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Faux Fur, For Real

 
Submitted on Sep 13, 2011 (Original item from 2011) | | |
by Los Angeles Times
More Information...

Short Description:
The fashion industry trended toward faux fur for Fall 2011 as a viable fabric, even in high-end designs. Wholesale sales of fake fur reached $250 million in the United States last year and are expected to increase by 30% over the next two years.

Abstract:
Naeem Khan, Chanel, Prada, and Michael Kors are all embracing faux fur in their designs this fall, rather than relying on real animal fur. Faux fur is appreciated as a fabric on its own, not just for its ability to look like the fur of actual animals. Faux fur is making its way onto handbags and boots, with leopard print a particularly popular print. "The fur trend in the U.S. is toward fake," says Amy Lechner, an analyst with Pell Research. "The stigma of fake fur is rapidly decreasing."
http://www.latimes.com/features/image/la-ig-highfaux-2011082...

Spot Check Number: 1810
Sponsor: Los Angeles Times
Researcher/Author: Melissa Magsaysay
Animal Type: Mink, Wildlife
Record Type: News Article
Geographic Region: International
Year Conducted: 2011
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Size of the faux fur market

Submitted by cginsberg on Wed, 2011-09-14 12:05.
Interesting to consider: If a faux mink costs $900 vs. $10,000, roughly 10%, does a $250MM faux market equate to units equivalent to about $2.5 billion for animal fur? The calculation probably isn't quite that straightforward, but it's encouraging compared to the actual animal fur market of of $1.26 billion dollars in 2009 per the Fur Information Council of America, http://www.fur.org/fica-facts/ Caryn Ginsberg http://Animal-Impact.com
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Re: Size of the faux fur market

Submitted by harish on Thu, 2011-09-15 09:49.
Caryn, you bring up a very interesting point I hadn't considered before. By the way, I think, fur and faux fur are what economists call substitute goods. When the price of one increases, the demand for the other increases. The rise in demand for faux fur may, therefore, also have something to do with the fact that mink pelt prices today are the highest they have ever been (because of demand outside the US).
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Re: Size of the faux fur market

Submitted by HRC Admin on Thu, 2011-09-15 10:55.
Excellent discussion, thank you both for weighing in. Harish, does the substitution effect apply to the same extent when the items are so far apart in price? It would seem that substitution would occur less often for a product like fur, but that's only my intuition.

Caryn, you raise a very interesting point about the price differential and what it means for market size. Let's hope the trends continue.

On a related note, other readers should check out Harish's recent blog on trapping for fur.
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Re: Size of the faux fur market

Submitted by harish on Fri, 2011-09-16 18:43.
Well, fur and faux fur are definitely not perfect substitutes, like Coke and Pepsi. So, I suspect as you do that the marginal rate of substitution will vary with the price differential. It would be nice to have data on the price as well as the sales volume of both fur and faux fur on a month-by-month basis. That will allow us better insight into the relationship between the fur market and the faux fur market.
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