Public traceability, verifiable by anyone
DTS® — Down Tracking System
Our lot traceability is not a promise: it is a public register. Scan the QR code on the hangtag, or enter the lot code below, and the data we published for that lot — species, down content, fill power, certifications, processing date — opens straight from our registry, with no need to go through us.
A traced supply chain, level by level
There is no single control: supply chain oversight works across several levels, each of a different nature — health and safety, certification, technical, direct, contractual.
01
Health and safety control, on every lot
Down and feather are a category 3 animal by-product under Regulation (EC) 1069/2009: we buy exclusively from approved or registered establishments, and every batch is accompanied by the required treatment documentation, checked on receipt.
02
Supply chain certifications, with third-party audits
Materials purchased as RDS, GRS or Downpass come from suppliers holding a valid Scope Certificate — verifiable on the public Textile Exchange database — and every shipment arrives with a Transaction Certificate issued by an independent body. We are in turn audited annually by our certification body.
03
Internal laboratory testing, on every incoming lot
Our IDFB-recognised internal laboratory tests every lot on receipt for species composition, down content, fill power and cleanliness. Results are recorded and linked to the lot, building a supplier history over time that lets us spot any drift in quality.
04
Direct supplier visits
Management and technical staff visit suppliers regularly, with checks that reach as far as the upstream stages of the supply chain: farms, collection centres, slaughterhouses. The visits allow a direct on-site check of farming and processing conditions.
05
Code of Ethics
Our Code of Ethics requires supplier selection based on objective, documentable criteria, requires that down and feather originate from the food supply chain, and excludes live-plucking.
Health and safety: two layers of assurance
Before lot traceability even comes into play, the health and safety of the down is guaranteed by two distinct regulatory recognitions, both verifiable against the text of the law.
Approved and supervised establishment
Our Lugo plant is approved under Article 24 of Regulation (EC) 1069/2009 as a plant authorised to process category 3 animal by-products: in plain terms, we are authorised and supervised by the competent health authority, with an approval number that accompanies every transport document.
The sterilisation end point
Regulation (EU) 142/2011 sets the treatment every feather must undergo to reach the so-called "end point": steam at 100 °C for at least 30 minutes. Once past that threshold, the feather ceases to be an animal by-product from a regulatory standpoint — and this is exactly the treatment every feather undergoes at our plant.
How a certified lot travels
Supply chain traceability is not a label: it is a pair of documents travelling with the goods at every step, a balance that has to add up, and a physical separation on the factory floor. Here is how it actually works, from our side of the table.
Scope Certificate
Certifies the production sites and the products covered: number, standard, process stage, description of the material and expiry date. It is valid for a year, must be updated whenever a product is added, and every page must be stamped and signed — without the stamp it is not valid.
Transaction Certificate
Issued at every movement of goods between sites, with a unique number: seller, buyer, consignee, origin of the raw material, invoice number, net weight and goods category, which must already appear on the Scope Certificate. It is the document tying a single shipment to its certificate.
Mass balance
Input plus or minus processing waste must equal output. It is the check that prevents selling more certified material than came in, and it is the first figure an auditor verifies.
Segregation on the floor
Certified and conventional material are never mixed: physical separation or sufficient visual distance, a sign stating the applicable standard on every stored lot, and the wording carried on the ERP, on labels and in the article description. This is what makes the office paperwork verifiable.
The P.U.R.E. standard
Recycled down has a documentary traceability of its own, written down and made public: here is the full text of the requirements we apply to P.U.R.E.®.
Track a lot
Look up a lot
Every Minardi Piume down or feather filled product carries a hangtag with a lot code and a QR code. Scan the QR code, or type the code below to open the lot’s public record.
No code at hand? Open a sample lot →
From 27 September 2026
Europe will require accessible proof. We already publish it.
Directive (EU) 2024/825 — Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition — applies from 27 September 2026: from that date every environmental claim addressed to consumers must rest on evidence accessible to the reader, not only to certification bodies. Labels that lead nowhere become a liability for the brand printing them.
DTS® is exactly that, and it was before it became an obligation: a code on the product, a public register, a page that opens without going through us. For a brand that has to comply, traceable down is not an added cost: it is the part of the garment that already carries its proof.
DTS® for your products
DTS® is not just our own public page: it can be integrated on client brands’ products, with three visibility templates depending on the brand’s positioning.
White-label
DTS® appears entirely under the client brand: no visible reference to Minardi Piume on the consumer page, except where required by law.
Co-branded
The client brand remains the protagonist, with a "filled by Minardi Piume" mention: the balanced solution, suited to most brands — our default model.
Ingredient-brand
The Minardi Piume mark appears at the same level as the client brand, on the model of ingredient brands in technical textiles: the traced down becomes part of the product’s story.