Besides the warmth, comfort, and sophistication it offers, a fur coat can be regarded as a piece of art.
Certainly, a garment so delicate, prestigious, and classy, requires the finest pelts and the most skilled furriers in order to be created.
But have you ever wondered how fur coats are made exactly?
Let’s take a closer look at the whole process and answer the most common questions regarding fur creation.
What is a fur coat?
A fur coat is a coat made from the hides of furry animals.
Such coats come from the real fur of animals like chinchillas, foxes, minks, rabbits, sables etc. and are produced humanely, sustainably and with respect to animal welfare.
What are fur coats made of?
There are two types of fur: real and synthetic.
A quick and easy way to test whether a fur coat is real is by simply touching it.
Fake fur is made out of synthetic fabrics, meaning it is coarser and stiffer. Real fur is always softer than fake fur, so you can easily tell the difference.
Depending on the animal, you can get soft, shiny, and durable coats (mink fur coats), lightweight and silky ones (sable), rare and expensive options (lynx fur coats) etc.
How are fur coats made?
First step in the process of fur creation is to find the raw materials: the pelts.
To make a fur, pelts are sourced from recognized auctions around the world. These auctions take place annually in countries like Finland, Denmark, and the US and include fur from farmed animals, such as mink, fox, chinchilla, swakara, and more.
Animals in fur farms are bred for this purpose only and are treated with the utmost respect.
Hint: Did you know that there are several fur farms in Greece, too, in Siatista and Kastoria?
After the pelts are bought, they are shipped to the furriers’ facilities. There, creative designers, skilled artisans, and experienced tailors come together to create the final product.
During the manufacturing process, there are several stages until the final product comes out.
- Stage 1: Pelts are sorted by color, size, and quality to form batches
During this first stage, the pelts must be processed accordingly. Efurs cooperates with top-class tanneries in Kastoria, Greece, and as soon as the pelts are ready, they are taken back to our facilities in order to proceed to the second stage: color and design of the fur.
- Stage 2: The appropriate pelts are selected to make a fur
One of the most important aspects of fur design involves a steady hand to cut the fur into stripes. These stripes of fur are then re-sewn together to improve the strength and insulating properties of the coat, producing a new and improved fur.
- Stage 3: In the next stage, the fur goes to special washers
The washers used in this step of the process make the hairs much softer and fluffier, resulting in a delicate, suppler texture.
- Stage 4: Finishing touches
Finally, the fur coats come back to the workshop where the appropriate personnel make the final additions. This is where buttons, clips, lining, etc. as added and the last check is performed.
Why is fur so expensive?
The final price of a fur depends on many factors: size, original price of pelts, supply and demand laws, the type of fur and several other factors determine the total cost of the final fur product.
Here are the most prominent ones:
Price of original pelts
Pelts are bought at auctions that take place in the USA and Europe. As you can imagine, the higher the price of pelts, the higher the price of the final product.
Type of fur
Some kinds of fur pelts are more expensive than others. For example, lynx is more expensive than mink, and mink is more expensive than rabbit.
Fur coats cannot be mass-produced
The price of a fur coat reflects the skills of the furrier. Long hours of work, design, effort, skill etc. all play a key role when it comes to pricing. For this reason, real fur coats cannot be mass-produced, as each piece is hand-crafted by a highly skilled artisan.
Production & size of the coat
Last but not least, the longer the fur coat, the higher its price, too. A long coat, for example, would require significantly longer hours to produce and more raw materials.
Now that you know how fur coats are made, what will you choose?
Having years of experience, eFurs has managed to create unique fur coats, accessories, blankets and more.
By investing in top-quality pelts bought from the best fur farms around the world and cooperating with esteemed designers and tailors, we ensure that all our fur coats are 100% handmade and guarantee comfort, elegance, and premium results.
Get in touch today to find out more.