Bulk Down Supplier

[Dutch]

If their down isn't 800 fill or better I don't think you would see much interest from diyers. It's easy to get bad down.

[krugd]

From their site:
The USA washed and processed down can offer fill powers up to 800FP

So they have 800 - just make sure it is what you get.

[WonderMonkey]

The bad thing is that I could visit the place and they could hand me oatmeal and I wouldn't know the difference.

I may try to find out who some of their clients are to try and establish a reputation. A bit of google.com as well.

[pgibson]

Knowing the client may not help you to know if it is good down or crap. They have a picture of a NF jacket on their site, that means nothing at all. I used to work in a retail store that sold NF Jackets, NF used down from 550 fill with lots and lots of feathers in it up to jackets with 900 fill. Now please realize that for a jacket the NF is selling for say $100 that is stuffed full of crappy down they will go to the lowest bidding supplier for everything from the down to the thread to the assembly of the jacket. Now take the 900 fill jacket, better fabric usually, better down, likely sewn in a totally different factory by a totally different sewing company, probably again the low bidders in all cases but not likely the same supplier for any of it. Just saying that just because the sell down to company X that it is any good at all. The only way to know if it is good down is to know what you are looking at. And the only way to know what you are looking at is by having experience with the product. There are good suppliers here on the forum now that offer down to the DIY crowd at very reasonable prices that you can be assured is the good stuff as they know what they are looking at. Ed Speers, StormCrow both have the good stuff at very reasonable prices and Ed has been know to offer a group buy discount to HF members once a year in the past. I have looked at selling it my self but it really is a good bit of work to take a huge bag like they show in that picture and turn it to accurately weighed out 1-3 oz baggies like most DIY folks are used to seeing. I got some sample in from all over the country and only one actually supplied down that was really clean, and was accurate to the quality I expected from their ratings. Just saying buyer be ware and be informed about what you are getting, there are hundreds of places to get down in bulk but very little of it is what we expect for top quality camping gear.

[WonderMonkey]

Knowing the client may not help you to know if it is good down or crap. They have a picture of a NF jacket on their site, that means nothing at all. I used to work in a retail store that sold NF Jackets, NF used down from 550 fill with lots and lots of feathers in it up to jackets with 900 fill. Now please realize that for a jacket the NF is selling for say $100 that is stuffed full of crappy down they will go to the lowest bidding supplier for everything from the down to the thread to the assembly of the jacket. Now take the 900 fill jacket, better fabric usually, better down, likely sewn in a totally different factory by a totally different sewing company, probably again the low bidders in all cases but not likely the same supplier for any of it. Just saying that just because the sell down to company X that it is any good at all. The only way to know if it is good down is to know what you are looking at. And the only way to know what you are looking at is by having experience with the product. There are good suppliers here on the forum now that offer down to the DIY crowd at very reasonable prices that you can be assured is the good stuff as they know what they are looking at. Ed Speers, StormCrow both have the good stuff at very reasonable prices and Ed has been know to offer a group buy discount to HF members once a year in the past. I have looked at selling it my self but it really is a good bit of work to take a huge bag like they show in that picture and turn it to accurately weighed out 1-3 oz baggies like most DIY folks are used to seeing. I got some sample in from all over the country and only one actually supplied down that was really clean, and was accurate to the quality I expected from their ratings. Just saying buyer be ware and be informed about what you are getting, there are hundreds of places to get down in bulk but very little of it is what we expect for top quality camping gear.

Thanks, I appreciate the input. It's always good to hear from people who have far more experience than I. I still like to screw up on my own, but at least I'm a bit more knowledgeable about it!