A down jacket is one of the best jackets

A down jacket is one of the best jackets you can buy if you're serious about staying warm in cold weather, or in the snow. Like so many things it's always better to use a natural fiber or product when buying clothing, including down jackets, and natural just seems to perform best. That's because down is a product that comes from a bird. It is in fact the breast feathers, or downy feathers, from the breast of a bird, most usually a duck. The feathers are extremely light and exhibit what is known as "loft", namely the ability to lift itself up and create an air space. And it is this air space the provides the insulation and thermal properties that make down such a fine natural product for making some of the warmest jackets known to man. However as many people have found, although down is a wonderful filling for a warm snuggly winter jacket, it isn't the easiest to clean. A down jacket is fine when it's clean, but when it's dirty and needs a little loving care and attention to clean it it becomes a bit of a problem. So how do you go about cleaning that beautiful down jacket that you've had for a while and is just a little dirtier than you'd like, and perhaps not as warm as it's been in the past? Well of course the first answer is to dry clean it. A good dry cleaner, (note that I said a good dry cleaner, there are some that are not so good), should be able to dry clean your down jacket well. However for some this is expensive and many would prefer to clean their down jacket themselves. So if you'd like to clean your own down jacket how do you do it" Well first, like with everything, you need to get it ready for cleaning. Take everything out of the pockets, shake out the "stuff" that's accumulated in the crevices and cracks, but just do that. You don't need to pretreat it with anything. Next wash it in a washing machine without the center spindle, or the piece that goes round and round to create the washing motion and agitate the water. Some people may have a machine lacking the center spindle, but older machines usually have it, so you may need to use a commercial laundry where you can wash yourself. That's because a machine with a center spindle can damage the down in your down jacket, washing it too hard.