Russian Market Fuels Comeback Of North American Fur Market
North American fur is booming.
Not in North America, necessarily, but "you can't keep fur in stock in Russia," says furrier Greg Tinder. "The higher the price tag you put on it, the faster it sells."
Tinder, who left Saks Fifth Avenue to start his own label, says the East has always been a furrier's dream; think big plushy Soviet-era hats. But now, with Russia's economy on the rise, there's some new money on the block, and designers know that.
Russian designer Igor Gulyaev's recent Moscow exhibit was laden with fur, from hats and cuffs to shaggy handbags and fuzzy lapels. There were even whole dresses made of fur sheared short, like velvet.
And it's not just Russia: British Vogue estimates that 70 percent of fall collections for 2013 included at least some real fur.
Alan Herskovici with the Fur Council of Canada says upwardly mobile consumers in China and Korea, as well as Russia, are driving the market.
"The fur sales that are the strongest now are not necessarily your grandmother's old mink coat," says Herskovic. "Rather, it's the bunny cuffs and coyote fur ruffs that helped grow the retail fur industry to [$15.5 billion] last year — 45 percent more than sales 10 years ago."
And 10 years ago, it wasn't very lucrative at the other end of the business either, especially for trappers.
Maine trapper John Sewell says a coyote fur that would net $7 at auction a decade ago would sell for $50 today.
"That's what they want for the trim trade," he says.
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