Glossary

The sectors manufacturing natural filling material (feather and down) witnessed a remarkable growth in recent years, hence the need to provide processing industries - from washers to sorters, and manufacturers as well as end users - with correct and clear information.

A set of terms and definitions is the first step to achieve clarity and help the consumers understand several features, above all the qualitative and quantitative composition of manufactured products. Here are some of the most widely used terms (for further information, please refer to UNI EN 1885):

Quill feather: stiff, coarse, wing and tail plumage. It has a longer and stiffer vane than a feather.

Feather: (general) plumage without quill feathers.

Feather: (specific) horny integument of fowls. It has a shorter and softer vane than quill feather and, unlike plumules, a well developed quill.

Down: plumage forming the undercoating of waterfowl, consisting of clusters of light, fluffy filaments growing from one scantly sketched down core but without any quill shaft or vane.
NOTE: conventionally at least two barbs connected at one point are considered as down.

Vane: the whole of feather barbs intimately connected among them by means of barbules; it branches off from the quill shaft.

Feather barb: main structure of the vane, directly growing from the quill shaft.

Down barb: filamentary structure which emanates directly from the down core.

Waterfowl feather: feather derived from the plucking of waterfowl, such as ducks and geese, and/or picked from eiderducks' nests.

Landfowl feather: feather derived from the plucking of landfowl (gallinaceans); it includes chicken and turkey feather.

Chicken feather: feather derived from the plucking of chickens (Gallus Gallus); also feather of all kind of landfowls.

Finished feather: feather which has been passed through all the working processes, including washing, drying and all hygienic treatments.

New feather: feather not previously used after plucking as filling material.

Reprocessed feather: feather which has been previously used as filling material and again subjected to hygienic treatment.

Milled feather: new feather which has been chopped or curled by means of a mechanical process.