RDS Labels and Responsibly Sourced Down

You care about where your coffee comes from and if that chocolate is fair trade but have you thought about the down in your favorite comforter or pillow? As more and more consumers become interested in making ethical choices, we thought we’d let you know about RDS.

What is RDS?

“Responsible Down Standard is a global standard for best practices in animal welfare throughout a brand’s entire retail supply chain,” according to Ashley Gill from Textile Exchange. A brand can choose to go through the process of becoming RDS certified. Looking for an RDS seal on your down products is a great way for consumers to ensure that the products come from an ethical and humane source.

How does a company get certified?

The first step is for the brand to make sure that it understands every level of their supply chain. They begin at the farms to ensure that the animals are in the best conditions possible. Since down is a bi-product of the poultry industry, a lot of farms have been known to try and get the most green for their geese by plucking down off of live waterfowl or fattening them up for foie-gras.

An RDS brand would never allow anything like force feeding or live plucking. Each step from farm to manufacturer is certified by a third-party inspector known as the Certification Body.

How is this ensured?

One of the things that the third-party checks is that RDS certified down is properly labeled and tracked through the process so that the product doesn’t get mixed in with non-certified down.

There are both scheduled and unannounced visits made by the Certification Body to make sure that all levels of production are operating at standard at all times.  

Sleep better at night knowing that your down comforter & down pillows are ethically sourced. Interested in some RDS products? Check out our Eddie Bauer bedding items- one of the very first brands to commit to using RDS compliant sources.

To learn more about our down click here