Sorry you are having problems with the couch. I recently unpacked a down toss pillow that had been in storage for a few years and it has that same funky smell. I put it out in the sun and it made no difference. It was cheap so I will throw it away. I sleep with a down pillow and don't have any problems with smells. I think the higher the quality of the down the less it smells. Have you done some googling on why some down smells?

You can wash down. But it has to be a high quality down. I would contact the manufacturer or distributer of the couch. My living room furniture is all down back pillows with wrapped down seat cushions. Dogs, cats, big guys that forget at times to have respect for such. Slipcovers are changed throughout the year. I have never had a problem with any oder. Last year though, I did have to throw away 2 down pillows which had been washed and dried. That night I thought something had died....it was the pillows which were supposed to be of high quality. Putting them in the sun made it worse. Perhaps the down we are getting isn't the quality once was.

I think your best approach is to toss the feathers and replace them with poly batting. But, check the foam also and make sure it hasn't developed an odor.

The link below has a lot of advertising, but scroll to the bottom for care of down and feathers. Note the very last sentence!

In my experience, feathers just have more of a natural odor than down but the species of bird they were taken from and how the down & feathers were processed plays a huge roll in odor.
When I'm looking for down/feather pillow inserts I always give them the smell test before purchase and I've found the higher the percentage of feathers, the stronger the smell.

Here is a link that might be useful: care of down/feathers

Not sure how busy you are, but for me it would be much easier to just replace with another type of filling if there is no response from Macys after taking it into the store and letting the manager get a whiff.

I bought a new down comforter and it had that same smell at first. It has dissipated since then, but neither of my girls will use it when they visit.

Thank you all so much for your responses! Just to follow up: I called the sales person at Macy's who originally sold these to us. She was very understanding and said "yuck" when I explained it to her--she knew what I was talking about but said they have never heard of a problem with their furniture. She is getting her manager and her rep involved with this. I feel like if they are willing to help at all, she will be the one to make it happen.

Also, something I was INCORRECT about with my previous post. I said that you can access the feathers--you cannot. The zipper only removes the cover from the foam cushion. The cover is like a duvet except the back of it is more like interfacing than fabric--thus, letting many feathers escape. So because of this, I won't be able to restuff with something else. My only hope, I'm thinking, would be to take this off and wrap the foam cushion in batting or something. Not sure how that would work as the covers are very tight and very very hard to get back on--I think batting would get all bunched up. I must have "dreamt" I could accesss this or just wishful thinking on my part-ha!:)

Anyway, I have read all of your resposnes and very much appreciate them. Annz, I looked at that link and all I can say is "yuck" to what I have! I don't have "down", I have "feathers" and they are bigger than what this site shows. Obviously very poor quality. Thank you for the link.

Thanks again everyone!

I bought some beautiful down pillows for my living room last year. They were good for a couple of months until the weather warmed up. Then they got that wet dog smell. Which I hate. I don't even have a dog. I dropped them off to Goodwill.

From the research offered here it would seem after the store gives you some restitution your only option will be to get new furniture or take what you have to a good reupholster shop and get their cure.

I recently purchased a down slip covered sofa from Jordan's furniture. I live at a farm and thought the smell I was getting was from the hay in the barn next store. I realized that the couch has the smell. When laying and sitting on it I begin to smell the heavy odor again.
The down feathers must be giving off the musty smell.
Does any one know if this will eventually disappear. It is only a couple of weeks old.

It won't disappear. But Fabreeze helps... temporarily. :(

Good grief! I've gas down pillows all over my house and bed for decades and they've never smelled! Weird...

6 year old post.

My daughter has a 1-year old leather couch with down/feather filling. I can't stand to be in her living room. The smell is so bad. I feel like I am being poisoned by airborne pollutants.

I am having the same issue with a feather down sectional I bought and love the couch but hate the smell. Really don't know what to do with it I've washed the outside of the couch and it helped alot and I thought I had fixed the problem until the smell returned a week later