The Federal Trade Commission is seeking public comment about whether the guides for the feather and down industry should be expanded to include a rating system disclosing the warmth of down products, similar to the R-Value ratings for home insulation. In a Federal Register Notice published today, the FTC announced that it proposes to make several minor technical amendments to the guides and invited public comment on the proposed changes. In addition the Commission is seeking comments on whether additional guides should be adopted that would help consumers determine the warmth factor of down or feather garments.
Fill power is the ability of feather and down to resist compression and is an indicator of warmth.
The notice states that there are many tests which purport to measure fill power that provide different results. However, the Commission has learned that Japan has specified a particular fill power standard. . . The Commission is also seeking opinions about tolerances of certain contaminants in industry products, including non-waterfowl and damaged feathers. The Federal Register Notice says the tolerances are intended to accommodate the imprecise processing and manufacturing process, not to encourage intentional alteration of down filling. The Commission vote to publish the Federal Register Notice was 5-0.