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Lifestyle editor Colette Harvey helps make living that little bit easier for you

goose and duck down doonas

What's the difference between goose and duck down doonas? How do I store them? How do I clean them?
With a microscope you can see tiny barbs on the smallest fibres of duck down, but not on goose down, which make duck down cling together. Duck down is quite a luxury and is one of the best downs in the world. Although duck is rarely mature when it is collected, most comes from restaurant ducklings that are never over six weeks old, making this down more like fuzz. Mature down is often mixed with goose down, and this is legal as long as it is a small percentage. Duck down has more natural oils than goose down, and unless you wash regularly it starts to get a strong odour. I would recommend taking it to your local drycleaners to be cleaned.
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October 2008

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