What we can't do
You know what we do. You know what we don’t do. It’s important to also know what we can’t do.
In other sections of this website we told you (a) what we can do and (b) what we don’t do.
It’s also important to know what we can’t do.
We can’t eliminate – completely – all the down dust in a substantially down or down/feather mix bed pillows
The quality of the down dust in your pillows is largely determined by the fill power or loft of the down. Fill power is the wonderful ability of down to rise after the down is compressed and the pressure is then released.
Fill power is, in turn, largely determined by the size of the hundreds of thousands of down clusters (each individual piece of down is called a down cluster) in each pillow. The larger the down clusters, the higher your pillow will loft.
Each down cluster has tiny filaments (think: fibers) radiating out in all directions from a central point (think: head of a pin).
When you constantly use a pillow, some of these filaments break off from the down clusters, creating what we call “down dust”.
The down dust, in turn, “coats” the intact down clusters in a substantially down pillow and the down/feather mix in a down/feather mix pillow, preventing the fill from fully lofting after the pillow is compressed and the pressure is released.
There are many factors that influence the amount of down dust in a pillow.
These factors include:
- the true point of origin of the down (Canada, Hungry and Poland is best),
- size of the down clusters (the larger the better), and
- extent of the usage of the pillow (used everyday or rotated).
Some pillows have an unusually large quantity of down dust. We’ve seen pillows where down dust comprises up to 15% of the weight of the entire pillow.
Bottom line:
It’s practically impossible to remove every last trace of down dust by cleaning the down or down/feather mix fill.
That would take hours per pillow, require the addition of an excessive amount of new down, and result in a prohibitively expensive refurbishment cost.
That being said, be are confident that our pillow refurbishment process can sift out a significant percentage of the existing down dust in your pillows.
With this in mind, our objective is to restore your existing pillow fill to as close to original condition as possible.
We can’t transform a LOW fill power/low loft, substantially down pillow into a HIGH fill power/high loft, substantially down pillow
Fill power is a scientific term used to measure the quality of down (feathers cannot be rated for fill power).
Fill power is the amount of cubic inches that one ounce of down will fill after it’s compressed and then allowed to expand. Fill power is measured by Cubic Inches Per Ounce.
The more space one ounce of down takes up after it’s compressed and then allowed to expand, the higher the fill power.
For example, goose down that fills 850 cubic inches of space per ounce of down will be identified as 850 fill power goose down.
Generally speaking, fill power in the 550 to 600 range is regarded as poor to moderate, fill power in the 650 to 750 range is regarded as good to very good and fill power in the 800 to 900 range is regarded as excellent to exceptional.
The larger the down clusters (a down cluster is one piece of down), the higher the fill power. The higher the fill power, the more the down clusters will loft, trap air and insulate.
Conversely, the smaller the down clusters, the lower the fill power. The lower the fill power, the less the down clusters will loft, trap air and insulate.
Furthermore, the larger the down clusters, the higher the fill power and the more resilient, durable and long lasting the pillow will be.
Conversely, the smaller the down clusters, the lower the fill power and the less resilient, durable and long lasting the pillow will be.
Because Chinese down is primarily harvested from small, young, immature geese and ducks (the primary product is meat; down and feather is a byproduct), fill power will typically fall in the 550 to 600 range (which is poor to moderate).
Because Canadian, Hungarian and Polish down is primarily harvested from larger, older, mature geese and ducks (the primary product is down and feather; meat is a byproduct), the fill power will typically fall in the 650 to 900 range (which is good to exceptional).
Generally speaking but not always.
This is why all fill power claims should be certified by either an independent down and feather testing laboratory, by the internal testing laboratory at a large down and feather processing facility, or both.
Clients who are seeking to have their bed pillows refurbished frequently often complain that their pillows don’t “loft enough”.
There are, generally, 2 reasons:
- One possible reason is that the down or down/feather mix is contaminated by down dust (see above). The cleaning process should remove most of the down dust that “coats” the intact down clusters, thereby permitting the remaining down to “loft” higher.
- The more probable reason is that the fill power of the down was relatively low to begin with.
Here are some approaches to “low” lofting down pillows
- Clean and refurbish the pillow and use “as is”
- Combine one “good” lofting pillow with one “low” lofting pillow and produce either 1 or 2 “new” pillows
- Add new, high fill power Canadian goose or duck down to your cleaned, sanitized and deodorized “low” lofting pillow. This may not be a reasonable decision as you'd have add a significant amount of more expensive/high fill power down to your cheaper/low fill power down to notice any improvement.
Please note: These suggestions apply to pillows that are substantially down. There is no realistic solution to the problem of low lofting pillows that are a down/feather mix. And that’s because feather cannot be rated for loft or fill power. Feathers don't and cannot “loft”.
Bottom line:
You can’t miraculously transform a 500 to 600 fill power down pillow into a 800 to 900 fill power pillow by cleaning, sanitizing and deodorizing the fill.
The fill power of the original down is a given. You can’t change that. You can’t transform the original fill power of down into something it never was in the first place.
With this in mind, our objective is to restore your existing pillow fill to as close to original condition as possible.
We can’t transform a pillow that’s down/feather mix into a pillow that’s substantially down
At WHITE KNIGHT pillowCARE, we distinguish between
- pillow fill that’s substantially down and
- pillow fill that’s a down and feather mix
What we mean by the term “substantially down”?
We use the term “substantially comprised of down” because there is no such thing as a bed pillow that’s “100% down”, “pure down” or “all down”. That's a scientific fact – no matter your source of information.
Even with today’s rigorous processing methods, it is virtually impossible for a down and feather processor to produce down that doesn’t contain a small amount of goose or duck feather.
Because there is no such thing as “100% down”, “pure down” or “all down”, it’s important to understand the concept of Net Down Content when you’re purchasing any product that contains down.
Because we know that the pillow can’t be 100% down, you should focus on the Net Down Content of the product.
Is the product 75% down (and up to 25% goose or duck feathers)?
Or 80% down (and up to 20% goose or duck feathers)?
Or 90% down (and up to 10% goose or duck feathers)?
In general terms, the higher the Net Down Content, the higher the quantity of the down in the pillow.
In our opinion, about 90% Net Down Content – Canadian, Hungarian or Polish – is probably the best that you can hope to purchase.
What we mean by the term “down and feather mix”?
We use the term “down and feather mix” because it is obvious (before the fill is removed from the pillow shell) or will become obvious (after the fill is eventually removed from the pillow shell) that the fill is a down and feather mix rather than substantially down.
Why obvious?
Here are some clues:
The manufacturer’s original tag is still present.
The tag will identify the contents. For example, the tag might say something like “75% goose down/ 25% goose feathers”.
All things being equal, the more down in a pillow relative to feathers, the better the quality of the pillow.
For example, a pillow that is 90% Canadian goose down/10% Canadian goose feathers is superior to a pillow that’s 50% Canadian goose down/50% Canadian goose feathers, assuming that the fill power of the down in both pillows is identical.
On the other hand, a pillow that is 50% Canadian duck down/50% Canadian duck feathers, is, in all likelihood, superior to a pillow that is 90% Chinese duck down/10% Chinese duck feathers, because Chinese down is, typically, low fill power down.
Warning: When it comes to the accuracy of pillow tags, what you read is not always what you get. We’ve seen pillows described on the tag as 90% down/10% feathers that are more like 50% down and 50% feather; and pillows described on the tag as 75% down/25% feathers that are more like 25% down/75% feathers.
The manufacturer’s original tag is missing or unreadable.
If the tag is missing or unreadable, grab a corner of the pillow and rub the pillow between your thumb and forefinger.
- If the fill feels feels soft, the pillow’s probably mostly goose or duck down and some goose or duck feathers.
- If the fill feels slightly stiff, the pillow’s probably mostly goose or duck feather and some goose or duck down. That slight stiffness you feel is probably the quill of goose or duck feather.
- If the fill feels really stiff, who knows what you have in there!
Bottom line:
You cannot miraculously transform a pillow that's a down/feather mix into a pillow that’s substantially down by cleaning, sanitizing and deodorizing the down/feather fill.
The true point of origin (Canada, Hungry, Poland or China) and the percentage down/feather mix is a given. You can’t change that. You can’t transform a defined quality of down/feather mix into something it never was in the first place.
With this in mind, our objective is to restore your existing pillow fill to as close to original condition as possible.
We can’t transform grandma’s pillow of unknown content into a high fill power, substantially down pillow
We often receive calls asking if it’s worth refurbishing grandma’s pillows.
As a general rule, the answer is “no”.
And that’s because grandma’s pillows are often comprised of materials that are difficult to identify: water fowl (goose or duck) feathers, land fowl (chicken or turkey) feathers, ground up corn kernels, raw unprocessed cotton, pieces of foam, slivers of cotton or linen fabric, sawdust, etc.
Or even a mix of two or more of these materials.
You name it, we’ve seen it.
If your objective is to use the pillow, we’d suggest that you consider discarding the pillow. If the contents are all natural (down, feathers, corn kernels, raw unprocessed cotton, cotton, linen, sawdust, etc.), the pillow is probably fully biodegradable and suitable for any landfill.
Even if your objective is to refurbish the pillow for sentimental reasons, our Pillow Pure refurbishment process will probably not yield results that we would regard as “professionally acceptable” and we'd probably decline the work.
Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, WHITE KNIGHT pillowCARE is a division of RAVE FabriCARE, nationally recognized as one of the nation’s premier dry cleaners by non-compensated, independent, authoritative third parties.