Depending on the source of the odor, you may or may not be able to fix it. Odor is a known problem in down-filled garments, including vests. As we briefly mentioned earlier, duck down often has an odor as a result of duck diet, while goose down usually doesn’t.
Regardless of which type of down is used, it should undergo chemical treatment that removes all the stains and impurities from it, effectively eliminating the odor. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, especially with some lower quality products.
While washing will help to some extent, it won’t be able to completely eliminate the odor, which may be annoying. This is why we recommend that you go through the user experiences and see whether someone complained about this. This is more common in some low-quality and cheap vests, while the best winter vests come completely odor-free and even with some hypoallergenic properties.