Ajungilak out of Poland

By David Stenerud
Norwatch

Solid Norwegian Ajungilac, that were bought up by Swiss Mammutt last year, is Europe's largest sleeping-bag manufacturer. The sleeping-bags are present in most Norwegian homes, and the top quality ones are stuffed with handpicked white goose-down from Poland.

- I saw the Danish documentary right before I left, and this was an unknown issue for me, says product manager Snorre Moen to NorWatch on cellphone from China. He is there to find new suppliers of down.

- Live picked goose-down is something we don't want in our sleeping-bags, he says.

"In China they eat..."
- So this is not how they produce down in China?

-. No, they eat so much duck and geese here that I hope and believe live plucking isn't going on.

- Would this be relevant to the choice of supplier?

- It's not all up to me, but I am product manager so what I say will be listened to. And personally I would answer yes.

It is however not considerations for animal protection which leads Ajungilak to change country of supply:

- We decided already last year to move production from Poland for financial reaons, the product manager explains.

The sleeping-bag manufacturer plans to phase out Polish imports already this spring.

Norwatch Newsletter 1-2/02