So it's only October, and you're already scanning the newspapers for sale ads on mink coats? Looking for that $1,995 special you saw last year, when retailers were holding marathon promotions? Well you're not likely to find it anytime soon, at least for that luxurious, ankle-grazing mink. Increased international demand for mink pelts has forced prices to skyrocket.
The mink coats you see pictured here are all in the category of affordable furs, the ones sold in the U.S. mass market. They're considered by the trade to be "commercial minks" or by retailers to be "entry-level minks," which means that this is the point where most consumers enter the fur market to buy their first mink coat. These coats are usually styled classically enough so that they don't look dated in a year or two but boast some elements of interesting design.
Today, the average wholesale price for a mink coat in this category is about $2,200, more than the advertised retail price one year ago. That can translate into $4,000 to $5,000 at the retail level, depending on how well the store makes its purchases and how much of a markup it takes. And prices climb from there, depending on the quality and number of pelts used, the intricacy of craftsmanship required to produce the coat, and whether or not it carries a well-known designer label.
The reason for increased fur prices is simply put: in the past year, demand has surpassed supply. The mink market operates on nearly a pure supply-and-demand basis internationally. Mink are raised mostly in North America, in Scandinavian countries and in Russia. Throughout most of the 1980s, the United States was one of the largest, if not the largest consumers of mink pelts. Since 1987, when the New York stock market "adjustment" triggered a decline in U.S. sales of mink coats, fur farmers internationally have raised fewer mink, cutting the supply to almost half of what it was in the '80s.
In the past couple of years, however, demand has picked up internationally. Not only have U.S. retail sales increased, but consumers in North Korea and in Russia are wearing more fur. (Hong Kong/China is one of the top three buyers of pelts at auction, but it makes garments and sells them to retailers in other countries, including the U.S.) In Russia, that situation was compounded by the fact that, since the breakup of the Soviet Union and the demise of many state-run fur farms, Russia has had to import furs in numbers previously unsurpassed.
Most affordable minks sold in the United States are made from Scandinavian-produced pelts manufactured into coats in either Hong Kong/China or Greece. They're imported either directly by retailers who buy in large volume, or by New York specialists, whose coats are pictured here.
Photographer: Val Steiner. Hair & Makeup: Algene.
|
