Chicken feather dusters stop ruling the roost
HANOI: Fluffy, soft and easy to buy off the back of a bike, Vietnam’s chicken feather dusters have ruled the roost for generations. But, artisans fear for their future as buyers turn to cheaper alternatives.
The dusters, ubiquitous across the country’s leafy capital, have long been a staple in Vietnamese homes to clear cobwebs from ancestral altars or hard-to-reach corners of the house.
But, cheap synthetic dusters have now flooded the market; the latest influx of mass-produced goods to chip away at traditional artisans’ profits.
“We don’t earn as much money as we could in other jobs. But, I do this job to keep my family tradition alive,” Nguyen Huy Tho, 36, said near his garage filled with hanging lines of feather plumes.
His family has been making the dusters for more than a century, and, unlike his five sisters who all work in office jobs or as teachers, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps after graduating from college.
It was once a soaring trade. He used to earn about US$350 (RM1,500) a month, but, profits today are down by a third.
His grandfather, 85, who helps out on occasion, said many young people were looking for betterpaying jobs.
“Most people now think about earning good money, but this job is tedious, like making a toothpick,” Nguyen Huy De said.
Each duster takes about two hours to make, and sell on the streets here for about US$7.
Traditionally, families sold feathers to door-to-door collectors after a chicken feast, with sales spiking around traditional holidays.
But, today, Nguyen’s family buys feathers from chicken wholesalers, as the duty of killing chickens has mostly moved out of the home.
Although the feathers are easier to find, there are only 10 families still making the dusters in his Trieu Khuc village on the outskirts here, once a renowned hub for the trade.
It’s not just families like Nguyen’s feeling the squeeze.
Vendor Nguyen Minh Quang said sales had dipped in recent years, but he still cycled 50km here daily to peddle the dusters.
“Now that plastic dusters are in the market, fewer traditional feather dusters are sold.
“I don’t get much money selling them and get really tired cycling to Hanoi every day.” AFP