Facts About Furs and Fur Coats
Posted on | January 29, 2009 | 1 Comment
Fur Care Terms and Fur Manufacturing:
- Drumming is a process used for cleaning furs by abrasion. The fur is tumbled with sawdust soaked in a special solution. The sawdust absorbs dirt and oil and the abrasive action fluffs the fur. Once a year if you use your fur and it needs cleaning you should take it to a professional cleaner.
- Flat Furs are furs that have only one type of hair or fur like Seal and Persian Lamb, for example.
- In an attempt to reduce weight and bulk of the fur, the technique of shearing is employed, all the while making new designs and patterns in the pile of fur. Shearing is but one way to refurbish your fur cost into a lighter, more fashionable garment.
- Grooving is a kind of shearing technique that produces a stripe pattern. The stripes or grooves are different in width and depth, and the end-result resembles corduroy. Cording is another way to say grooving.
- Shearling is natural lamb fur. The leather half is typically sueded and worn on the exterior with the fur side turned inward for warmth. Today, Shearling coats and jackets are more lightweight due to improved ways of tanning as well as dying suede leather.
- Knitted Fur is made of fur yarn. This knittable yarn is manufactured by combining narrow strips of fur with silk or cotton yarn. Fur yarn can also be crocheted or weaved to produce all sorts of objects. Surprisingly enough there are some knitted fur products that can actually be washed in the washing machine.
Fur that is sheared will in fact keep you as warm as fur that has not been sheared. Fur has two main layers. The first is the underfur, which is the layer closest to the skin and has short, dense wool hair. The second one is the guard hair, which is at the top and has longer and straighter hair. Shearing only trims the guard hair, but the Ground hair, which acts as insulation, is what determines the warmth of a fur. The guard hairs include the majority of the fur’s coloration and imbue the assorted furs with their unique traits. Some furs also have a middle layer of hair called Awn hair.
- Generally, long hair furs do not provide any more warmth than short hair furs. The warmth of fur is determined by Ground hair.
- Female mink furs are typically lighter in weight, softer, silkier, shinier and more pliable than male mink furs. Female mink is usually used in the styles which have soft tailoring and draping. A skin from a male mink can be used for a different item with a less supple style. Male mink garments are not automatically cheaper than female mink garments.
- The best and most exquisite fur products do not contain any leather. When more leather is used to place the strips of fur together, the value of the garment goes down much more.
Recent Market Trends:
The Fur industry no longer experiences the damages of the 1980s through the early 1990s, due to different factors in the economy and a weakened anti-fur campaign. The fur industry is recovering – fast.
- Three main factors have contributed to the renewed growth of the industry: an unprecedented increase in demand for fur products by the growing middle class, or nouveaux riches. There is a decline in China and Russia as for the fur industry which use to produce around 15% of the USSR’s yearly revenue as well as the western fashion industry’s rediscovery of all fur garments.
- The Russian manufactured fur industry today produces 7 times fewer furs than in the 1980’s. Leading the list of international fur-manufacturing you will find North America and Europe. Trailing at the bottom of the list you will find Russia. Russia’s production in the worldwide fur market has seen a major drop in since the 1980’s, dropping from 35% to less than 5%. Skyrocketing demand as well as a drop in domestic production has promoted Russian imports up to 30% of quality fur products.
- China is churning furs from North America into garments for resale back to the Americas and Russia. Mass production in Chinese fur farms, supported by the state, negatively affects Russian fur production. When the Soviet Union collapsed many of the fur farms in Russia went down with it. The Russian fur manufacturers are not able to compete with the western players as they are not finding avenues to reduce their expenses.
- The ailing Russian fur trade may suffer further as a result of recent events in Georgia. Due to Russia’s intervention in Georgia, the economy suffered billions of dollars being withheld for commerce. The areas that were part of this incident are some of the biggest purchasers of fur worldwide.
- The top three cities where one can purchase fur garments are Dubai, Shanghai and Moscow.
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February 8th, 2009 @ 5:31 pm
[...] many people to call it a genocide. Some Russian leaders of today which includes Viktor Yuschenko Facts About Furs and Fur Coats – eyesonliving.com 01/30/2009 Fur Care Terms and Fur Manufacturing: Drumming is a process used for [...]