Encore de la promotion pour la fourrure

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Regardez un peu qui s'est dépêché de venir afficher un commentaire... Le seul, suite à cet article
«Good article on various furs, including the common sheep sheepskin boots which EVERYONE wears: www.furcommission.com/resource/perspect999cd.htm »

Je suis découragée devant l'ampleur qu'a pris et que continue de prendre la promotion des fourrures, phoques inclus ! J'ai l'impression que les lobbies de la fourrure n'ont jamais été aussi forts

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Cold weather and growing sales mock death of furEva LamppuHELSINKITue Jan 12,
2010 12:13pm EST
HELSINKI (Reuters) - In a warehouse outside of Helsinki hundreds of buyers
gathered to bid in a three-day auction of mink, fox and other furs just before
Christmas.ODDLY ENOUGHAny worries about the ailing global economy, the threat of
global warming, or the fading popularity of fur as fashion were firmly left
outside to chill in the snow.Bidding was brisk, and by the end of the auction
all pelts were sold, compared to sales of only 30 percent of stock last year.
Organizers said sales roughly tripled to 39.5 million euros ($57.3 million)
against last year, with prices up -- by a third on average -- since an auction
in September."Demand and supply are in a good balance, and there is maybe slight
overdemand, which supports price levels," said Chief Executive Pertti Fallenius
of Turkistuottajat, which says it is the world's only publicly listed fur
auctioneer.While the fur market looks to be challenging in the coming years,
weighed by a variety of factors including increasing social pressure against its
use, the auction clearly showed that any talk of fur's death is greatly
exaggerated.And the industry has certainly got a boost from the recent cold snap
that has dumped snow on many countries across the Northern hemisphere.CHINA
BOOST, BUT STEADY DECLINEFallenius said one reason behind the recent uptick in
the market has been a cut in output from China, which since early 2000 had
sharply hiked fur production, pressing prices.He said China in the past two
years has halved its annual mink production, while fox is down by three
quarters. The country is the world's second-largest fur producer after
Europe."Cheap labor costs won't get you far in this business. The international
textile trade has ... been less and less willing to accept fur skins produced in
China," Fallenius said.Denmark is the world's top supplier of mink pelts, while
Finland has some 1,300 fur farms, and last year Europe produced some 32 million
mink and fox pelts.But while recent demand has been strong, helped by markets
like China where fur is less taboo and more of a novelty, global output peaked
in 2007 and has fallen the last two years.The European Fur Breeders' Association
said 2009 fox and mink production globally was some 50 million pelts, down from
the high of 65 million in 2007.After Austria banned fur farming more than a
decade ago, the much-debated trade has been entirely or partly phased out in
countries like Britain, Holland and Denmark as stricter regulations come into
force in the European Union."Fur right now ... doesn't make the top-10 list of
anybody's fashion needs," says Milton Pedraza, head of New York consultancy The
Luxury Institute."It's not that consumers, particularly women, don't like fur --
they do. But they see the social pressure that continues to exist against
consuming fur. It's high-end, so they love it, but on the other hand they can do
without it. The pain outweighs the pleasure right now of wearing fur," Pedraza
said.Pedraza said the global economic slowdown would also hurt the industry."I
don't think fur will ever go away for sleeves and colors and some decoration,
but a full mink coat?," he said, noting young people were not likely to "flock"
to fur -- not even vintage -- anytime soon.Harald Ullmann, spokesman of the
German branch of animal rights group PETA, said that in the next 10-15 years fur
would likely disappear from the streets."Even if people say fur is back -- and
that's what the industry wants us to believe -- I don't think this is really the
case," Ullmann said."Fur has nothing to do with luxury products. It is a product
from the stone age and it belongs in the history books and not on somebody's
back," he said.CHILL DOES THE TRICKBut for now, fur still sells.In a large
mirror at a Helsinki store, Finnish shoppers and Russians -- known for their
lasting love of fur -- measure the fit, weight and length of smooth capes, some
of which sold for 38,000 euros apiece -- but with a 50 percent seasonal
discount."The cold weather is doing its work," said Sari Ihatsu, shop head of
Ajatar.And Turkistuottajat's Fallenius said the industry was working on more
versatile ways to use fur outside the winter season."The mink coat is a classic,
elegant winter piece, and will remain as such, but it is not the only product,"
he said."With various techniques, we can now manufacture very light and cooler
qualities and products, like sweaters, suitable even for summer
evenings."(Reporting by Eva Lamppu, editing by Paul Casciato)

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