How to Choose High-Quality Fur

Though beautiful, fur is vulnerable to changing fashions and attacks by animal-rights activists, and can be costly in more ways than one. Select yours carefully.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Fur Coats

1. Familiarize yourself with the types of fur: Mink, fox and beaver garments are popular; sable and chinchilla are expensive and rare; coyote and opossum furs are generally used for men's jackets.

2. Determine how you will wear the fur. Do you want a plush mink coat for parties, or a casual jacket - maybe with only a fur-trimmed collar - for relaxed wear?

3. Decide whether you want a garment that is sheared or unsheared, dyed or natural. Special treatments like dyeing can increase the fur's price.

4. Shop around extensively to compare furs and to be able to recognize good quality.

5. Go to a reputable fur dealer or to the fur department of a department store. Consult with the store's furrier.

6. Examine a wide variety of furs. Pelts should be glossy, soft, supple and well matched.

7. Feel the fur. Guard hairs (the long outer layer of hairs) should be soft and lustrous, and underfur (the inner, insulating layer) should be uniformly textured.

8. Wear the garment and consider whether its weight is right for you. Is it too heavy?

9. Make sure that seams are sewn tightly and that hems fall straight.

Tips & Warnings

• The price of a fur coat generally depends on workmanship, label, style, and the number and quality of its pelts.
• Buy the highest-quality fur that's within your budget. Choose an outstanding-quality beaver coat over a moderate-quality mink.
• Furs sold at incredibly low prices probably lack quality.
• Leather strips can be inserted to space out fur strips. The finest fur garments have no leather, while less expensive ones contain more.
• Check that the underfur is in good condition. Unsheared longhaired coats can mask an imperfect underfur layer.

[LeeRose]

on 12/20/2008 Most let-out mink coats should have leather stips between the pelts. These accentuate the vertical lines, however the width of the leather is determined by the height of the hair (The shorter the hair, the narrower the leather). The leather should not be visible from the fur side AT ALL. If the leather is visible, the manufacturer is trying to save on mink pelts, and that makes for a cheap and not-very-warm garment.
If no leather is used, the garment becomes heavier than it should be.

on 11/22/2005 Make sure all the seams are sewn tightly. It is a common problem.