“In the past two years, a badminton cost more than 80 yuan, but now it is directly soaring to 140 yuan.”…
Recently, the price of badminton has risen madly! Some netizens joked that badminton prices have increased by comparable to gold in the past three years, and their monthly salary is over 10,000 yuan but they cannot afford badminton.
A net, a badminton, and two rackets. Because of the simple equipment, flexible venues and easy to get started, badminton has always been one of the most popular sports. As a result, in the past two years, the originally “people-friendly” badminton has become a “badminton assassin”.
Why are badminton prices rising frequently? What you may not guess is that the reason behind this recent price increase is actually the pork that seems to be incomparable.
According to Poster News, Jiang Wen, a researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Agricultural Zoning of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, explained that in 2024, the price of live pigs has been falling, and some production areas have fallen to 14 yuan per kilogram. The pork in the vegetable market is cheaper than goose and duck meat, which leads to consumers being more inclined to choose pork as a source of protein, which leads to an increase in the market demand for pork.The breeders felt that the short-term sales of live pigs were stable and the cost was quick, so they all followed the trend and turned to health pigs, and the number of geese raised was greatly reduced.
On the other hand, farmers now raise more white-feathered ducks that are slaughtered for 35 days, but badminton furs require high-quality goose and duck feathers. For example, gray geese need to be raised for 120 days, which further promotes the price of fur films to soar.
Why are badminton pornographic films so high? What’s special about it? Behind the small badminton, there are actually many production tricks that cannot be despised.
A goose can’t make a ball
Badminton consists of two parts: badminton and ball support. According to the Badminton World Federation (BWF), a standard badminton should have the following characteristics:
Number of feathers:Badminton must have 16 feathers or their synthetic alternatives.
Feather length:The length of the feather is usually between 62 and 70 mm.
Feather arrangement:Feathers are arranged in a specific way, usually on a conical frame, ensuring the stability of the badminton when flying in the air.
Ball holder:The bottom of the badminton is a dome-shaped or hemispherical entity called a ball holder, usually made of cork or other synthetic material.
Badminton feathers are available in goose feathers and duck feathers. Top events such as the Olympics, World Championships, and Super Series are all used in goose feathers. This is because compared with duck feathers with similar shapes, goose feathers perform better in structure and performance. Because the geese have a long maturity cycle, their feathers have a higher calcium content, which makes the geese feathers not only thicker, but also better in hardness. This characteristic gives the goose feather badminton stronger impact resistance and durability, and it is not easy to fluff after multiple hits, and will not cause too much change in ball speed.
At the same time, the strong feather trunk can more effectively convey the strength when hitting the ball, thereby increasing the ball’s response speed and giving professional players a sharper feel. In addition, badmintons made of goose feathers usually weigh slightly higher than duck feathers, which makes their center of gravity change faster, and can show higher flexibility when catching the ball within a short distance. This characteristic makes goose feather badmintons very suitable for professional competition needs.
Finally, the goose-feather badminton can still maintain its performance in cold and dry climates and is not easy to break when playing, which is also a significant advantage of it over duck-feather balls.
When choosing goose feather balls, there are many considerations: in the wing structure of birds, different feathers have different functions and different functions, resulting in different shapes of feather balls, and the grades of goose feather balls are also different.
From the outside to the inside of the goose wings, the first to third are half-edged hairs, with a large area but not very symmetrical shape, and are used to make low-end balls; the 4th to 10th are knife feathers, which are used to make medium and high-end balls; the 11th to 16th are nest feathers, which are smaller and have a large curve of the feather stems, so they can only be used to make low-end balls.
And a ball can only use hairs from the same wings. This is because the wings of birds are spread on the left and right, and the growth direction of the hairpins is also mirrored. If the 16 hairpins on a badminton are mixed with feathers from different growth directions, the ball cannot rotate in the air. In other words, to make a ball, you have to choose from countless geese.
The picture comes from the Internet. The original hair needs to go through a lot of experience when it becomes a finished ball.
First of all, before the flakes are graded, it is necessary to clean, bleach and disinfect to prevent bacteria and mold from growing, and also help the feathers maintain toughness after drying. After inserting the wool into the ball head through the hair transplanter, you also need to inject the base glue, trace the speed and stability with the wind tunnel to measure the speed and stability, and weigh it. There are more than 30 processes in total.
From this perspective, it seems understandable that badminton is expensive.
Do badminton have to use real feathers?
While playing badminton is in pain, I believe there must be many golfers thinking, “Does it be necessary to use real feathers in badminton?”
In fact, in recent years, many brands have begun to turn the track to artificial balls, and some have even brought their products to the market.
At present, an artificial ball made of carbon fiber composite material is popular on the market. Thanks to its fully synthetic material properties, its price is relatively stable. The price of such an artificial ball is about 10 yuan. Its durability is equivalent to 2 to 3 goose feather balls, and it is far superior to that of ordinary duck feather balls in terms of flight stability.
Although artificial balls made of carbon fiber composites are the closest products on the market to the performance of natural badmintons, some badminton enthusiasts still point out that when performing ball killing, their flight trajectory will appear to be more erratic and the control of the feel is relatively difficult. Therefore, it is still a distance in completely replacing natural badmintons.
The magical feather leaves are the most difficult place to imitate artificial materials. However, with the continuous maturity of the industrial model and technological progress, perhaps there will be better-used natural badminton alternative products in the future.
