Duck feather cushion pads – I object!

[AnotherCrazyCatLady]

I am about to spend the morning replacing five duck feather cushion pads (inserts) from cushions I purchased about six months ago from John Lewis.

I have never had feather cushion pads before, and I never wish to again.

My main problems are: (1) they smell, (2) they give the cushion a coarse texture and (3) they have started poking through the cushion cover and even escaping.

I do not wish to be stabbed, or sprayed with an obnoxious odour, when I am sat on my couch.

I suppose I also have a further problem: (4) how do they collect all the feathers?!!

YABU – duck feather cushion pads are great, bring them on
YANBU – duck feather cushion pads are awful and should be relegated to the annals of history

Not sure if they were duck or not, but I had some feather cushions from John Lewis and they were bloody awful - the living room was constantly covered in feathers where they had poked out.

I now have much cheaper and better cushions from H&M that don’t need hoovering up after daily!

YANBU. I hate feathers in pillows or cushions. The texture gives me the heebee jeebies.

I assume the birds are slaughtered for meat and the feathers harvested as a sideline.

Yeah I hear you.
I was hating having to replace foam cushions every few months due to them going lumpy and mis-shapen, I thought feather cushions would be easy to "shake" back into shape. How wrong I was.
Pokey feathers, feathers everywhere (even when using cushion linings that i bought separately), not a nice shape etc.

Replaced the whole lot again in a few months.
Expensive mistake.

reminds me of when I was a kid and we stayed at a relatives who had feather pillows and quilts- they made me wheeze all night and the feathers kept stabbing me through the pillowcase. I hate the feel of any kind of feather cushion now and I’m sure it’s because of that horrible old fashioned bedding.

@LoneHydrangea Yes, I wondered whether the feathers are produced during the slaughter process. I suppose it makes those products unsuitable for vegans and vegetarians.

Feathers should be confined in a tightly enough woven fabric not to keep escaping. And ideally it should be down rather than feathers, which can't stab you even if it does escape. Down duvets drape beautifully over your body and keep the draughts out. But allergies and welfare are good reasons to go over to synthetic alternatives, which have improved enormously in recent years,

I remember visiting a great aunt getting on for 70 years ago and sleeping on a feather mattress. that was an experience! Spent the night in a hole with the mattress mounded up each side of me.

There is an ongoing quality control issue with the John Lewis duck feather cushion pads. I had to return mine as they smelled of farmyard despite airing them outside for a few weeks in the sun. The JL partner I spoke to said this keeps happening and she hates walking by the cushion pads on the warehouse as they always stink!

I have down cushions and I love them! They are old, but don’t cast feathers, they are in a very tight heavy liner thing. keep their shape, don’t smell?

OTOH hate feather duvets - jaggy bits, empty voids, look lumpy. Impossible to clean in a domestic machine.

i think it may depend on the quality of the item.

Indeed they are and as a vegetarian I wouldn’t have feather products in the house.

I have feather cushions on my sofa for the past ten years and haven’t had any issues with them. They’re from Ikea, and nothing pokes through or smells.

Feathers are not always humanely produced. They may be ripped out of the birds while they are still alive causing considerable pain and distress.

I vastly prefer feather over the synthetic pads. I’ll deal with a few feathers poking out rather than having to regularly replace lumpy or flattened synthetic pads which then go to landfill for an eternity.

If you’re looking for an alternative, Woolroom sell some wool cushion inserts which I’m curious about trying!

Interesting – after I bought my cushions I saw that although the reviews of JL cushions were generally positive there were quite a few complaining about the smell. I also tried airing them out, but the odour was really stubborn. Maybe this helps explain why my cushions were in the clearance!!