The difference between a natural fur coat and an artificial one. Fur: ​​artificial or natural? The main thing is original! How to distinguish real fur from a fake

Inna Amitan

Authenticator luxxy.com

We are already used to artificial fur, with which manufacturers are increasingly replacing natural fur. Many brands advocate sustainable consumption and protection of animals, so more and more fashion houses refuse to produce things from natural fur. So today, the opposite situation is not uncommon: they are trying to pass off not artificial fur as natural, but fakes made from cheap natural fur are passed off as works of famous brands.

We will not convince you of the advantages of natural or artificial fur - here you have the right to choose for yourself. But fakes definitely have no place in your wardrobe, right?

How to distinguish faux fur from natural

There are several simple ways to help you distinguish real fur from faux fur:

• stroke the product with your hand. The natural fur of most animals is soft, while the artificial fur is more pliable. In high humidity, some faux furs may feel sticky. Do not forget, however, that manufacturers of faux fur strive to repeat all the characteristics of natural materials, so often you will not be able to distinguish them by touch;
• part the hairs to see the base. The basis of natural fur is smoother. It can be compared to the human skin under the hair. Faux fur usually has a fabric base;
• look at the "hair ends". Real animal hair is sharp at the ends, unless it has been clipped or cut. Faux fur, on the other hand, usually has blunt ends;
• burn the hair. Although Luxxy does not recommend this method of verification (so as not to damage the item, which may have to be returned to the seller), it remains one of the most used. The result of burning will instantly show the origin of the fur. If you smelled burnt wool and it looks like burnt, then you have a product made of natural fur. If the hair “melts” like plastic, smells like plastic and curls into balls, you are dealing with faux fur.

Features of natural fur of different animals

Replacing one natural fur with another, cheaper one, is more difficult to recognize, because there are so many features for each type of fur! Let's consider just a few examples, since it is impossible to cover the entire fur world in one article.

silver fox may be confused with other animals. Fox-dog (a hybrid of polar fox and fox) and korsak (painted steppe fox) in themselves deserve attention, but products from them are not valued as highly as from silver fox. What is the difference between a real silver fox?

• Special fur color. At the very bottom it is pearl gray, in the middle it is milky white, and at the tips it is mother-of-pearl black. If you see only two colors, or if the color is not uniform, then it is not a silver fox.
• Run your hand over the fur, if you feel sticky or hear rustling, you can safely refuse to buy. Natural silver fox fur is silky, smooth, shiny and elastic.

Louis Vuitton, pre-collection for autumn 2017

mink often confused with marmots and kangaroos. Given that the price of the fur of these animals is very different, you need to carefully check the thing when buying.

• Mink fur has the same length, while groundhog has some hairs longer than others. Kangaroo fur is longer than that of mink - from 1.5 to 2 cm.
• To the touch, mink fur is much softer and more delicate than that of a marmot. The kangaroo has a much stiffer down than the mink. Put your hand in the fur: if you feel with your palm that the hair is coarse, as if treated with hairspray, then you are feeling the fur of a kangaroo.
• Stroke the fur against the wool. The mink fur will immediately take on its original form, and the marmot fur, on the contrary, will bristle in different directions.

Fendi pre-collection for autumn 2017

Behind chinchilla you can accept a rabbit, but it is not difficult to distinguish their fur. In China and France, special breeds of rabbits have been bred: Rex and Orilag, whose fur imitates chinchilla fur. However, the unique structure of the pile cannot be imitated.

• In a chinchilla, dozens of thin hairs, like cobwebs, grow from one hair follicle.
• The color of chinchilla fur along the entire length of the hairs is heterogeneous. Therefore, her fur seems to shimmer. The natural color of the chinchilla is dark gray with a white or bluish-white belly. In captivity, animals with fur in brown and beige tones are bred. Chinchilla fur is rarely dyed, it is too expensive for this.
• The size of the skin of a chinchilla at its widest point cannot be greater than the width of a man's palm. If this is not so, in front of you, most likely, a rabbit.
• Rabbit fur quickly takes on the temperature of the room in which it is located, and chinchilla fur always seems a little cool to the touch.
• Chinchilla fur has a different pile length in different parts of the animal's body. However, all the pieces go into production, so the sewn fur fabric seems wavy. The rabbit fur coat looks flatter, while the dark part is much wider than that of the chinchilla.

"Fur Free" or tasteless fake?

Faux fur can also be different. And here we rest not so much on the differences between one material and another, but on the quality of workmanship and brand authentication.

To date, many brands have abandoned natural fur, so when buying products from, for example, Stella McCartney, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Diesel, you can be sure that the fur is artificial. But only if it's original and not fake. And this is not the whole list of elite designers who use only faux fur. Gucci will join them in 2018 and so on…

Caring for the environment is what everyone is talking about now. Television, the Internet, celebrities and scientists are all calling on humanity to treat nature more responsibly.

Today, more than ever, love for nature is not only important, but also a little fashionable.

If 25-30 years ago even vegetarians were a curiosity and were extremely rare, now one in five invents a way to replace the cutlet with beans and winter the Russian winter in a synthetic coat instead of a mink coat.

Animal fur has been a sign of status since BC. To afford to wear an animal skin, a primitive Cro-Magnon had to at least capture an animal, kill it with his primitive primitive weapons, and remain in good health to still vilify this skin. Of course, only the strongest representatives of the species possessed furs.

Fortunately, in order to wear first-class in the 21st century, you don’t need to chase anyone and kill with your bare hands. To do this, it is enough to have an amount with five zeros on the account.

But despite the general tolerance modern world, in certain circles, the natural fur of an animal is still one of the markers of status and wealth.

In the last decade, the picture has begun to change. The issue of protecting nature is becoming more and more acute. Natural materials have to take a few steps back, giving way to synthetic ones, which stubbornly step on their fluffy heels. Does this mean that in 10-20 years we will have to say goodbye to fur altogether? It's impossible to be 100% sure. It remains only to observe the development of events. And events are developing in such a way that every year more and more famous designers choose faux fur and completely abandon natural fur.

Gucci was the most shocking fashion house last year when it announced that it was phasing out animal fur. Just think, those who forced fashionistas to even wear fur slippers made an acrylic fireplace out. According to Gucci, there is no place for natural fur in their collections in the future.

Inspired by the example of Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Jimmy Choo, Armani, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger went into all serious trouble. Well, even before Gucci, back in 2000, the “greenest” designer Stella McCartney did it. She refused not only fur, but also leather, suede and some types of glue, which was partly composed of animal components.

Why do designers all as one refuse fur? Is it cunning marketing or is it time when everyone together decided to become tolerant? There is no answer to this question. And whether or not to wear natural fur, shout about your citizenship from every social media alley or quietly bask in a cozy mink coat, is still your own business.

As with any important issue, there are two sides to it.

Arguing their rejection of natural fur, designers talk about animal cruelty. Our four-legged friends live in nightmarish conditions, where no one cares about their humane departure to another world, their death is painful, and their life is short.

I'm always embarrassed to hear people talk about how they gave up fur because of the "torment of the poor animals", but at the same time calmly walk around in leather shoes and continue to eat steaks. In short, not wearing fur just for ethical reasons is a rather superficial decision.

Fendi D&G

Dior Saint Laurent

If you think that now I will agitate you to abandon natural fur in favor of synthetic, then, alas, everything is not so simple here.

Pros and cons of faux fur

Faux fur coats are made from acrylic polymers containing complex chemicals and refined petroleum products. Even after the onset of the apocalypse, such a fur coat will decompose for several hundred more years. Well, the waste of production, where synthetic fur is produced, pollutes the nature in such a way that both people and the above-mentioned fur animals suffer as a result.

Dries Van Noten Miu Miu

Nina Ricci Bottega Veneta

For very humane people who still love real fur a lot, there is also a solution. Over the past few years, fur coats made of natural wool have become popular, but the wool is not torn off from the animal, but neatly combed and glued to the fabric, from which the coat is already sewn. The famous Teddy Bear Coat by Max Mara is made using this technology. This is camel hair. Using the same technology, similar coats are sewn from sheep and llama.

Max Mara Burberry

Which coat is warmer? Depends on the owner of the coat. In some winters, even a coat is fine, but someone wraps up in five sweaters with a down jacket and still freezes. I have all kinds of fur coats. From natural to brushed. I can't say that any of them are much warmer. I also feel warm in acrylic, especially with a warm sweater underneath. In any coldest situation, an ultra-thin down jacket worn under outerwear saves. I am for and warmly.

By the way, the fluff for your beloved geese is also not voluntarily given away :-)

In our country, a mink coat is much more than just a fur coat. This is both a status and an object of desire and a way to look richer than we really are. I know a lot of stories of our women, when a mink coat was bought on credit or for the sake of buying it, you had to save up for a very long time, denying yourself something.

Only in Moscow in winter in the subway car, half of the women are dressed in mink. In our country, it is still believed that faux fur is cheap, the lot of teenagers. But, hand on heart, I can say that you can look cheap and even in the most expensive mink coat with the most beautiful mother-of-pearl button (and this happens very, very often). No matter how expensive your favorite fur coat is, alas, this is not an inoculation against bad taste.

The purpose of faux fur is not to imitate natural fur, but the exact opposite. The more such fur looks like the skin of a non-existent acrylic animal, the more beautiful. Such a fur coat will cost less, and warm no less than sable. The main thing is how to wear it. Well, a bright color, an unusual texture or a complex print is just a plus.

What to wear with faux fur

You can be inspired by the perfect combination of fashion items with an equally fashionable faux fur coat, as usual, in street style.

A fur coat made of natural mink fur is a status item, whether it is a light stylish “car lady” or a luxurious long classic. Buying a mink coat is more of an investment in image, comfort, pleasure than just spending a large amount of money. That is why the buyer wants to be sure that he will not encounter troubles associated with fakes or low-quality goods.

We have already told you how to distinguish mink fur from the fur of other animals that imitate it. This material will discuss how to recognize an artificial mink and what are the features of making faux fur coats.

Natural and artificial mink. Differences.

It would be easiest to say that natural mink fur is different from artificial, "like heaven from earth." But modern technologies and the achievements of the chemical industry make it possible to achieve a high degree of similarity of materials, at least at first glance. So let's take a closer look.

• Weight. Comparing natural and artificial fur coats of approximately the same size in weight, you will find that faux fur coat significantly heavier.
• Shine and characteristics of fur. The noble silky sheen of mink fur cannot be faked. This is especially noticeable in comparison. Iron the coat against the pile: faux fur will not return to its original state as quickly as natural fur.
• Down and fur. Pull the fur to the base. Natural mink is famous for its thick, dense underfur, which perfectly preserves heat. Faux fur has no undercoat. The basis of faux fur is fabric or tight knitwear, and this is clearly visible.

In wear and operation, the differences are even more significant:

• Faux fur coat loses its original appearance after 3-4 seasons, while natural mink will last more than 10 winters, retaining its beauty.
• Artificial mink will not warm in frost below 10-15 degrees. As we said, this fur does not have a warm undercoat, while a natural mink fur coat will protect even in the most severe frosts, even in the Far North.

Can artificial mink be called eco-fur?

Speaking of artificial mink, it is worth remembering that this is a product of the chemical, or rather, oil industry based on nylon. Nylon production is by no means sustainable given the extent of environmental pollution. In addition, faux fur itself is not biodegradable, which means that after serving 3-4 seasons, such a fur coat will replenish the landfill of non-degradable waste. The list of consequences will be supplemented by the coloring of artificial fur, the raw materials for which all come from the same chemical industry.

Thus, the name "eco-fur", which is often applied to artificial fur, is just a marketing ploy. It is at least incorrect, because the production and disposal of this material does not meet the interests of the environment.

Is there a way to make sure you make the right choice when buying a natural mink coat?

The answer to this question lies on the surface: buy from a reliable seller. In his favor they will always say:

• the period during which he is present on the fur market;

All manufacturers tend to want to reduce the cost of the production process of their products to maximize profits. This desire did not bypass the global fur industry. Increasingly, fur factories are trying to pass off artificial material as its natural counterpart, and with the development of technology, substitution becomes more and more difficult to determine. Natural fur retains heat much better than all other materials, and the replacement will make itself felt already at the first good frost. However, how to recognize it at the stage of product selection? Only a few fur hat stores are guaranteed to use only natural fur, which has excellent heat-saving properties. For all other outlets, you should take into service a few simple tips from fur specialists who will allow you to accurately recognize an artificial fur substitute.

Sign one

First of all, you should pay attention to the product tag, because most often natural fur is bought in the form of clothes, headwear or accessories, and all of them must have a label with comprehensive information about the composition of the material, its origin and the manufacturer. In addition, manufacturers often place information about product care and cleaning tips. However, the sewn-on label is not always true, so if the question is? - it is better to immediately turn to professionals, such as the Yarmarka Hats factory. On its official website, you can easily find the most fashionable and pleasant new thing, both for yourself and for your loved ones.

Sign two

Another sign of natural fur is the weight of the product, it will always be a little more than that of a similar model made of artificial material. Real skins of fur animals cannot be cheap, so pay attention to the price, if it is not too high, relative to products of this class - you should take a closer look at it. Tactile sensations will help well in determining a fake: natural material is soft, smooth to the touch, lies beautifully and plays in the sun, it feels like you are stroking a soft, fluffy animal. At the same time, as a synthetic substitute, it is a little rougher, tougher, it feels like a soft synthetic children's toy.

Main Tests

Experienced professionals in the field of fur products recommend to spend three simple test, which will accurately determine what material is in front of you:

1. fire test. For him, it is enough to tear out a small piece of wool from the fur base and set it on fire with a lighter. The natural base will burn quickly, releasing a corresponding smell of burning wool, rather unpleasant. Synthetics, on the other hand, will practically not burn - it will only melt a little, turning into a dense droplet. At the same time, the smell will be different: burnt rubber.
2. pin test. The natural basis of the skin is usually very dense. Therefore, it will be quite difficult to pierce it with a pin or needle, while they will enter the synthetic fabric easily and without hindrance.
3. Base test. For him, it is enough to look under the lining or push the dense pile with your hands. In an artificial substitute, a dense synthetic, stretching base will be visible, in a natural analogue - leather.

It should be remembered that in recent years, products made from natural materials have become increasingly rare, because they are expensive and require more careful care. But artificial fur is becoming more and more perfect, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish it from the natural skins of fur-bearing animals. Therefore, when buying natural fur, you should be as careful as possible and use the above recommendations.

"We'd rather go out naked than wear fur", - chanted the supermodels of the 90s in a special campaign of animal rights activists PETA. The famous black-and-white photo was taken almost thirty years ago, and since then the attitude towards real fur has only gotten worse: it has been rejected by Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Vivienne Westwood and a whole list of top-tier fashion designers. Even those brands for which working with difficult material was an important part of their DNA refused to sew fur coats and upholster loafers with fur stripes: first Gucci did it, and then their neighbors in Milan Fashion Week Versace. “I don't want to kill animals for fashion. This is wrong,” said Donatella Versace in March last year.

Popularity today has shifted to fur coats from "cheburashka": sales of synthetic fur from year to year. Often it is they who are served as a panacea for all the problems of the fur business - after all, they look almost as beautiful, and their beauty does not seem to require victims at all. But multi-colored "cheburashkas" have a lot of shortcomings and a lot of opponents that remind you that synthetic chemical fiber is obtained from oil, and the production process itself cannot be called environmentally friendly. In addition, cheap artificial fur, which has captured all the mass markets of the planet, is of very poor quality. Once in a landfill, it almost does not decompose and poisons the soil, water and even the air for decades.

So who is right in the end, lovers of natural or artificial fur? Which one harms the environment more and which one less? What is "ethical fur" and has such an artificial analogue appeared that is not inferior in quality to its original? Is it possible to find a compromise between them? We understand with the help of fashion industry experts.

Alena Akhmadullina

brand designer Alena Akhmadullina

I started working with fur when I was still a student, when I actively participated in competitions: “Admiralty Needle” and “Russian Silhouette”. One of the prizes was a trip to the Saga Furs training center in Denmark, where I studied technology and sewed things from fur with my own hands. Fur is a very beautiful, warm, comfortable and wear-resistant material; it can be used for many years, recycled, and it is also completely biodegradable - unlike artificial materials, which, like plastic bottles, harm nature.

Fur has unparalleled properties and opens up new possibilities that ordinary fabric cannot offer. Synthetic and natural fur cannot be compared - they are just different categories of materials, like chiffon and mink, for example. In addition, we live in a northern country: I believe that as long as we have snow for six months of the year, women will wear real fur. He is out of trend. Fashion can be design, color, technique, and fur is the basic material, and both fashion and classic things can be made from it.

The Alena Akhmadullina brand has been cooperating for many years with the auction company Saga Furs, which has set the standards for sustainable fur production (in the list - farm hygiene, proper feeding animals and their health. The entire list is available on the company's website. - Note. ed. ). The company has created a certification system that regulates the work of European fur farms, including animal welfare, operational and environmental issues. Saga Furs works exclusively with certified production facilities, which are audited by EU representatives, local authorities and independent experts. Our partners offer such technologies for working with the material, in which even the smallest pieces are used and nothing is thrown away.

Giampaolo Sgura

photographer

I decided to go vegan two and a half years ago - while I'm in the process of going completely vegan as I still eat eggs. Then I saw the documentary "Cowspiracy" ( the picture tells about the impact of animal husbandry on environment, based on the assertion that it plays a key role in the problem global warming. Scientists have not yet come to a consensus on whether this is so - many still primarily blame the greenhouse gases produced by burning oil, natural gas and coal. - Note. ed.), which opened my eyes to the shocking practices of animal husbandry. Later, I began to study the topic in detail. In addition to the fact that meat and dairy products cause cancer and heart disease (eating more than 80 grams of red meat per day is indeed associated with an increased risk of colon cancer; a varied and balanced diet is important for heart health. this moment there are no medical recommendations that would speak of the need for a complete rejection of meat or milk for health reasons. - Note. ed. ), I couldn't ignore animal cruelty in the meat and dairy industry and decided to do something about it.

It seems to me that artificial fur, with all its shortcomings, is needed at least in order to stop the production of real and stop the killing of animals. In the end, the costs, it seems to me, (what means are used for processing and coloring) are not so terrible. ( faux fur coats can be made of wool, or they can be made of synthetic material. Synthetic fur as we know it today is just a modification of plastic, which in itself poses a threat to the ecology of the planet. - Note. ed.). In the future, I am sure, we will completely abandon natural fur. I am very pleased to see the role that social networks play in the popularization of eco-fur. They make it clear that fur is a relic of the past, a toy in the hands of bourgeois people.

Irina Novozhilova

President of the Center for the Protection of Animal Rights "Vita"

Ksenia Krushinskaya

Feature Director of The Blueprint

Tatiana Matyushina

Matu brand designer

In our work, we use not natural fur, but artificial. It is created from sheared sheep's wool, and it is natural in its composition, it can be recycled after disposal. It is attractive that it is produced in Russia: this material is relatively inexpensive and easy to bring, there are no problems with logistics. It is also easy to experiment with it: the color and texture of such fur can be changed for each collection.

It’s realistic to do without a natural fur coat today, there are a lot of alternative options. It is still difficult for us to get used to the changed reality and believe in Japanese developments - we know for sure that it will be comfortable in a fur coat. Ours, for example, are also sold in Siberia, and there, first of all, it is not the beauty of the product that is important, but its ability to retain heat. However, I think that natural fur will never disappear. There will always be a certain number of people who will like it - and that's okay.

However, faux fur coats are also not a salvation. The composition of this material is not much different from the composition plastic bottle, but it is not customary to talk about this when buying. Which of the two types of fur is better? To be honest, I can't give a definitive answer. Eat different types synthetic fur. The one that we use and the one that is usually used in synthetic fur coats are made using completely different technologies.

The same goes for ethics: at first glance, faux fur is more ethical in relation to animals. Another question is how environmentally friendly it is during creation and disposal? We do not use animal skins, only wool - but I would like the process of obtaining it to be more transparent. Is it ethical to treat animals during and after a haircut? There are different answers to these questions, but one thing is for sure: we have yet to find out the recipe for the perfect fur coat in every sense.

Alexander Shumsky

President of the National Chamber of Fashion and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia

Fashion brands create trends, but they themselves must follow trends, in this case, social ones. If society has decided that natural fur is bad, then it is worth changing the concept of your thinking, at least visually. Brands do not want shaming from consumers or users in in social networks, so their designers refuse fur in their collections. But the main reason is still economic: why do something that the consumer does not need or does not like? I think fur has become more difficult to sell, which is why designers are abandoning this material.

Today you can live without the skin of an animal in Antarctica. When buying a fur coat, referring to the cold is stupid: synthetic materials retain heat better than fur. Another issue is aesthetics. Ecofur can be just as beautiful, but it has problems with thermal insulation. I think that over time a solution will be found, and functionality will be combined with external characteristics. But there is another problem - the mentality of the consumer. Fur has always been a symbol of prosperity, and breaking this stereotype can be much more difficult than coping with the cold.

This fall, London Fashion Week was completely fur free: not a single British designer showed fur on the catwalk. It looks like an industry consensus: Britain is not a leader in fur production, the British don't buy fur - why show it off? Fashion Week itself has nothing to do with it, this decision was made by each designer independently. In addition, it is unlikely that London Fashion Week will refuse to show Tom Ford if he wants to show the collection again in the British capital. Tom Ford, by the way, has recently become a vegetarian, but he has not completely abandoned fur in his collections.

In Russia, the production situation is different, not to mention the consumer situation. I am sure that our designers are not yet ready to completely abandon the fur: the buyer dictates the demand. Only a few are ready to change the minds of their clients. If the designers are ready, then we will gladly announce a fashion week and fur free, and leather free, and anything else free: for PR it's good, the press will consider it a success. Although I believe that it is important not only to declare a social orientation, but also to prove it with deeds.

For example, we have been organizing regular events related to inclusive clothing in Moscow for five years - from this point of view, we have the only Fashion Week in the world that systematically works in this area. But we can afford it, because our fashion industry is not very, shall we say, commercial. At the same time, there are many designers in our schedule who work with eco-fur and artificial fur. Right off the bat I can immediately name a few: Otocyon, Za_Za, Dokuchaeva, there are a dozen more brands. Fur designers and any others are equally popular, because ninety percent of the audience of each show are invited people: clients, the press, partners. In the same London, the situation is similar: those who are called by the brand go to shows, so young designers and newcomers in the audience are mostly “relatives and friends”.