Narrator: Perfect feathers are key
to a good badminton shuttlecock.
Sixteen of them, to be exact.
Craftspeople in India's Jadurberia village
have been making these birdies by hand for generations.
The area used to be filled with over 500 small factories,
like Dodo Shuttles.
But foreign competition and growing demand
for synthetic shuttlecocks have forced many to close.
And scores of workers
have left to find higher-paying jobs.
We visited West Bengal to see how
India's shuttlecock capital is still standing.
All of Dodo's shuttlecocks
are made with white duck feathers.
Workers like Israel Mallick
wash them in small bunches in soapy water.
Narrator: Usually, he works in the final stages of production,
but today, he's on washing duty.
He and his coworkers scrub by the handful
for several seconds.
It can take workers up to an hour
to get through a batch this size.
Local duck meat farmers sell these feathers
in bulk to the factory.
Next, they rinse the bunches in water
and set them aside to drip off.
Israel fills his buckets with fresh water
for a second rinse.
He keeps one clean and dilutes a small amount
of natural indigo dye in the other.
Narrator: This gives the feathers a very subtle tint
that keeps them from yellowing.
Working swiftly in tandem, they rinse,
dye,
and wring out handfuls at a time.
Then they spread them out to dry in the sun
for three to four hours.
Narrator: The clean and dry feathers go inside
to be sorted and trimmed.
This is co-owner Subodh Niyogi's
favorite part of the whole process.
Narrator: A worker inspects each feather,
looking for strength and uniformity.
If one isn't up to standard, it gets discarded.
Then he trims them to exactly 3 inches long.
His shears are bolted together to ensure
there's no variation in length.
Next, a team of workers start to shape them.
They take just a few seconds to cut out
a curved edge on one side and a straight edge on the other.
The cutters are so practiced that they
don't even require a guide to churn through
hundreds of identically trimmed feathers a day.
Narrator: Even though the Niyogis are proud
to use only Indian feathers,
they do import these cork bases from China.
A worker drills 16 holes into each base
with the only machine used at the factory.
But it isn't fully automated.
Someone still has to guide it into place
with a steady hand and a good eye.
Precision like this is also key when it comes to
gluing the feathers into the base.
With just a quick dab of glue,
a worker aligns each feather so it overlaps with the next,
occasionally checking that they're all even.
And then another binds them together with thread.
This forms what's called the skirt of a shuttlecock.
Narrator: He knots around each feather's shaft,
making two separate rings of thread.
But for an added bit of security,
a worker also applies a thin coat of epoxy
to the base and threads with a paintbrush.
Then it's time for the finishing touches,
like a label that indicates the speed of the shuttlecock
and of course, the Dodo brand.
One important aspect of Israel's job
is to weigh each one before packaging.
Narrator: Once they're at 70 grams, he stacks 10 of them
in a tube, and prepares them for sale across India.
Depending on the quality, Dodo sells each tube
for 200 to 300 rupees, or about $3 to $4.
Production here is often done in stages.
But from start to finish, a single shuttlecock
takes just 30 minutes to make.
Narrator: However, this handmade approach means small places
like this can't make as much product or as much profit
as major global brands that use machines.
This has forced many of the workers in Jadurberia
out of the village's traditional industry
over the past few years.
Narrator: The rise in synthetic shuttlecocks
is another threat.
Plastic and nylon alternatives have become more popular,
as they're often cheaper and last longer.
Narrator: But that's changing.
In January 2020, the Badminton World Federation
announced it would allow approved synthetic shuttlecocks
at all levels of competition starting in 2021.
But the coronavirus pandemic has delayed
widespread development and approval of them.
And opinions among professional players are still mixed
on how it could impact the sport.
But for the workers who rely on feathered shuttlecocks,
there's no substitute for the real thing.