About Us
Get to know us, our story and what we stand forAbout Hraun
Icelandic Eider was established in 2019 but the story stretches back decades as we are a third generation of eider duck caretakers on our farm, Hraun, where our whole operation takes place. Hraun, which translates to Lava in English, is located in the snowy Fljót Valley on the Troll Peninsula in Northern-Iceland. It is considered to be one of the harshest places to live on the whole island and yet, our eider ducks stay close to the area year-round and nest in our sanctuary in the springtime. If you ever find yourself in Iceland, feel free to drop by at the house by the lake for a cup of coffee!
our story
Our family has been involved with eiderdown for close to 80 years. We are the third generation and took over in 2018. Eiderdown first sparked Icelandic Eider’s founder, Arni’s interest in 2017 when his career as a football player came to a sudden end due to injury. He was forced to retire and turn to other ventures. Through his parents in-law, he got to know eiderdown and saw the many opportunities it entailed. In this 1,200 year old industry there hadn’t been many changes but with a fresh perspective on how to do things and do things differently, Arni decided to take matters into his own hands and zig when other zag.
We have developed new methods in the process, modernised old methods, both in the caretaking of our eider ducks, in the cleaning process as well as developing new, never-before-seen products. Today, Icelandic Eider offers a selection of bespoke, eiderdown duvets but under our sister brand, Ducking Warm, we are launching the worlds first outdoor brand that solely uses eiderdown. Our aim is to make world renowned products from eiderdown and bring a bit of our history to you. Everything we make is made in house, by our family, by using only 100% renewable energy in our cleaning process. We have our eiderdown tested annually by The International Down and Feather Testing Laboratory, to make sure we are consistently bringing our customers the highest quality product.
The Common Eider Duck
These incredibly tough yet friendly birds are a common sight along Iceland’s coastline but around 900.000 common eiders are thought to reside in Iceland. The Common Eider is a resident bird and do not migrate to a warmer climate in the wintertime but stay in Iceland year-round. To survive the incredibly challenging winter conditions in Iceland, these birds have to be resilient and adapt to the ever-changing weather. To keep warm, they use their soft under layer of feathers, more commonly known as down. Before nesting, the ducks fatten themselves up, gaining around 20% weight, to prepare for nesting for around 30 days, without leaving the nest to feed. They lose around 30-40% of their weight during the nesting period. Each eider duck will lay anywhere from 2-6 eggs. When the ducks start laying their eggs, in early May, their body temperature rises by a couple of degrees centigrade. As a result their down comes loose from their chest and belly. They then use their beak to scrape that down into their nest. The duck itself is what keeps the eggs warm, not the eiderdown. In order to be able to keep their eggs warm to the eggs they moult their down. It is a common misunderstanding that it is the eiderdown itself that keeps the eggs warm during the incubation period when, in fact, it is the duck herself. This means that the ducks’ nests could be lined with pretty much anything. As soon as their ducklings hatch they will leave their nest within 24 hours and never return but as adults, ready to nest on their own.
WHAT IS EIDERDOWN
Eiderdown is the soft, warm under layer of feathers from the Common Eider Duck. It is considered to be the most desirable insulator in the world as well as the pinnacle of insulation. Only around 3.000 kilograms are gathered each year globally. Of those 3.000 kilograms, Iceland’s yield is around 80%. Eiderdown is gathered in much smaller quantities in Canada, Russia, the Faroe Islands and Norway as well.
Eiderdown is the worlds only down that is gathered from a wild species of bird, as well as being the world’s only down that is naturally hydrophobic. A single eiderdown plume consists of thousands of individual hooks, resembling a barbed wire, that stick each plume to another. This makes eiderdown incredibly cohesive and as a result, it sticks together like velcro.
The International Down and Feather Testing Laboratory (IDFL) conducts annual tests for us and on occasion, compare the popular grey goose down, which is used to fill most down products, to our eiderdown. The test results showed that, “When comparing eiderdown to standard goose down, you will note that eiderdown compresses to a larger degree than goose down, and also recovers better than the goose down. This provides evidence that eiderdown is more durable, making it feel softer while still providing support or loft.”
This confirms what eider duck caretakers have believed for centuries, that eiderdown is more durable and lasts longer than other down. Eiderdown duvets are commonly passed down as heirlooms here in Iceland.
Eiderdown is gathered by hand over the first days of June each year. At Icelandic Eider, we process all our eiderdown in our own, state of the art facility, which is simply known as the “Incubator.” In the Incubator, the eiderdown is dried immediately after it has been gathered. To dry, we use geothermal and hydropower energy, which is also used throughout the entire process. The temperature that the down is dried at is around 35°C and will leave the down bone-dry in a matter of hours. The down is then initially cleaned of debris by hand, mostly seaweed, grass and eggshells, but around 70% of the initial weight of the eiderdown is debris. After dying and the initial clean, the down is baked in a specially made oven at around 130°C for four days. This kills all bacteria and makes the down easier to clean during the next few steps in the process. After baking, it is put through a couple of machines to clean the rest of the debris and most of the feathers from the down. After machine cleaning, our eiderdown is hand washed, using a special soap and warm water. This rids the down of any unwanted smells and other dirt. As the down is drying after washing, at the same temperature as it initially dried at, we clean out the leftover feathers by hand. This means that our eiderdown contains less than 0,1% feathers.
Cleaning eiderdown is a tedious and labour-intensive process but around 65 man hours go into each kilogram of eiderdown. Eiderdown is an extremely limited resource but only around 3 tonnes per year are gathered. For comparison, the annual yield of diamonds is around 30 tonnes per year.
Contact
Phone
(+354) 821 0394
arni@icelandiceider.com
Address
Ytra-Gil,
601 Akureyri,
Iceland.
Company Information
Icelandic Eider ehf.
(Kt. 561120-0130)
Reynihlíð 17d,
604 Akureyri,
Iceland.
