Where do we begin?
It’s traditional to tell a story from the beginning, so who are we to mess with tradition?
In 1975 a group of businessmen dedicated to furthering the interests of the down industry in Canada decided to band together and form a non-profit organization which they named: "Canadian Down and Feather Products Association".
They founded a steering committee, chaired by Mr. Doug Pryde of Feather Industries Canada Ltd., to introduce the concept to all Canadian Manufacturers of down and feather products and inviting all interested companies to a working session. At their inaugural meeting in October 1976 Jim Palmer of Woods Canada was elected President and Doug Pryde of Feather Industries was elected Vice President.
The founding members of our association continued to meet on a regular basis working to establish the first set of bylaws, our association mission statement and our standards. To this day, we still uphold and honour the very same basic missions and standards within our organization. Of course, some things have modernized to stay in line with the current ways of world business, but our commitment to quality has remained integral to all programming. The Association logo was created, trademarked and put into use for promotional materials.
Membership to our association has always been voluntary. Since the very beginning, Canadian companies were welcome to apply to and stay as a member obliging them to uphold the bylaws and standards so they would remain a member in good standing.
The association was initially headquartered in Ottawa during the early years because the Association was actively involved at the Canadian Government level in order to in establish proper testing procedures for down fill material in order to ensure quality. Plus, they continued work with the Canadian Government to assist in creating industry standards for down and feather products in regards to proper textile labelling on finished products using down and feather filling.
Later on, our headquarters moved to the GTA where a large percentage of manufacturing member companies were based and our volunteer board of directors began to meet more frequently. This resulted in additional industry initiatives being laboured on by volunteer directors of the Canadian Down and Feather Products Association, including having duties removed from imported down proof cotton used for pillows and duvets which went into effect June 17, 1999.
In 2001, the association built our DOWNMARK® quality assurance product certification program for down and feather finished items manufactured by our association members. We launched a sew-in-label and hang tag program with the goal of helping consumers recognize and trust products when they were looking to buy in the marketplace.
The next year, in 2002, the Association adopted its new name; The Down Association of Canada.
The Down Association of Canada’s goals have always been focused on consumer education. We began by teaching consumers the terminology and properties associated with down and feather as a natural fill material. Hopeful that this would enable consumers to have the information they needed to do their due diligence when shopping for purchases.
Another initiative launched early on, was a program which silently monitored retail products in the marketplace for compliance assessment. The focus and goals are on down and feather quality, by identifying incorrect labeling and misleading advertising which results in consumers not getting what they thought or paid for. This program name started out as the "Market Minder", which became the "Market Monitor" and is now more aptly named "Down√Check". It is important to note that all our members are part of this silent testing program as due diligence.
For 45 years, our association has put quality first. We want consumers to feel confident that what they are buying is quality, what they will use is quality, and what they support is Canadian made. We hope that consumers look for the DOWNMARK® label that is only sewn into our members products because they can trust what they are buying.