You can't avoid fur as a major fashion trend in every magazine this season. Actually it's been building for a few years now, with consumers cautiously testing fur accessories and trims. Now fur coats are catching on in a major way.

What's hot? Major retailers say evening accessories, sheared minks, knit furs, fur-trimmed cashmeres and luxury items like sables and chinchillas are selling well. Popular designers include Michael Kors, Giuliana Teso, Fendi, Sorbara, Zuki and Arnold Scaasi.

Terry Thornton, associate divisional merchandise manager for furs and coats at Neiman Marcus, told furs.com, "Our first quarter, which begins August 1, was excellent. We don't give out precise figures, but I can say we saw a healthy increase in fur sales.

"People are looking for things that are new and different and fashionable to freshen up their wardrobes," Thornton continued. "Anything that is evening is hot: capes, stoles, boas, accessories. Designers Giuliana Teso, Jerry Sorbara, Michael Kors, Adrienne Landau and Oscar de la Renta are selling well, as are knitted furs, which we haven't carried before."

"For the month of October, sales figures chain-wide for Maximilian Furs at Bloomingdale's are up 22 percent from last year," said Leslie Freund, marketing director for Maximilian. "We are seeing early customer interest in luxury high-end furs like chinchilla, sable and broadtail. There's also a strong interest in luxury fibers with fur trim, like cashmere pieces and sporty fashions of better quality, such as Fendissime shearling (designed by the house of Fendi)."

Henig Furs, Inc., which operates fur salons in Belk and Mansours department stores as well as several of its own stores in the Southeast, has also seen significant sales increases. Michael Henig told furs.com, "We had a great October, up 40 percent over last year. November started slow but ended with a 15 to 16 percent increase over last year.

"People are buying a lot more fashion," Henig continued. "We've had a little more cold weather, plus, people who haven't purchased our product in several years are now interested in it."

Sheared minks have been a popular item at Henig salons, either as long coats, as blousons or reversible to rain- resistant fabrics. Arnold Scaasi is a popular designer, and the Grosvenor label is selling well. Cashmere coats trimmed with fur is another hot item.

At Revillon, exclusive luxury furs are in demand. Sables, for instance, don't sell in huge quantities, but they have seen a significant upswing in popularity, said Stefano Chiavaroli. Chinchilla is also a must-have, even if it's a trim on a cashmere coat.

"Since fur has been democratized, and more people can afford mink and other less expensive furs, people who want an exclusive look are demanding more original things," Chiavaroli told furs.com.

Revillon, which has stores in New York and Chicago, decided to kick off the official holiday shopping season with an early clearance sale, and the results have been "very good. Things are going very well. We are surprisedly happy," said Chiavaroli.

If you're looking for a deal by comparison shopping between your favorite department stores in the United States, beware. Especially in the Chicago area, where you might stop in Marshall Field's, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale's. That's because the same fur company now runs nearly all the department store fur salons throughout the Midwest and Northeast.

On the day before Thanksgiving this year, the country's two largest fur companies became one, when Birger Christensen (USA), Inc., bought out Evans, Inc.

Birger Christensen had operated all of the fur salons in Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue and Carson Pirie Scott. Now it also runs fur salons in Bloomingdale's, Dayton's, Hudson's, Marshall Field's, Rich's, Goldsmith's, Lazarus and Filene's Basement.

This does not mean you are likely to find the same fur styles, designers and prices in each of these stores. Normally department stores insist that their fur salons are merchandised in line with the rest of the store. For example, Macy's has become a mass merchant, carrying mid-priced and popular-priced clothing, not high-priced designer goods. Therefore, its furs tend to be affordable and conservative. Bloomingdale's caters to a younger, designer-savvy crowd, so its furs tend to be a mix but with an emphasis on snappy, casual designer wear.

Stores with similar levels of merchandise -- similar furs styles, designers and prices -- are not likely to begin to slash prices against each other. You can bet when the discount season begins, the Saks fur salon won't be undercutting the Bloomingdale's fur salon (or visa versa), because the company would be undercutting itself.

Birger Christensen runs these salons through lease agreements with the stores. It has become customary in the past few decades that department stores lease out space to fur companies to run their fur departments, because department stores don't have personnel or management with the required specialized expertise to run fur departments.

Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom are probably the only two department stores left who run their own fur salons.