Responsible Down Standard

      
Setting the standard for animal welfare in the industry

     
We use down in our outerwear, sleeping bags, footwear and accessories because of its superior insulating properties and high warmth-to-weight ratio. That's why we're committed to animal welfare and traceability in our goose down and feather supply chain. In 2014 we launched the Responsible Down Standard (RDS) in partnership with Textile Exchange, a global nonprofit dedicated to sustainability in the apparel and textile industry, and Control Union Certifications, an accredited third-party certification body with expertise in agriculture and farm systems. The RDS certifies down against animal welfare requirements and tracks it from the source to the final product.

The RDS has gained momentum and adoption across the entire supply chain - in 2019, more than 6,000 farms across the world were certified to the RDS, covering an estimated 735 million birds at the farm level. More than 80 brands have started using RDS-certified down in their own products.

At the North Face, all of the down we use is either RDS-certified or recycled. Our recycled down has been sorted for quality and cleaned just like our RDS-certified down.