extreme rise of fur prices!!

[mailonfurs]

http://www.kopenhagenfur.com/auction

 

I was there in Copenhagen and attented the auction. The prices hit pre-recession prices, some are even higher

[Guest]

http://www.sojuzpushnina.ru/w/images_en/158/results180.pdf

 

Look carefully at the average and minimum prices paid for Russian sable pelts. By the time furriers get them, the mark-up is enormous.

 

 

Tricia

[Lil Dragonfly]

Ooh you went to the big fur auction how was it?

[White Fox]

Would be interested to know.

 

What percentage of a coat is labor and what percent is fur pelts. Then I suppose there will be a small percentage of things like lining, etc.

 

W

[mailonfurs]

Beautiful fur pelts collection but small. The other auctions they have to offer have many more pelts for sale.

 

Cost on a coat is about 80% pelts value, the rest is labor, lining, extras etc

[White Fox]

Interesting. My guess would have had those two figures switched...

 

W

[Guest]

I was surprised when I first went shopping for a furrier to put my jackets together.

 

I got a very wide range and I don't think it had to do with skill levels. Anywhere from $1000 tops down to $300 for a relatively simple job. That was with me supplying the jacket and fur.

 

Most of mine have been between $300 to $450 for the most complex ones.

 

I'm not sure how this would translate to putting an all new fur together?

 

OFF

[ReFur]

In the US labor % is much higher. Biggest problem is buyer resistance, above a certain price point you can't pass along the higher material costs. That is true in all industries.

 

Is the problems with the US Dollar an issue? If I were Chinese I would rather buy pelts.

 

Linda

[Guest]

In July 2006, I brought a Canadian lynx cape to a furrier, the one who is retiring in 2010, to make into a pillow. The cape consisted of the head, neck, and shoulders of a lynx. It wasn't a cape made of lynx fur. The labor cost was $80. Several months before, I took two ermine pelts to another furrier to have attached to the edge of the collar of a jacket. The labor cost was also $80.

 

Tricia

[AKcoyote]

We are discussing 2 distinctly different areas of furrier labor here.

1) the manufacture of new fur garments starting from tanned pelts

and

2) custom or one-off fur sewing.

 

With the first, there can be an economy of scale once the pattern(s) are made and methods memorized. Thus the larger percentage of the cost can be the pelts.

With the second, in setting a price the furrier is estimating the difficulty of the project and time required along with materials cost. Frequently in such a situation, the furrier will charge as much as they think the customer will be willing to pay; and thus maximize their profit.