a furrier retires

[Guest]

Today, I had a chat with a furrier in San Diego. In San Diego County, there are only two furriers left, both are female. A third was in La Jolla, Huneck's, but it closed decades ago. To protect the privacy of the furrier, I will not disclose the name of this furrier. This furrier started working as an apprentice at the fur shop in 1973, and it took her 16 years to master all the skills needed to become a master furrier. In 1986, she bought the fur shop from the owner. She originally was in negotiations with another person, a man, to have him buy the fur shop and have her work for him, since she didn't want the responsibility of owning a business. Well, he screwed her over by stealing a fur coat from her. She cut him off from the deal and bought the fur shop herself. She now is ready to retire. She told me that 2010 is likely to be her last year in business. She used to have seven people working for her, back when fur was really popular. These were people from all over the world, Greeks, Italians, etc. She is trying to sell her fur shop, but so far, there are no takers. She told me that very few people want to become furriers. She said that many people think sewing fur is easy, and becoming a furrier is easy, but she said that they are often very surprised by how hard it is to work with fur. She is now working with an immigration lawyer to find someone who is stuck in immigration (INS) and wants to come to the U.S. to become a furrier. She has saved up enough money to retire. She is planning to tour America in her RV. She would love to work for another furrier, but she is tired of all the hassles of owning a business, the bills, animal rights people, cleaning up the shop (her work area is very messy), the taxes, etc. The other furrier remaining in San Diego has offered her employment. She is considering their offer.

 

Talking to her, I sensed a tired mood from her. She is definitely ready to retire, but she would also consider working, but only as an employee. She is still very bitter about the man who stole the coat from her. I've never heard her use profanity before, but she did during this chat. She told me she is selling the man's s**t (his leftover coats) and she called him a "little f**ker". She told me that sable is harder to work with than chinchilla because though both have very soft fur and thin leather, chinchilla isn't let out whereas sable often is.

 

I really hope she finds someone to take over her fur shop. If not, then San Diego County will only have one furrier left. She said that the other furrier who is still in business is a great fur seller, but not an accomplished fur sewer. That other furrier visited her one day and asked several times "What's that?", referring to the various tools that a master furrier uses. She responded, "You've been a furrier for years and you don't know what that is?" This other furrier can sew linings onto fur coats and fur onto fabric collars, but cannot handle fur-on-fur jobs herself. This other furrier is at least 10 years younger, probably more like 15 years younger. I am too embarrassed to ask them their ages. Anyway, both ladies are very nice and I hope I haven't offended them with this post.

 

The two fur shops are very different. The retiring furrier's shop is located in an old building, somewhat run down and is quite messy and very much a workspace rather than a showroom. The other furrier's shop is very upscale looking, with a small, but nice showroom. The building itself is newer than the other furrier's building and quite nice looking.

 

Tricia

[samurman]

That's really a sad story, Tricia, but your observations about the differences in the marketing and public images of the two furriers are very important and to the point. We are now living in an age of facebook, celebrity buzz, X-Factor, twitter, and blogs, so the furriers MUST adapt to the realities of this new world. In the past, women (as well as as men) were much more knowledgeable about anything they spent money on, from their fur coats to the meat they bought at the butcher. Now, the butcher is gone and most people buy their meat frozen, or in prepared packages.

 

In the Texas Monthly magazines I browsed at google books, there was a series of ads called "Real women wear real furs" which depicted professional women (lawyer, real estate agent, etc) wearing furs and talking about how it enhances their image at work. It was a commendable effort at appealing to the "real" women, and trying to click with them. Nowadays, there are many opportunities for the furriers to reach out to their prospective customer base.

 

When internet exploded in 1990s, it seemed as if every business had to have a web page. Most furriers made some effort towards that effect, but it is not the whole story. Now, I think every furrier must have a business page at facebook, a photo album at flickr or a comparable image host, a twitter page, an announcement email list, and a youtube channel. The time when furriers could count on the good fashion sense of the women are long gone. Now, it is the furriers' task to gentyl suggest women fur is warm, beautiful, and affordable. They must give women ideas, not just garments. They must show them various ways of combining fur garments in a way that fits their style. In effect, it falls on the furriers to educate their customers, because in the interregnum period of fur-scarce years, the generations of fur knowledge that passed on from the mother to the daughter has died.

[Guest]

I forgot to mention that this about-to-retire furrier sold a fairly new Russian sable jacket, dark brown in color with silver hairs, for $14000 either in 2008 or 2009.

 

Here's the color of that sable fur:

 

http://www.makos.net/pelt-c5-wild.html

 

Actually, the color is more of a dark gray brown, but you get the picture.

 

Tricia

[Guest]

This same furrier also has hanging on a rack a yellowish brown Russian sable coat that her customer paid $100,000 for. She is now selling the coat on consignment for that customer, who originally bought the coat somewhere else. The color is quite unusual. It's yellow, but with brown highlights. It amazes me all the different colors that Russian sable comes in.

 

Tricia

[Guest]

Here is an update on this furrier. She plans to work until 2016. She was in talks with an African American woman to sell her fur shop to that woman. However, the deal fell through because the African American woman wanted to be paid more money (the plan was to have the African American woman work as an employee first so that she could learn a bit about the furrier business; then sell the business to her). She is now trying to get a female accountant to take over the fur storage portion of her business. Now that Saks Fifth Ave (it had a fur salon in that store) has closed its store in Fashion Valley Mall, San Diego, California, she has more business than ever. Fashion Valley Mall still has two fur salons, Maximilian's at Bloomingdale's, and another one in Neiman Marcus.

 

Tricia

 

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a furrier retires

 

Posted by freemetolovefur » Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:38 pm

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Talking to her, I sensed a tired mood from her. She is definitely ready to retire, but she would also consider working, but only as an employee. She is still very bitter about the man who stole the coat from her. I've never heard her use profanity before, but she did during this chat. She told me she is selling the man's s**t (his leftover coats) and she called him a "little f**ker". She told me that sable is harder to work with than chinchilla because though both have very soft fur and thin leather, chinchilla isn't let out whereas sable often is.

 

I really hope she finds someone to take over her fur shop. If not, then San Diego County will only have one furrier left. She said that the other furrier who is still in business is a great fur seller, but not an accomplished fur sewer. That other furrier visited her one day and asked several times "What's that?", referring to the various tools that a master furrier uses. She responded, "You've been a furrier for years and you don't know what that is?" This other furrier can sew linings onto fur coats and fur onto fabric collars, but cannot handle fur-on-fur jobs herself. This other furrier is at least 10 years younger, probably more like 15 years younger. I am too embarrassed to ask them their ages. Anyway, both ladies are very nice and I hope I haven't offended them with this post.

 

The two fur shops are very different. The retiring furrier's shop is located in an old building, somewhat run down and is quite messy and very much a workspace rather than a showroom. The other furrier's shop is very upscale looking, with a small, but nice showroom. The building itself is newer than the other furrier's building and quite nice looking.>>

[minkme]

Thanks for the update on your San Diego furrier story.

 

It seems like there are many furriers that retire with nobody willing to take over the usiness so they just close up. There is no longer a furrier in San Francisco. It wasn't that long ago, maybe 20 yeasr ago when there were about a dozen left, now nothing, just stores like Sak's fifth avenue or neimen's and bloomingdales with fur departments.

[Guest]

RE: SD furrier, is it Furs by Graff? They seemed to be thriving, relatively. I like that store...but then agin don't we ALL like fur shops??? DOH!

 

Minkme: Go to "BB Hawk" He has a numbe of new and used furs in SF. He makes some, he alse buys some. Both mens and womens furs. He's a funny guy, but it is an interesting shop. He is located south of Market.

[Guest]

RE: SD furrier, is it Furs by Graff? They seemed to be thriving, relatively. I like that store...but then agin don't we ALL like fur shops??? DOH!

 

It is not Furs By Graf.

 

Tricia

[White Fox]

Furs by Graf has a San Diego web site anyhow...

[Breezy1]

I am the Great Granddaughter of Mr. Huneck. I was searching for one of his coats to purchase online (there are none left in our family) when I saw this thread. It is wonderful to see that my family's business meant something here in San Diego.

Thank you for this post.