Goose Down

[Lamont]

Tell me , do they have to kill the animal to get the down?

They don't have to kill the animal if they 'Live Pluck'.
The whole idea is to keep it living to retake what they want repeatedly.
They rip out what they want about six times per year, this goes on for about six to eight years. The animal is in the workers lap the whole time awake-and the animal goes back to the pen/shed/farm. Six eight weeks later off they go again. I think there are slight variations on this but these are the basics.
Some geese when older, will be then be actively force-fed for about about a year -to make the animal develop an absolutely ridiculously massive liver.
This becomes Foie Gras after the animal is slaughtered for their engorged liver. Apparently Hungary is quite the place for this and the engorged livers go mainly to the French market last I read.
Katmandu and Macpac have 'provable' RDS down apparently-animal is slaughtered not live plucked, then stuff taken.
Uniqlo refuses to make it's supply chain transparent last I looked and only say 'ethical'. How may Ozzies are wearing a $39 Uniqlo jacket?
Decathlon is completely opaque and notoriously unethical in it's business transactions so I seriously wonder about their connection to live plucking. They say they don't use down obtained via live plucking. Maybe someone can check their Decathlon jacket and see if it's all words.
Montbell I believe (I can't say for certain?) also refuses to make their supply chain transparent so the source of their down is/was/might be unknown.

[Franco]

From Montbell :
"At Montbell, we source down from both the European and Chinese markets to satisfy a variety of characteristics (supply/availability, low cost, consistent quality, humane practices, etc.) and maintain our lofty standards. Every season we seek to balance the superior quality for which we are known and the lowest possible raw materials cost. We change down sourcing companies frequently to insure that our customers have access to superior products at the lowest price possible. In the course of these efforts, Montbell never purchases down from operations that practice “live-plucking” methods. We only utilize down plumes and feathers collected as a by-product of water fowl raised to meet the demands of the food industry.

We will continue to look for sources of down that maximize value to our customers and allow Montbell products to perform at the highest level."

[commando]

Wherever man utilizes animals for his own benefit or gain, sadly there will always be cruelty involved.

[Franco]

"Wherever man utilizes animals for his own benefit or gain, sadly there will always be cruelty involved"
Maybe often but not always.
My family was into high country farming for generations till the late 60s.
I grew up with cows, sheep, pigs, horses , chickens and working dogs around me, never saw any cruelty.