At Fine Quality Cushions, we only source our feathers from suppliers for whom feather is a by-product of their business.  If not used, these feathers would be treated as a waste product, and may well end up in landfill sites. 

No feather in our products is ever sourced from a duck or goose reared solely for its feathers. 

If requested, we can provide customers with certification details, showing the provenance of all the feather we use.

Polyester fillings

The opposite is true for polyester. Fibre inners are man-made and, unless they are made from recycled polyester, they are not particularly sustainable. However, they continue to be the most popular and economical alternative to feather.

Estimates suggest that feather fill has between 85% and 95% lower impact than polyester products.

Obviously, there are other natural alternatives to feather, for example wool. At the moment this continues to be more difficult to source, and is also more complex and time consuming to fill on a large scale. This results in a higher cost per cushion inner than feather.

It’s therefore fair to say that currently, feather is the superior fill material for environmental sustainability.

If you’d like to know more about the fillings in our products, please get in touch.