Montreal, Quebec -- Ah the fashion capitals of the world -- Paris, Milan, New York, London and Montreal. Montreal? When it comes to furs, yes, believe it or not. Americans buy more furs from Canada than they think. In fact, Canada's main export market for fur apparel is the United States, and these furs aren't just long-haired raccoon and beaver stadium coats from the 1980s. Canada is a large exporter of traditional mink coats but is best known for its sheared beaver coats in simple shapes or sporty jackets. Yet Canadian fur designs have been known to set fashion trends in the U.S. For 2000/20001, several Canadian talents are not only in step with the best international fur fashion, they're even more creative.

Believe it or not, two of the most popular American fur trends of the last 20 years have come from Canadian designers. Colorful sheared beaver garments in abstract designs, flowers or graphics were popularized by Zuki, Montreal, as were knit furs from Paula Lishman, whose business is based in Blackstock, Ontario.

Perhaps Zuki's most outrageous patterns (which are actually works of art, using different dyed pieces of fur sewn together to create pictures or designs) have given way to more subtle, textural graphics, but their influence remains whenever you see a braid-look edge or a simple diamond pattern.

Lishman-inspired knit furs are just now hitting critical mass; her Canadian patent on the knit process expired last year, and now everybody and their brother is making knit furs.

At this year's Montreal fur fair, known to the trade as the North American Fur & Fashion Exposition, Lishman received a special award for her contributions to the fur industry.

"I think it's wonderful that everybody's using knit fur," Lishman told furs.com. "I always said it would become twenty to thirty percent of the market, and I can't supply all of that [myself]."

But she's determined to make the most innovative knit fur.

"When I came home from Italy this year, I decided to bring the knit machine back into my house and start over," Lishman explained her leap of creativity. She reinvented the medium, using an open weave in a belly- baring dress, plus crochet-look pants with "squiggle" fur decoration.

Zuki continued to make his collection more well-rounded and mature with a variety of furs and looks for 2000/20001. He embraced the unusual -- knit fox, iridescent colors, special pelt treatments and clever combinations of fur -- as well as the traditionally luxurious, like mega Canadian sables, Russian broadtails and Black Velvet chinchilla.

Perhaps surprising for a designer known for primary colors and symbols like hearts and flowers, Zuki always excels at fur- trimmed precious fabrics. A tangerine mohair coat with mauve and tangerine-shaded finnraccoon glowed seductively.

It was nice to see him explore untypical furs, like plucked stone marten, knit finnraccoon, lincoln lamb and donkali, an African goat. And yes, some of his trademark, extravagant intarsia designs looked new, especially an exciting treatment of stars, called "Nova."

But Zuki and Paula Lishman aren't the only Canadian furriers whose interesting work shows up often across the U.S.

Veronique Miljkovitch, a young Canadian designer who has won several awards for her designs but didn't design a fur collection last year, was back for 2000. She showed a capsule collection of rustic rabbit jackets and fun little flings and tie-on collars made of fox and coyote.

Antonio Proietti produced some breathtakingly beautiful, sheared red fox fashions together with Canadian ready-to-wear designer Nadya Toto as part of a special fashion development campaign conducted by the Canadian fur industry. Wild red fox has been what you'd call the opposite of popular until recently, when the international fashion runways began bringing back gold- toned furs and unusual furs. An added benefit to this item, therefore, is its affordable price (specific retail prices are not available at this time).

Pino Furs made a major statement an "urban" fur line called SPI 25, which encompassed knit fur sweaters, ponchos, vests, clothing and accessories like some extremely chic handbags and hats.

ITA, known for its Dominic Bellissimo shearling collection, also stepped into the accessories and home furnishings arena, offering 20 shearling styles of men's and women's hats, plus four different cushions and an afghan of shearling and crochet.

Alberto Guazzi of Tanbec, a Canadian fur pelt dresser and dyer, showed furs.com the results of his company's research and development to make fur more supple like fabric, to suede the leather side, to make mink dry cleanable and to create fur like textile. Until now North American manufacturers have been forced to import special fur colors and techniques from Europe, requiring greater expense passed on to the retailer and consumer. Tanbec is trying to change that.

Members of the Canadian fur trade aren't shy about their ongoing efforts to pump up their fashion image. Richard H., an international fashion consultant hired by the trade to produce a Trend Forum for the fair, said, "The fur industry has been operating separately from the rest of the fashion industry for too long. This will not change immediately. I believe we have made a lot of progress. It is a slow evolution but a secure one, because we have done a lot of work."