Allied Feather & Down Reveals Next Generation of Traceability: Experience the Future of Down
Lack of transparency in the supply chain becomes a thing of the past with the new Optix Smart Mirror — an immersive retail experiential tool with the ability to read and verify down inside garments.
Montebello, Calif. — (For Immediate Release) Brand and consumer awareness around where your down comes from will take a giant leap into the next generation of technology, education, and multi-channel retail with the new ALLIED Feather & Down Optix Smart Mirror.
The technology is an Outdoor Retailer Innovation Award Finalist, a coveted designation in and of itself, the winners of which will be announced on Night Two of the OR + Snow Show on January 30, 2020. The Smart Mirror is the first interactive retail tool of its kind that can read a signature impregnated on the down insulation inside each ALLIED filled garment to offer the consumer a unique experience based on the source and quality of the down used in manufacturing.
A life-size, real-time interaction with the ISPO Gold-Winning TrackMyDown.com traceability and education platform is at the heart of this brand new consumer experience, elevating down from a misunderstood commodity to a premium ingredient that can be instantly traced back to its source to ensure animal welfare and the highest level of environmentally sensitive and performance-preserving handling and treatment.
PILOT PROGRAMS / AVAILABILITY
The OPTIX mirror is available to retail locations and ALLIED brand partner flagship stores starting in January 2020. The mirror will be launched and piloted with the Beauty & Youth brand and featured in select stores throughout Japan starting in November 2019.
The mirror, in addition to down traceability, will also be able to tie into a store or brand’s inventory and offer further suggestions, show colorways, and even allow purchases right there through the mirror itself.
Consumers can scan their garment in real time in front of the Optix Smart Mirror, and interact and discover where their down comes from, what its performance characteristics are, how to care for it after purchase, and even see other colors and styles of the product that might be in stock (as well as how good they look).
“The industry and brands are doing a lot of work on issues of traceability, but often it is not conveyed directly to the consumer in an engaging experiential way. The RDS, for example, does nothing to communicate any information to the consumer beyond the fact that it has been responsibly sourced. It could be processed horribly with much damage to the environment. This is again where our TrackMyDown tool came in that was the recipient of the gold award last year. This tool, though, interacts DIRECTLY with the jacket… reading a reflective finish on the down through the fabric and will tell you everything you want to know about the down inside. It will be a critical tool for any brand using a lot of down as both a consumer education tool as well as a device that can offer authentication that would be impossible to counterfeit,” says ALLIED Creative and Marketing Director Matthew Betcher.
“ALLIED has spent millions of dollars and countless hours ensuring our position as industry leaders in animal welfare and sustainable processing methods, and that includes an investment in retail technology and innovation for our brand partners, as well as consumer-facing traceability down to the very batch,” said Daniel Uretsky, President, ALLIED Feather & Down.
We knew it was necessary to develop a tool that would engage the potential purchaser of a down product to help them make more informed decisions, and we continue to be at the forefront of global issues such as Palm Oil Free Certification and reduction of microplastics in the environment,” continued Uretsky. “We always saw the RDS and other standards as the foundation for the real work, and now we are able to communicate source complexities, environmental benefits and cleanliness to the consumer directly and through our brand partners at point of purchase.”
// We are happy to provide media with more information, tours and demonstrations of these technologies and processes.
About ALLIED Feather & Down
Founded in Vernon, Calif. in 1987, ALLIED has been responsibly sourcing and sustainably processing down while simultaneously driving innovation within the insulation market for over 30 years. The family owned and operated business has earned the reputation as the largest, most reliable and most responsible supplier of raw material in the industry. Through the creation of programs such as the Responsible Down Standard (RDS) and Track My Down, ALLIED is committed to safeguarding the welfare of animals while protecting the environment. ALLIED remains a family owned company with facilities worldwide and is proud to produce the highest quality down technologies demanded by the most discerning brands in the outdoor, hospitality and fashion marketplaces. To learn more about ALLIED, please visit http://www.alliedfeather.com/.
