Fur clothing
Encyclopedia
Fur clothing is clothing
made of the fur
of animals. Fur is one of the oldest forms of clothing; thought to have been widely used as hominids first expanded outside of Africa. Some view fur as luxurious and warm; others reject it due to moral beliefs. The term 'a fur' is often used to refer to a coat, wrap, or shawl made from the fur of animals.
Fur is still worn in most mild and cool climates around the world due to its superior warmth and durability. From the days of early European settlement, up until the development of modern clothing alternatives, fur clothing was popular in Canada during the cold winters. The invention of inexpensive synthetic textiles for insulating clothing led to fur clothing falling out of fashion.
Fur is still used by indigenous people and developed societies, due to its availability and superior insulation
properties. The Inuit
peoples of the Arctic relied on fur for most of their clothing, and it also forms a part of traditional Russian, Scandinavia
n and Japanese clothing.
It is also sometimes associated with glamour and lavish spending. A number of consumers and designers -- notably British fashion designer and outspoken animal rights activist Stella McCartney
-- reject fur due to moral beliefs and perceived cruelty to animals
.
Animal furs used in garments and trim may be dyed bright colors or with patterns, often to mimic exotic animal pelts: alternatively they may be left their original pattern and color. Fur may be shorn down to imitate the feel of velvet
, creating a fabric called shearling
.
, rabbit, mink
, beaver
, stoat
(ermine), otter
, sable
, seal
s, cat
s, dog
s, coyote
s, chinchilla
, and possum
. Some of these are more highly prized than others, and there are many grades and colors.
In contrast, leather
made from any animal hide involves removing the fur from the skin and using only the tanned skin. The use of wool
involves shearing the animal's hair from the living animal, so that the wool can be regrown. Fake fur
or "faux fur" designates any synthetic material that attempts to mimic the appearance and feel of real fur.
The chemical treatment of fur to increase its felting quality is known as carroting, as the process tends to turn the tips of the fur a carrot orange color.
A furrier is a person who makes, repairs, alters, cleans, or otherwise deals in furs of animals.
and other animal rights organizations, celebrities, and animal rights ethicists, have called attention to fur farming. Whilst other organizations and celebrities have promoted the use of fur.
Animal rights
advocates object to the trapping and killing of wildlife, and to the confinement and killing of animals on fur farms
due to concerns about the animals suffering and death. They promote "alternatives" made from synthetics (oil-based) clothing.
Some animal rights groups have disrupted fur fashion shows with protests while others sponsor anti-fur poster contests and fashion shows featuring faux furs or other alternatives to fur clothing. These groups sponsor "Compassionate Fashion Day" on the third Saturday of August to promote their anti-fur message. Other groups participate in "Fur Free Friday", an event held annually on the Friday after Thanksgiving (Black Friday
) that occurs globally with the intent to bring the issue of fur to light through educational displays, protests and other methods of campaigning.
In Canada, opposition to the annual seal hunt is viewed as an anti-fur issue, although the Humane Society of the United States
claims that its opposition is to "the largest slaughter of marine mammals on Earth." IFAW, an anti-sealing group, claims that Canada has an "abysmal record of enforcement" of anti-cruelty laws surrounding the hunt although a Canadian government survey indicated that two-thirds of Canadians supported the hunting of seals if the regulations under Canadian law are enforced.
Products from all marine mammals, even from non-threatened populations and regulated hunts, such as the Canadian seal hunt, are banned in the United States.
Clothing
Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...
made of the fur
Fur
Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...
of animals. Fur is one of the oldest forms of clothing; thought to have been widely used as hominids first expanded outside of Africa. Some view fur as luxurious and warm; others reject it due to moral beliefs. The term 'a fur' is often used to refer to a coat, wrap, or shawl made from the fur of animals.
History and use
Fur is generally thought to have been among the first materials used for clothing and bodily decoration. The exact date when fur was first used in clothing is debated. It is known that several species of hominoids including Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis used fur clothing.Fur is still worn in most mild and cool climates around the world due to its superior warmth and durability. From the days of early European settlement, up until the development of modern clothing alternatives, fur clothing was popular in Canada during the cold winters. The invention of inexpensive synthetic textiles for insulating clothing led to fur clothing falling out of fashion.
Fur is still used by indigenous people and developed societies, due to its availability and superior insulation
Thermal insulation
Thermal insulation is the reduction of the effects of the various processes of heat transfer between objects in thermal contact or in range of radiative influence. Heat transfer is the transfer of thermal energy between objects of differing temperature...
properties. The Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
peoples of the Arctic relied on fur for most of their clothing, and it also forms a part of traditional Russian, Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n and Japanese clothing.
It is also sometimes associated with glamour and lavish spending. A number of consumers and designers -- notably British fashion designer and outspoken animal rights activist Stella McCartney
Stella McCartney
Stella Nina McCartney is an English fashion designer. She is the daughter of former Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney and the late photographer and animal rights activist, Linda McCartney.-Early life:...
-- reject fur due to moral beliefs and perceived cruelty to animals
Cruelty to animals
Cruelty to animals, also called animal abuse or animal neglect, is the infliction of suffering or harm upon non-human animals, for purposes other than self-defense. More narrowly, it can be harm for specific gain, such as killing animals for food or for their fur, although opinions differ with...
.
Animal furs used in garments and trim may be dyed bright colors or with patterns, often to mimic exotic animal pelts: alternatively they may be left their original pattern and color. Fur may be shorn down to imitate the feel of velvet
Velvet
Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed,with a short dense pile, giving it a distinctive feel.The word 'velvety' is used as an adjective to mean -"smooth like velvet".-Composition:...
, creating a fabric called shearling
Shearling
Shearling is a sheepskin or lambskin pelt that has gone through a limited shearing process to obtain a uniform depth of the wool fibers for a uniform look and feel. Contrary to misconceptions, shearling is not shorn wool; the term refers to the pelt of a yearling sheep that has been shorn only once...
.
Sources
Common animal sources for fur clothing and fur trimmed accessories include foxFox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
, rabbit, mink
Mink
There are two living species referred to as "mink": the European Mink and the American Mink. The extinct Sea Mink is related to the American Mink, but was much larger. All three species are dark-colored, semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, which also includes the weasels and...
, beaver
Beaver
The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...
, stoat
Stoat
The stoat , also known as the ermine or short-tailed weasel, is a species of Mustelid native to Eurasia and North America, distinguished from the least weasel by its larger size and longer tail with a prominent black tip...
(ermine), otter
Otter
The Otters are twelve species of semi-aquatic mammals which feed on fish and shellfish, and also other invertebrates, amphibians, birds and small mammals....
, sable
Sable
The sable is a species of marten which inhabits forest environments, primarily in Russia from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, in northern Mongolia and China and on Hokkaidō in Japan. Its range in the wild originally extended through European Russia to Poland and Scandinavia...
, seal
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
s, cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s, dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s, coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
s, chinchilla
Chinchilla
Chinchillas are crepuscular rodents, slightly larger and more robust than ground squirrels, and are native to the Andes mountains in South America. Along with their relatives, viscachas, they make up the family Chinchillidae....
, and possum
Possum
A possum is any of about 70 small to medium-sized arboreal marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi .Possums are quadrupedal diprotodont marsupials with long tails...
. Some of these are more highly prized than others, and there are many grades and colors.
Processing of fur
The manufacturing of fur clothing involves obtaining animal pelts where the hair is left on. Depending on the type of fur and its purpose, some of the chemicals involved in fur processing are table salts, alum salts, acids, soda ash, sawdust, cornstarch, lanolin, degreasers and less commonly bleaches, dyes and toners (for dyed fur) Workers exposed to fur dust created during fur processing have been shown to have reduced pulmonary function in direct proportion to their length of exposure.In contrast, leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
made from any animal hide involves removing the fur from the skin and using only the tanned skin. The use of wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
involves shearing the animal's hair from the living animal, so that the wool can be regrown. Fake fur
Fake fur
Fake fur, also called fun fur or faux fur, is any material made of synthetic fibers designed to resemble fur, normally as part of a piece of clothing...
or "faux fur" designates any synthetic material that attempts to mimic the appearance and feel of real fur.
The chemical treatment of fur to increase its felting quality is known as carroting, as the process tends to turn the tips of the fur a carrot orange color.
A furrier is a person who makes, repairs, alters, cleans, or otherwise deals in furs of animals.
Anti-fur campaigns
Anti-fur campaigns reached a peak in the 1980s and 1990s, with the participation of numerous celebrities. Fur clothing has become the focus of boycotts on the opinion that it is cruel and unnecessary. PETAPeta
Peta can refer to:* peta-, an SI prefix denoting a factor of 1015* Peta, Greece, a town in Greece* Peta, the Pāli word for a Preta, or hungry ghost in Buddhism* Peta Wilson, an Australian actress and model* Peta Todd, English glamour model...
and other animal rights organizations, celebrities, and animal rights ethicists, have called attention to fur farming. Whilst other organizations and celebrities have promoted the use of fur.
Animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
advocates object to the trapping and killing of wildlife, and to the confinement and killing of animals on fur farms
Fur farming
Fur farming is the practice of breeding or raising certain types of animals for their fur.Fur used from wild caught animals is not farmed, and is instead known as 'free range fur' because the animals have lived their lives free and natural in the wild....
due to concerns about the animals suffering and death. They promote "alternatives" made from synthetics (oil-based) clothing.
Some animal rights groups have disrupted fur fashion shows with protests while others sponsor anti-fur poster contests and fashion shows featuring faux furs or other alternatives to fur clothing. These groups sponsor "Compassionate Fashion Day" on the third Saturday of August to promote their anti-fur message. Other groups participate in "Fur Free Friday", an event held annually on the Friday after Thanksgiving (Black Friday
Black Friday (shopping)
Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 a.m., or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season, similar to Boxing...
) that occurs globally with the intent to bring the issue of fur to light through educational displays, protests and other methods of campaigning.
In Canada, opposition to the annual seal hunt is viewed as an anti-fur issue, although the Humane Society of the United States
Humane Society of the United States
The Humane Society of the United States , based in Washington, D.C., is the largest animal advocacy organization in the world. In 2009, HSUS reported assets of over US$160 million....
claims that its opposition is to "the largest slaughter of marine mammals on Earth." IFAW, an anti-sealing group, claims that Canada has an "abysmal record of enforcement" of anti-cruelty laws surrounding the hunt although a Canadian government survey indicated that two-thirds of Canadians supported the hunting of seals if the regulations under Canadian law are enforced.
Products from all marine mammals, even from non-threatened populations and regulated hunts, such as the Canadian seal hunt, are banned in the United States.