Fur Age

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Enter the new luxury era. In 1996, consumer luxuries aren't what they were in the '80s, but ever so quietly, people are spending large chunks of money on single, personal luxuries that are meaningful for their uniqueness and their ability to convey a sense of comfort. "Value" and "investment" are buzzwords, but some people say they're only rationalizations. Pick up any magazine or newspaper and find that this has resulted in a new luxury sensibility, in more thoughtful spending, such as on a single strand of fine pearls instead of gobs of big, costume jewelry, or individualizing a modest home purchase with an expensive garden or library. What does this mean for the fur industry? A great year, for certain. Fur is in fashion, made by nearly every international designer and shown by every major trend-setter. Early fur retail reports show that this is having its desired effect: sales have increased on all types of merchandise. While some customers are shocked by the steep rise in prices, this isn't preventing many of them from buying what they want.
But when fur returns to fashion partly because of fresh style but largely because luxury is acceptable again, it becomes difficult to define what the fur business traditionally considers its luxury sector. "To define luxury furs by the fur type is out," says Terry Thornton of Neiman Marcus. "It's about attitude, lifestyle and the love of the coat." What young women refer to as "my fur coat" has changed today. The entry-level, standard-issue secretary's mink coat of the '80s is most comparable today to a great fur-trimmed cashmere coat or a shearling fur. The '90s woman is less likely to spend money on cookie-cutter style. Even though luxury furs have expanded in 1996 to include a broadtail pants suit, an outrageous chinchilla-trimmed satin bathrobe or a ponyskin trench coat, however, what more and more consumers are converging on this year is sable. In its fiscal year ended in July, Neiman Marcus saw strong double-digit increases in sable sales. In the months of April, May and June of 1996 alone, Maximilian at Bloomingdale's sold eight sable coats. New York sable manufacturers, who provide merchandise for the majority of U.S. retail sable sales, have also seen a substantial, gratifying turnaround in the past two years. Sable is definitely hitting a winning streak, and it's expected to continue for the next year at least.
Explanations for sable's renewed popularity are varied. Some retailers say that it is simply a reflection of the overall popularity of fur, yet other traditional luxury furs like Russian lynx and chinchilla haven't experienced gains as strong as sable has. Some say it has to do with the aging population and changing tastes. After all, just about any Baby Boomer who wanted a mink coat in the '80s bought one. Now that there appears to be a return to fur salons taking place en masse, the fact that so many women of varying economic means already own mink coats means that the ones who wish to distinguish themselves are almost forced to buy sable. Russian sable is synonymous with luxury and, even during the few recent years when mink's popularity waned, sable continued to enjoy a reputation as the pinnacle of status. It retained the exclusive air that mink lost, making those who wear it part of a prized private club. Then there's the value element. This year, with fine mink prices just inches away from less expensive sable, to some, sable no longer seems unattainable.
Unlike mink pelts, there is no average prize for a Russian barguzine sable pelt -- the most prized color. Following the lead of rising mink prices, however, sable pelt prices have risen about 50 percent in the last year. They can cost anywhere from $20 for lowgrades, to $80-$110 for commercial skins, and exceeding $300 for fine goods. Wholesale garment prices vary just as greatly, reaching $60,000 for extra, extra silvery coats. Roughly 175,000 wild Russian sable pelts come to auction at St. Petersburg's famed Sojuzpushnina company every year. About 40% of those go to the United States.
Thornton points out, when Neiman Marcus offers better mink coats ranging in price to $30,000, and sable coats start at $40,000 (for Canadian types but reach $150,000 for top-of-the-line Russian), might not sable seem the more reasonable purchase? "Value is very important to customers today, and they're realizing that sable represents great value this year, greater than the $30,000 mink coat. That could change next year, when she adjusts to higher mink prices though."
The way women wear sable, and the way the industry markets sable, has changed since the '80s. "She's not necessarily wearing it with jeans," says Thornton, "but I don't think it's sitting in her closet being saved either. She wants something that can take her through the day and into dinner, and sable is not as delicate as it was once perceived. We as an industry are also taking a more modern approach to the way we sell sable. The way we sold it in the old days, selling it based purely on price, just to say it's expensive, isn't going to work anymore. Now we're saying that it's beautiful, luxurious, light-weight, makes her happy and sets her apart from the crowd, which is very important."
Revillon's marketing strategy for 1996 also reflects a more modern approach to selling luxury. Print ads convey practical lifestyles that include fur, using the slogan, "slightly unexpected." The image the company chose to kick off its campaign -- for its four new freestanding stores and one new leased salon -- featured a sweeping golden sable on a model wearing pants and a turtleneck and carrying a rake, walking in leaves. Definitely a departure from formal luxury. Rebeca de Vives of Revillon says its sable sales have been "phenomenal."
David Wolfe of Birger Christensen USA, the Fur Salon at Saks Fifth Avenue, also feels strongly about a different sensibility for sable in the '90s. "Sable is gorgeous and can be practical and doesn't have to be dumb and ditzy," he says. "In the '90s, fashion is more important, but as with any luxury item, they want to use it, not just take it out on Sundays. Sable can be neat and trendy. I have a leather jacket lined in sable that I've worn for 12 or 13 years. Every time I take it on an airplane, it causes a commotion, people find it so unusual and exciting."
Fashion is key to sable sales at Maximilian at Bloomingdale's. All of the sable sold during its spring sales run were exclusive Karl Lagerfeld designs, mostly in at New York City and Miami locations. Half were purchased by former Revillon at Saks Fifth Avenue customers "as a new flux of customer walked in the door for storage," says Trish Lucas of Maximilian. The fur retailer doubled its number of storage units over 1995. "I think there is a resurgence in sable," says Lucas, "but not because of price, like everybody is saying. I think it's about fashion."
Maximilian's very unusual and exclusive Marc Jacobs sheared sable designs have been a hit, gaining extensive editorial coverage from major magazines -- Vogue featured the red version in its December Top 20 Christmas list -- and finding a prized place in the Bloomingdale's flagship store windows. "Bloomingdale's flipped over them, and the window dressers said it was about time there was something young and fresh in the fur department," says Lucas.
Sable is definitely stealing the luxury fur spotlight this year, but others like chinchilla, lynx and broadtail are making their own news, in their own niches.
Demand for chinchilla pelts has increased since 1994, when fashion began to dictate chinchilla trims, often dyed different colors, on cashmere coats, according to Nat Berkowitz of Miller & Berkowitz Ltd., the largest maker of chinchilla garments in the United States. Pelt prices have climbed over 100% since then as a result. The number of chinchilla pelts available internationally is loosely equivalent to the number of sable pelts, but chinchilla pelts are smaller. A coat requires about 130 skins. Pelt prices range from an average of $85 for a standard type skin (including dressing and brightener added) but go 30% higher for the more prestigious Black Velvet label.
Lynx garments have experienced a peculiar roller-coaster ride in the past decade. In the 1980s, the nearly pure-white Russian lynx belly coat was the ultimate, selling for up to $250,000 retail. Less expensive Canadian lynx was also popular with a similar look. Yet it is precisely that look -- the long-haired, fluffy white flashiness that epitomized 1980s excessive consumption -- that makes Russian and Canadian lynx difficult to sell today. A Russian lynx belly coat wholesales for $25,000 to $30,000, but even retailers who sell price-no-object garments say these types of lynx barely make a blip on their radar. Conversely, the darkly spotted, flatter American lynx, disdained in the '80s as a poor relation to the other types, is enjoying a resurgence today.
"This year, we sold five to six times more cat lynx than last year," says George Haralabatos of Mink Mart, a New York City manufacturer that specializes in that item, among others. "I don't think price is a factor. Canadian and Russian lynx are not moving. I think the answer is fashion." Certainly the popularity of animal prints, the 1970s style revival and this season's texture mix makes American lynx a fashion upset. Witness its editorial inclusion in major fashion magazines last month.
True Russian broadtail lamb, recently considered too fragile and styled too formally for '90s tastes, has been infused with some designer excitement this year but has yet to be tested by consumers, says Terry Thornton of Neiman Marcus. "Both Andre & Lisa Bisang and Michael Kors did very interesting things with broadtail this year. I'm excited about it, because it's flat, allows for style, and allows us in the fur industry to reintroduce a fur that has been forgotten."
In fact, the Bisangs' reefer coat and Kors' pants suit were among the top runway showings this season. And in today's fur market, when more and more retailers and manufacturers are learning that fashion really does have an important link to sales, that could mean the beginning of a trend. This year's set of consumer demands, social mores and fashion whims have combined to create a unique situation favorable to sable sales. Given sable's expense and substantial profits, his couldn't be better news to U.S. retailers in a financial position to benefit from these sales. But sable's resurgence could be just the beginning of a new trend toward luxury furs, with consumers who purchased mink in the '80s trading up in the '90s. That a great sign of health for the entire trade.