The combination of lightweight, high heat-insulating characteristics, small transportation volume, and long service life makes goose down superior to synthetic insulators. These properties of down can be explained by the structure of down. Down consists of a thin column and a large fan of almost indistinguishable from the column tuft. Thin and flexible tuft forms chaotic elastic accumulation - down clusters.

The quality of down is measured by the quality of primary products. Special breeds of geese with white coat such as Italian, Rhone, Lind, Vishtines, North German, Hungarian (Magyar) are considered the best to gather down of. The quality of feather is greatly influenced by the natural conditions of breeding of the birds. In the cold climate down clusters are bigger. That is why raw materials gathered in the cold Russia are greatly appreciated around the World.

The best raw material is the down which was hand picked from live adult birds, as there is no practically any nap, which says on the elastic qualities of down. Bask uses down of such raw materials for manufacturing down jackets and clothing for custom orders. However such raw materials are rare and expensive. It is much more real to find raw materials by machine pluck. Bask uses white and grey goose down of exceptional quality that is plucked from live geese. All our down has a veterinary certificate.

At competent usage goose down products can serve for 20 years, duck down products - for 5 years. Along with goose down, Bask uses pure eiderdown for its clothing collection. Not more than 30 grams of eiderdown can be gathered from one nest. This explains why eiderdown exists in very limited quantity and is extremely expensive. The eiderdown is light, does not absorb moisture, does not crumple and according to shamans it heals.

After the raw material is gathered it needs to be washed. It is necessary to separate down from feather and make a necessary mixture. Full technological process consists of 19 operations and is possible only at large plants with special equipment. Bask processes raw materials with the help of German equipment and produces 4 kinds of mixtures with different down/feather ratio: 80%, 85%, 90% and 93%. Then the down washed with special soaps such as liquid soap "Down Proof" or "Down Wash" of the "Nikwax". The Nikwax products contain special additives that improve the flexible characteristics of down and give to it additional water repellent features.

Flexibility of down is the key characteristic for evaluation down quality. The method for measuring this characteristic is: take one ounce of down, then clip it, then take pressure away and gage the volume in cubic inches in 5 minutes. The parameter is called - "Fill Power" (F.P).

Practical advises for selecting down sleeping bags and down jackets:
1. Strongly boil down a sleeping bag or a powder-puff, release it and shake 2-3 times. Down must reintegrate 50-70% of its working volume. The whole volume must reintegrate in 20 minutes.
2. If down has a displeasing smell the best is not to buy it or wash it at a blow with a special soap. Not clearly washed down will go bad quickly.
3. If there are thick or long barbs of a feather, then this is a down of a wrong separation. Green feather has an exquisite end, which pinks any fabrics. According to the standard its number in down must not preponderate over 2-3%. Gather a fistful of down and clench it strongly. If you feel some pricks, then there is too much green feather.

Taking care of down:
In a care for down products you need to know:
1. Try to keep down in the expand form - it will long the life of products.
2. Do not keep down in a damp and clench for many days.
3. Keep down products clean. Down absorbs adipose accentuation and loses its volume. It's often seen on the collar or on the hood. Buy fluent soap for downy wash, dilute it in water (60 C) and wash down products carefully. Then rinse out in several waters and crush down quickly. You can use radiator (but not very warm) or a hair fan.