Fur
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1994:
“The International Trade Commission––measuring production
and import/export figures––placed U.S. [wholesale] fur consumption at
$338 million last year, down from $705 million in 1989 but up from $283
million in 1992,” the November 7 edition of New York magazine reported.
The ITC figures validate ANIMAL PEOPLE’s projection based on retail
mink prices that the U.S. fur trade took in $650 to $750 million in each of
the past two winters, about two-thirds of what the fur trade claims.
Although ANIMAL PEOPLE projected that retail sales fell again last win-
ter, the wholesale dollar volume could have been up, as many furriers are
now pushing more costly furs such as sable to make up for lost volume.
Evans Inc., the largest U.S. retail fur chain, reported a same-
store drop of 10.7% in fur sales and a loss of $1.6 million for the second
quarter of this year. The second quarter loss last year was $1.5 million.
Evans owns 19 stores in the Chicago area, Washington D.C., and Texas.
Weinstein’s Fur-Faire, of Cedarhurst, Long Island, was the first
big New York-area furrier to fold this winter, closing out after 55 years.
The Animal Alliance of Canada has filed a truth-in-advertising
complaint with the Canadian Advertising Foundation against promotions by
designer Linda Lundstrom, who claims her beaver trim is “trapped using
humane methods.” Says Animal Alliance director Ainslie Willock, “The
claim is insupportable. There are no methods for commercial purposes
which could meet accepted definitions of a humane death.”
