Sleeping bag

Problem

We made a sleeping bag. For this kind of bag, the right filling is down, the soft, fluffy part of a duck's feathers. To bring the price down, the plan used plain feathers instead.

Feathers have to be cut before they go in. After cutting, they need one more treatment so the sharp tips poke out of the bag less. But honestly, even then they still poke out. The only way to really stop it is to add one more layer of non-woven fabric on the inside.

I explained all of this. I told them several times that it was risky. The job still went ahead without the lining, and we agreed to test it several times instead.

How I found out

The inspection and the tests never showed anything that bad. So the product was approved and shipped to Korea.

But there was one more problem: the bags were compressed and vacuum packed. Cut feathers are already sharp. We had already given up the extra lining. Then we squeezed everything flat in a vacuum bag. Of course the feathers poked out like crazy.

And we had bad luck. If the feathers had poked out on the outside, we would have seen it early and dealt with it. But it was the inside that poked out. You only see it after you open the pack and unfold the bag.

When I looked at why it happened, there were three reasons. One: we used feathers, not down. Two: we did not add the extra non-woven lining. Three: the finish after cutting the feathers was not perfect. (To be fair, you cannot make that perfect.)

What we did

Sending the bags back to China would have cost more than the fix. So we looked for a sewing shop here in Korea. We found one in the Daegu area.

They covered the outside fabric with one more layer of fabric and finished the bags.

Result

After the repair, the bags sold normally.

So now

I steer you away from cheap filling from the start. If you still want it, I tell you the risk first, then we go ahead.