FUR
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, Jan/Feb 1994:
Encouraged by the reopening of
Bloomingdale’s Maximilian fur salon in
New York on November 29, the fur trade
still claims sales are up after a five-year
slump, projecting 1993 retail receipts of
$1.2 billion––but once again hard numbers
tell a different story. As of Christmas,
advertised retail fur prices were still plung-
ing to new lows in inflation-adjusted dollars.
Mink coats, furs priced at $5,000 or more,
and the overall average fur price were all
down 25% from the previous record lows
reached in 1992, The total volume of fur
advertising was down 17%, despite promi-
nent early fall cooperative promotional
efforts. Further indications of falling
demand include the 1993 mink and fox pro-
duction figures published in Fur Age
Weekly, which showed U.S. mink produc-
tion at two million, down 60% from the
1985 peak; world mink production at 19
million, less than half of the 1988 peak of
42 million; U.S. fox production at 30,000,
down from 70,000 in 1988; and world fox
production at 2.6 million, down from 5.85
million in 1986. Available data on U.S.
trapping permit sales indicate there are only
97,500 licensed trappers still active, down
from 147,000 in 1992 and 330,000 in 1988.
The Bloomingdale’s fur salon
reopening coincided with a going-out-of-
business sale by another prominent
Manhattan furrier, B. Smith Furs, ostensi-
bly due to retirement.
Doris Duke, whose obituary
appeared in the December ANIMAL
PEOPLE, donated $1 million to People for
the Ethical Treatment of Animals just before
her death, to be used in fighting the fur
trade. PETA president Ingrid Newkirk flew
to Paris soon afterward, where she was
reportedly arrested December 8along with
six other PETA members in a brief protest at
the French office of Vogue, which publishes
pro-fur fashion articles.
