MrsMink Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 So I am a newbie to fur, I haven’t purchased fur yet, but I am absolutely obsessed with fabrics I currently own many 30 and 40 momme silks as well as baby cashmere pieces from Loro Piana, but I recently stumbled upon the fur world and I realized that I've been wasting my time with these other materials in terms of comfort when fur just blows them away. So as a newcomer I am curious which is the best feeling for each category : Bedding (summer/fall/winter) Clothing Feel wise, running body against. I have been reading through former forum posts about members favorite Fur and 90% unanimously always pick Fox. Is this due to Fox being more affordable or because it is a long fiber fur. And if this is truly the king of furs, which color feels the best on skin, looks aside. I heard someone post that mink was scratchy, is this true? How is Rex rabbit comparable to mink? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gai Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 Hi there, welcome! Glad you discovered the wonders of fur. Personally I think blue fox is one of the softest and is my favorite type of fur for clothing and feeling. It's both relatively affordable and is one of the softest. Chinchilla is the absolute softest fur, but one of the most expensive. Mink is a little more coarse. New minks can feel nice though. Rex rabbit is pretty soft too, and is usually used as a substitute for chinchilla. So overall I say blue fox is the way to go. Hope you get a chance to feel them all soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
furmad Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 Welcome . I have a mink and its pretty soft , not as soft as fox fur . I would just go and explore and try different furs if your able too . Good luck enjoy it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red_fox Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 I have a soft spot for rabbit fur. In many times it is painted as the lowest level, but there's something unique in being accessible and abundant. I do have mink, racoon and mouton, have touched a blue fox once, but the rabbit always have a place for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKcoyote Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 I have stated this before, but it bears repeating here in this discussion. The softness and other tactile aspects of a fur depend mainly on the quality of the pelts. Fox is generally considered a very soft fur due mostly to the smaller diameter of the guard hairs and the hair length. Many plucked and sheared furs are also considered soft, but with a much shorter hair length. There are as many opinions on preferred fur types as there are fur wearers/users. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMink Posted July 22, 2018 Author Share Posted July 22, 2018 Thank you everyone for your responses. So I have the choice between picking mink or Fox from a Chinese seller on AliExpress he has very good reviews and the first look real they also sell whole Pelts. Mink is a little bit more expensive and they sell them by the squares I was going to buy a couple of mink squares and make bedding and clothing out of it but to my astounding surprise Fox is actually softer feeling and mink apparently is a scratchy tougher fabric? On fur hat world they are selling a sabl scarf for men for only $400 https://www.furhatworld.com/the-charis-sable-fur-scarf-p-4908.html This price seems a little bit too good to be true is this real sabl or is this low-quality Sable it seems that this Sable might be a lower quality because it looks so beautiful and the price seems really low. What are your guys opinions on wholesalers from Alibaba and buying fur from them the fur looks really high quality and I don't know how you could get higher quality than a real animal. I do know that animals fur gets Matty and less soft based on its diet and stress levels but can this be cured with treating the fur with essential oils like argan oil and wool fat? Thank you so much for giving your time to answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKcoyote Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 I have dealt with Aliexpress and found the quality of the pelts used to be low. Mink generally has much coarser guard hairs and thus the "scratchy" feel. Sheared mink is rather soft, but because the guard hairs have been removed is rather delicate and will become worn with hair loss rather easily. Regarding sable, it could be Canadian Sable rather than Russian and thus a cheaper price. Alibaba which owns Aliexpress, could be reasonable, but I would want to inspect several samples of the products before purchasing. In general, I think one needs to be very careful in dealing with Chinese suppliers. I am not aware of anything that can improve the quality of a low quality pelt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMink Posted July 23, 2018 Author Share Posted July 23, 2018 I have dealt with Aliexpress and found the quality of the pelts used to be low. Mink generally has much coarser guard hairs and thus the "scratchy" feel. Sheared mink is rather soft, but because the guard hairs have been removed is rather delicate and will become worn with hair loss rather easily. Regarding sable, it could be Canadian Sable rather than Russian and thus a cheaper price. Alibaba which owns Aliexpress, could be reasonable, but I would want to inspect several samples of the products before purchasing. In general, I think one needs to be very careful in dealing with Chinese suppliers. I am not aware of anything that can improve the quality of a low quality pelt. Wow thank you so much you really helped me figure out a lot of things. I wonder if Canadian Sable is lower quality than Russian is it negligible or noticeable would you say. And can you tell the quality of a fur by looking at it or do you have to mainly touch it to know. How would you be able to tell if a fur brand isn't just using AliExpress to buy the raw materials and then up charge their customers. That's really interesting would you say that in an average quality mink could have the potential to feel scratchy like wool or is it just not sumptuously soft like you would expect. Can mink actually get uncomfortable. Is there a recommended place where you know you are getting at least good quality Furr's for decent prices. What are some markers for fur quality that you would use when looking at a fur in a picture or in person. I noticed some fox fur rugs on eBay it look like they used many different sections of the head part of the fox what part of the animal is the softest and or highest quality were they using the head part of the fox to cut down on cost or is that the best part for rugs and sections. If you were trying to hand make a fur piece would you buy the entire skin of the animal or would you buy certain sections like the tail only or the hip section. For example if you were trying to make a fur blanket would you buy many sections of these https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32699442015.html?trace=wwwdetail2mobilesitedetail&productId=32699442015&productSubject=Alice-fur-150-100-cm-real-blue-Fox-fur-blanket-fur-rug-fur-plate-fur-carpet&gps-id=storeRecommendH5&scm=1007.18500.102169.0&scm_id=1007.18500.102169.0&scm-url=1007.18500.102169.0&pvid=55795eb2-02aa-4c76-a500-ce928a84e6f4&spm=a2g0n.detail-amp.sellerrecommend.32699442015&$appUseData Or would you buy the entire Fox and make sections out of it https://m.aliexpress.com/item/1000001221175.html?spm=a2g0n.store-products.0.0.137d713cCjjVRX And the last question I was curious of would be if you think that this seller looks like they sell at least decent quality furs it seems like they have really good reviews especially for Alibaba rating and they seem to be the best fur supplier on Ali that I could find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 (edited) The best Canadian sable comes from eastern Canada and it is very silky and soft. However, it is not as soft and silky as Russian sable. Canadian sable is the same species as American sable/marten and the American martens that come from Montana and Idaho are noticeably less soft than the Canadian sable from eastern Canada. Quality of fur depends on two things. First, the appearance of the fur. Second, the touch of the fur, like how soft or coarse it is. You can tell right away from pictures the appearance of the fur. You can only tell the softness/coarseness of a fur by actually feeling the fur with your own fingers. For example, red fox feels different than mink. Sea otter feels different from chinchilla. Fur seal feels different from rex rabbit. With the appearance, there are some basic rules for determining high quality for certain furs. For example, the most expensive Russian sable is the darkest brown with abundant silvery hairs, the more silvery hairs, the better. With Canadian lynx, the lightest, most silvery pelts are considered the highest quality. With bobcat, the pelts from the western USA and southern Canada (Rocky Mountains and west of the mountains) are considered the highest in quality. With chinchilla, it is the pelts with the highest contrast between dark grotzen, silvery blue flanks, and white belly (this variety is known as Black Velvet). With silver fox, it is the pelts with the greatest contrast between silvery hairs and black hairs. With muskrats, it is the pelts from the Finger Lakes region in New York State. With fox pelts, the highest quality part of the pelts is the back sections. If you're making a rug or blanket, what you use depends on your budget. Full pelts cost more than sections. Edited July 23, 2018 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKcoyote Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 I noticed some fox fur rugs on eBay it look like they used many different sections of the head part of the fox what part of the animal is the softest and or highest quality were they using the head part of the fox to cut down on cost or is that the best part for rugs and sections. The head of fox pelts is usually the thickest and thus toughest leather of a fox pelt. Heads and tails are generally not used in manufacturing fox fur garments. Fox heads are generally considered scrap and sold to companies willing to make them into plates that can be used for rugs as you mentioned, or other things requiring a stronger leather. If you were trying to hand make a fur piece would you buy the entire skin of the animal or would you buy certain sections like the tail only or the hip section. Pelts are sold whole and except for heads, tails, and paws are never available as sections. In general except for sheepskins, most furs are NOT suitable for rugs. Friction, which causes fur hairs to break, is the main enemy of all furs. A fur used as a rug can very quickly develop bald spots from hairs being broken by friction. For a fur blanket, whole skins (except for tails, heads, and paws) are generally used. As I have previously stated, beware of purchasing ANY fur you cannot inspect firsthand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMink Posted July 26, 2018 Author Share Posted July 26, 2018 I am curious what is your guy's favorite type of fox. From what I am getting the Silver Fox looks to be the highest quality when I look at it on Alibaba it looks like it has the longest hairs and the softest weave. What are your guys's recomendation to find furs at a discounted rate preferably wholesale so that I could knit my own first and jackets. What are your best websites to find furs? What are your thoughts on second hand furs, and your favorite place to find them. What would you pick the best fur to make a blanket fox fur or mink? How does Fox compare to Beaver in terms of sheer softness and or overall comfort to touch? How does Rex rabbit fur feel compared to regular rabbit fur and or mink? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 Silver fox looks beautiful but its feel is far from being the softest fox. You cannot tell the softness of a fur just by looking at photographs. Both red fox and Arctic fox are softer. glacierwear.com sells pelts at wholesale prices. glacierwear.com also sells fur on eBay but their eBay prices are higher. There are many sellers of fur pelts on eBay with good prices. One seller with a huge inventory and good prices is youngfalcon4421. They are based in Ohio. Buying secondhand furs is always risky. If the fur has not been properly stored in the summer or if it is many decades old, you could end up getting a dried-out garment/pelt. Always ask questions and look at the photos carefully. Make sure you can see photos of the leather side. Brand new or well-taken care of fur will have leather that looks supple and white or off white. Old fur and dried-out fur will have leather that looks stiff and yellow, the darker the yellow, the older the fur. Whether you want a fur blanket made of fox or mink depends on your personal preference and budget. Mink has shorter guard hairs than fox, so it is less prone to breakage caused by friction. A wild red fox blanket will probably cost less than a farmed mink blanket made with American (Blackglama), Canadian (NAFA), or Scandinavian (SAGA) skins. If you want an affordable fox blanket, get one made of American gray fox or swift fox/kit fox. Gray fox feels rather coarse but it has an interesting salt-and-pepper look with orange undertones. Swift fox and kit fox are very similar species and both have super silky, soft fur with beautiful earth tones. However, both are in very limited supply compared with gray fox and red fox due to their limited geographical distributions. Beaver is a semi-aquatic fur. Fox is a terrestrial fur. Beaver fur is super thick and dense and when the guard hairs are sheared/plucked, it is a very, very soft fur. Fox fur comes in multiple colors and degrees of softness depending on the species. It's really hard to compare beaver with fox. For example, red fox is a very silky fur. But European red foxes have rather coarse fur. North American red foxes are a lot softer. The softness of Arctic fox is really different than the softness of sheared beaver. It's like comparing Renée Fleming's voice and Anna Netrebko's voice. Both have gorgeous voices but are very different. Rex rabbit is like chinchilla in softness. Regular rabbit fur is soft and silky but it is a bit different from rex rabbit. Mink fur can be quite soft and silky but it has a different feel than rex rabbit fur. My recommendation is to visit a local furrier or a fur salon in a department store and feel as many furs with your hands as possible. Make sure your hands are clean and ask permission first before feeling the furs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMink Posted August 1, 2018 Author Share Posted August 1, 2018 Silver fox looks beautiful but its feel is far from being the softest fox. You cannot tell the softness of a fur just by looking at photographs. Both red fox and Arctic fox are softer. glacierwear.com sells pelts at wholesale prices. glacierwear.com also sells fur on eBay but their eBay prices are higher. There are many sellers of fur pelts on eBay with good prices. One seller with a huge inventory and good prices is youngfalcon4421. They are based in Ohio. Buying secondhand furs is always risky. If the fur has not been properly stored in the summer or if it is many decades old, you could end up getting a dried-out garment/pelt. Always ask questions and look at the photos carefully. Make sure you can see photos of the leather side. Brand new or well-taken care of fur will have leather that looks supple and white or off white. Old fur and dried-out fur will have leather that looks stiff and yellow, the darker the yellow, the older the fur. Whether you want a fur blanket made of fox or mink depends on your personal preference and budget. Mink has shorter guard hairs than fox, so it is less prone to breakage caused by friction. A wild red fox blanket will probably cost less than a farmed mink blanket made with American (Blackglama), Canadian (NAFA), or Scandinavian (SAGA) skins. If you want an affordable fox blanket, get one made of American gray fox or swift fox/kit fox. Gray fox feels rather coarse but it has an interesting salt-and-pepper look with orange undertones. Swift fox and kit fox are very similar species and both have super silky, soft fur with beautiful earth tones. However, both are in very limited supply compared with gray fox and red fox due to their limited geographical distributions. Beaver is a semi-aquatic fur. Fox is a terrestrial fur. Beaver fur is super thick and dense and when the guard hairs are sheared/plucked, it is a very, very soft fur. Fox fur comes in multiple colors and degrees of softness depending on the species. It's really hard to compare beaver with fox. For example, red fox is a very silky fur. But European red foxes have rather coarse fur. North American red foxes are a lot softer. The softness of Arctic fox is really different than the softness of sheared beaver. It's like comparing Renée Fleming's voice and Anna Netrebko's voice. Both have gorgeous voices but are very different. Rex rabbit is like chinchilla in softness. Regular rabbit fur is soft and silky but it is a bit different from rex rabbit. Mink fur can be quite soft and silky but it has a different feel than rex rabbit fur. My recommendation is to visit a local furrier or a fur salon in a department store and feel as many furs with your hands as possible. Make sure your hands are clean and ask permission first before feeling the furs. WOWWWWWW, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for all of your help, you really gave me so much help this is something somebody would demand pay for but you gave it to me for free you are amazing thank you again. I checked out youngfalcon4421 on eBay and they have some of the best feedback I've ever seen in my life and I'm a big eBay shopper. I have no idea how they have much better prices than even wholesale Chinese sellers overseas, but I am so excited right now to buy some they are located so close to me. Would you recommend beaver fur over fox fur in terms of softness. Most of the fur I'm going to be buying is to be used on my naked body in bed which one would you pick if you had to pick the softest fur or the further I would feel the best while you're in bed. The beaver for they sell says that it is plucked and from Canada is this some of the best Beaver you can get in terms of nationality? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKcoyote Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 A word of caution: While blowjob is mostly correct, the quality of pelts will make a big difference in the perceived softness and durability. In any fur specie the difference between a high quality pelt and a low quality pelt can be like day and night. Always be very cautious is any situation where you cannot examine the pelt/garment firsthand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMink Posted August 2, 2018 Author Share Posted August 2, 2018 A word of caution:While blowjob is mostly correct, the quality of pelts will make a big difference in the perceived softness and durability. In any fur specie the difference between a high quality pelt and a low quality pelt can be like day and night. Always be very cautious is any situation where you cannot examine the pelt/garment firsthand. Then what is your opinion on trapped fur vs farmed fur. Is wild fur softer than Farm fur? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMink Posted August 2, 2018 Author Share Posted August 2, 2018 For example this fur is rated highest quality internationally https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tanned-BLUE-Fox-Hide-Furs-Coats-Taxidermy-1-Quality/161806394397?hash=item25ac69a41d:g:fgwAAOSwu4BV3f0o Would an equal quality fur but Beaver be more comfortable? Quality equal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKcoyote Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 trapped vs farmed: While there will always be exceptions, generally farmed will be softer as the animal will not encounter the stresses and hazards of life in the wild. As to beaver vs blue fox generally the fox will be much softer as the guard hairs of most fox varieties are much smaller in diameter and not as stiff as beaver. Also natural beaver (with guard hairs intact) will generally be somewhat more durable than blue fox. Keep in mind that friction is the number one enemy of any fur pelt. The stiffer guard hairs of natural beaver will generally be somewhat more durable than the softer guard hair of most fox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Canadian beaver is some of the best beaver in the world. Those blue fox pelts are very high quality. Generally speaking, mink and fox raised on fur farms have better fur than mink and fox living in the wild due to abundant food, selective breeding, and the fact that the fur is harvested at the very peak of primeness. As for softness, that really depends on the fur. A few years ago, I emailed the man who ran the fur business H.E. Goldberg in Seattle. I asked him which is softer, wild mink or ranched mink. He said wild mink. I have a wild mink pelt and it is very soft. When it comes to Russian sable, wild pelts are superior to farmed pelts. Something about living in the wilds of Siberia makes the fur of the sable very special. Farmed sables have rather flat fur and do not come in the same variety of colors as wild sables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKcoyote Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 As to mink, the sex of the animal can make a difference in softness. But as always with any fur the quality of the pelts will be a major determinator in how one perceives the softness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMink Posted August 12, 2018 Author Share Posted August 12, 2018 Canadian beaver is some of the best beaver in the world. Those blue fox pelts are very high quality. Generally speaking, mink and fox raised on fur farms have better fur than mink and fox living in the wild due to abundant food, selective breeding, and the fact that the fur is harvested at the very peak of primeness. As for softness, that really depends on the fur. A few years ago, I emailed the man who ran the fur business H.E. Goldberg in Seattle. I asked him which is softer, wild mink or ranched mink. He said wild mink. I have a wild mink pelt and it is very soft. When it comes to Russian sable, wild pelts are superior to farmed pelts. Something about living in the wilds of Siberia makes the fur of the sable very special. Farmed sables have rather flat fur and do not come in the same variety of colors as wild sables. What are your guys thoughts on a blue fox fur blanket will it be too big in terms of fluffiness or would it just be amazing and worth spending $3000 to make one by hand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 A blue fox blanket is not too big in terms of fluffiness if that's what you want. Make one by hand? Whose hand, yours or a furrier's? Even though constructing a fur blanket is less time consuming and complex than constructing a fur coat, you still need an expert hand. Working with fur is very difficult and requires many years of experience. High-quality fur is expensive. A wrong move with a furrier cutting blade could potentially ruin a fur pelt, though a fur sewing machine can repair the damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grouchomg Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 Welcome! Definitely platinum fox for me followed by alpaca. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMink Posted August 20, 2018 Author Share Posted August 20, 2018 A blue fox blanket is not too big in terms of fluffiness if that's what you want. Make one by hand? Whose hand, yours or a furrier's? Even though constructing a fur blanket is less time consuming and complex than constructing a fur coat, you still need an expert hand. Working with fur is very difficult and requires many years of experience. High-quality fur is expensive. A wrong move with a furrier cutting blade could potentially ruin a fur pelt, though a fur sewing machine can repair the damage. The blank it can be handsewn or does it need a machine to me it doesn’t matter how the blank it ends up looking shows that the comfort is there and the coverage as well. I’ve been thinking about purchasing 20 red fox pelts at $43 each and making a king size blanket do you recommend red fox or silver fox or a blanket or blue fox I’m assuming blue fox would be better because red fox is too thick or do you like the feel of red fox over blue fox on your skin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKcoyote Posted August 21, 2018 Share Posted August 21, 2018 The choice of type of fox is a personal one - get what you like. Unless you have experience fur sewing, I recommend using a furrier to make the blanket. stretching the pelts, trimming the pelts to the needed size, sewing the pelts, etc is something that takes considerable experience to do properly.. Also 20 pelts (unless they are rather large) may not be enough for a blanket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMink Posted September 1, 2018 Author Share Posted September 1, 2018 The choice of type of fox is a personal one - get what you like.Unless you have experience fur sewing, I recommend using a furrier to make the blanket. stretching the pelts, trimming the pelts to the needed size, sewing the pelts, etc is something that takes considerable experience to do properly.. Also 20 pelts (unless they are rather large) may not be enough for a blanket. Thank you I would really appreciate other people’s opinions as well on this as I can’t find previous forum posts about blue versus red bo thank you I would really appreciate other peoples opinions as well on this as I can’t find previous forum posts about Fox blue or red versus other furs in a sort of comparison Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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