China's Economy in Trouble

[trebor]

Just saw that the housing and business building bubble is about ready to burst in China. This area if their Economy has been responsible for their hugh prosperity making it possible for their Middles Class to buy fur and driving fur prices sky high. Maybe if their Economy cools off so will the high fur prices and fur will be more availble for the rest of us.

 

Just a thought.

[mailonfurs]

the prices in pelts have already dropped due to the problems of the chinese market

[Fox]

I'd be somewhat hesitant regarding the quality of furs coming from here.

[fur999]

I too would be hesitant about the quality of furs coming out of China, we have all seen the horrific videos of dogs being beaten and skinned alive. This I believe is not the issue or what effects the market. Its more of a supply and demand situation, with the increasing number of rich Chinese pushing up the demand, and therefore the price, of quality furs coming out of Scandinavia, North America and Europe.

 

I would like to think that if there is a drop in the market value of the raw material (pelts), then the price of a fur coat would also come down. However, I am sceptical that many retail furriers would be willing to pass this on to the customer when they can make a higher profit.

 

I did notice the price of furs to be very high last winter, although I was shopping at Milady on the Champs Elysees! What a wonderful experience that was, once we got past the poo faced security guard and the assumptive sales assistant downstairs. She started by looking us up and down and then every coat we touched she told us the price, trying to scare us off almost. Once she was convinced that we were serious shoppers, we were showed up stairs to the 3 rooms full of furs, including a whole room for lynx, and a whole room for Sable. The helpful assistant upstairs did point out that every coat in there was over $50,000 Euro!

 

I digress however. It would be great if the price of furs came down, and if that was reflected in the retail market too.

[shadow87]

As much as I enjoy looking through an actual fur salon, the internet has been where most good bargains are found. I've found a lot of the Italian vendors to be competitively priced. It would be wonderful if the prices would drop to be sure; I guess I'm trying to say that even when furs are as expensive as they've been, it just comes down to finding the right deals...

[trebor]

When China stops buying every last pelt that Europe and the U.S. produces THEN we may get a break on fur prices.

 

My furrier here says that the Chinese contacted her earlier this year wanting to buy even her fur scraps. Can you believe that? Fur scraps!

 

FurBob

[mailonfurs]

Fur scraps are popular amongst the chinese furriers and do have value. We have many chinese here wandering from store to store and buying everything.

Some of our fellow furriers here in Greece worked exclusively garments made of scraps, but found it too hard to gather sufficient quantities to work with, when chinese bought everything.

Also, some greeks made millions just by gathering every scrap they could find from fellow furriers and reselling it in bulk to the chinese...

 

And the (useless?) info of the day is that the greek word for scrap is 'hordas' which I came to realise that is actually derived from the word 'hording'