Why We Fill With Down, Not Polyester

Heres Why We’re NØUGHT Synthetic Fill

It's warmer. By a lot.

Down clusters branch out like tiny snowflakes and trap thousands of pockets of still air. That trapped air is the insulator. Your body does the heating, the down does the holding. Polyester fill is made of straight fibres that flatten and let heat slip through.

The measure for down is fill power, the space one ounce of down expands to fill. Our jackets run 700 fill power and up, with the Ultra Puff sitting at 800+. Most good synthetic fills top out around the equivalent of 500 to 650. More warmth, less stuff.

It's lighter on your body.

Best warmth for weight of any insulation on earth. You get winter warmth in something you forget you're wearing. It compresses down to almost nothing so it lives in a carry on instead of eating your carry on. Warmth without the weight, like we said.

It bounces back.

Polyester fibres crush. Every wash, every stuff into a bag, every winter. They flatten permanently and take your warmth with them. Down clusters are built to re loft. Give them a wash and a proper dry and they spring back to full. Care for a down jacket properly and it will outlive most of your wardrobe.

It goes back to the earth.

Down is a natural protein fibre. It breaks down. Polyester is plastic, and plastic sticks around for a very long time while shedding microplastics into the water every wash. A down jacket that lasts a decade also beats a synthetic one you replace every two years. The greenest jacket is the one you don't have to buy again.

It breathes.

Down moves moisture instead of trapping it. So you're warm on the platform and still fine on the train. Less of that clammy sealed in feeling you get from heavy synthetic fill.