Down quality

Fill quality is crucial for the performance of a sleeping bag, but is a very difficult thing to measure. Some manufacturers simply state goose or duck down as if that is sufficient. While One Planet sleeping bags are made with either goose or duck fill, whether the fill is goose or duck makes very little difference. There are other characteristics that are more important.

What is Loft?

Loft or Fill Power determines how 'fluffy' or 'lofty' the down is. The higher the loft, the more efficiently it traps air. The trapped air is warmed by body heat and keeps the sleeper comfortable. The actual test used to measure the down’s loft involves filling and weighing a cylinder with a given weight of down. A specially calibrated weight is then placed on top of the cylinder and is slowly allowed to fall onto the down for a period of time. The tester will observe the markings on the side of the cylinder where the weight stops and is solely supported by the down; the higher this reading, the loftier the down; the loftier the down, the better the insulating power.

Until recently One Planet solely represented loft by using the USA testing method cuin/oz, which has generally been the accepted practice by other manufacturers in recent times.  However recent changes in the Australian Standard requires loft to be represented using the European test method EN 12130 measuring cm3/g.

Approximate examples are:

USA 600(cuin/oz) Loft = EU 327(cm3/g) Loft

USA 700(cuin/oz) Loft = EU 383(cm3/g) Loft

USA 800(cuin/oz) Loft = EU 437(cm3/g) Loft

Some imported brands and older stock held in stores may represent loft using the USA method so we have decided to represent both on our internal bag labeling.

All One Planet down is independently tested by the IDFL (International Down and Feather Laboratory and Institute) for loft, composition, species and cleanliness.

Our test results are accurately recorded on the quality label located inside, at the foot, of the sleeping bag.

The Loft for the 3 qualities we currently use is:

USA 660(cuin/oz) Loft = EU 362(cm3/g) Loft  

USA 760(cuin/oz) Loft = EU 408(cm3/g) Loft  

USA 810(cuin/oz) Loft = EU 440(cm3/g) Loft  

Composition and Species

The ratio of down to feathers in the mix. When down/feather content is measured, a sample is separated into four parts - down plumes, down fibre, small feather and "other". Each of these is represented as % of down and feather. For example: 90% down and 10% Small Feather. Generally speaking there is a correlation between high percentage of down and high loft, however not always.  The same applies to species, generally goose downs achieve higher lofts than duck down.
(Please note that the denoted species and colour of our down may contain traces of other species and colours).

The best down comes from free range, mature, aquatic birds from cold climates. The down plumes from these birds are larger and more resilient. The extra spring and surface area of these plumes not only provides more loft and warmth but also means the down will tend to last longer.

Filled to order

One Planet bags are hand filled to order in our Melbourne factory, dramatically reducing the time spent compressed in stuff sacs. We use complex filling charts to put the fill in the areas where it is most needed.