How Are Down & Feather Pillows Made?
The most common pillow stuffings are polyester, down and feather. Polyester, while hypoallergenic and durable, flattens over time and traps heat. Feathers are a mid-range filler: Pillows stuffed with feathers are more expensive than polyester pillows but less expensive than down pillows. Down is expensive but high-loft and insulating, keeping you cool on warm nights and warm on cold nights. Many higher-end pillows are filled with a combination of down and feathers. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
-
Down Filling
-
Down is collected from the undercoats of aquatic birds such as ducks and geese. These soft, three-dimensional clusters grow under the outer feather coat to insulate the bird's skin. Unlike feathers, down does not have a central quill shaft, which prevents the down fibers from matting flat or from poking out of woven fabric. The down is thoroughly cleaned and sanitized to remove as many allergens as possible before it is incorporated into products.
Down is rated by fill power, or the volume of space 1 ounce of down occupies. The higher the fill power, the more expensive the pillow. Duck down, a lower-quality source, has a fill power of approximately 550. Some high-end goose down pillows have a fill power of more than 800.
Feather Filling
-
Like down, feathers are collected from aquatic birds. However, feathers are two-dimensional and have a central quill. This feature makes feather pillows settle or flatten out more easily, but they have the advantage over down for providing support. Those who like firmer pillows may prefer feather or a high feather-to-down ratio pillow. Pillows stuffed with feathers often have a double lining of tightly woven fabric to prevent the feathers from poking through.
High-end pillows have a higher proportion of small, soft, white feathers than the larger, stiffer, gray feathers of less expensive pillows.
-
Manufacturing Process
-
Depending on the quality and type of pillow, bolts of fabric are cut into rectangles approximately the size of the finished pillow. These rectangles are then stitched together with a 6-inch opening to allow the filling to be blown into the pillow. An operator flips the sewn casing right-side out and attaches a tag (which is required for all pillows produced in the United States and contains information about the type and volume of the filling as well as its source). The filling is blown into the opening, which is afterward sewn shut, and then the pillow is weighed for accuracy, bagged, boxed and shipped.
The level of automation during this process depends on the factory, as mechanical fabric cutters, sewing machines and blowers are expensive. Smaller operations rely more heavily on human operators.
Shape
-
Depending on its intended use, a pillow can be one of many shapes. Typical bed pillows are square or rectangular. Standard pillows measure 20 by 26 inches; king pillows measure 20 by 36 inches; and Euro pillows, which are usually decorative rather than functional, measure 27 by 27 inches. Other types of pillows include lumbar support pillows (cylindrical or rectangular and without a standard size), throw pillows (square and without a standard size), bolster (cylindrical), body (long and rectangular) and neck support pillows ("U" shaped).
The edges of pillows are either knife or box construction. The most common is the knife-edge, which is thickest at the center and tapers to the edges. Knife-edge pillows are formed by sewing the front and back fabric panels directly together. Box-edge pillows are the same thickness from the center to the edges of the pillow and are formed by sewing a strip of fabric along the side seams.
Production Hazards
-
Due to their short, numerous fibers, down filling (and to a certain extent, feather filling) produces lightweight dust. Factory workers must wear protective masks to reduce inhalation hazards. Heavy machinery also has associated hazards, but the high labor requirements of most pillow production means factories are typically highly supervised, reducing incidents of injury.
-
References
- Photo Credit duck image by Henryk Olszewski from Fotolia.com
