When passion become obsession : fur

Warning: this post is about fur and may offend some people , please act with respect if you add any comment.

It's a universal fact that we kill animal to eat them.Some people choose to not eat meat and become vegan mostly due to cruelty against animal.If you think to animal , as a coat or an accessoirie , it's quite different.I think there is three categories: totally against the use of real fur , no problem with that or ok but under some circumstances.I'm in the last category and I think it's probably because the way I was raise and my cultural heritage.

When you are making a reproduction or historical garment , nothing can looks like more authentic then real fur .The truth is people who buy real fur never take the time to ask questions to the seller.I will never buy a coat made of real fur in a store because there is no way to know what happend before.It could came from anywhere and a poor and innocent animal could have bleed to death for it.I recently see an add saying it take 40 animals to make 1 coat but only 1 animal to wear it.Well it's in the nature of human to kill more then he need .That's why if you are well inform and ask questions , you will quickly see if the person in front of you have the good answer or how it will answer will say a lot.I do not encourage the kill of animal and I am well inform now.

Every country have his rules about what and how to do things and you will probably be able to find it on the web.A hunter and a trapper are not bind by the same rules.A hunter kill for the meat sometimes take the fur too  , a trapper kill only for the fur.Trapper have more rules , restrictions  to follow and it required more licenses then a simple hunter.Here in Quebec I could say that trapper is part of cultural heritage.We had trapper since  centuries , think of the period of New France.Today we do not have much of them but still they exist .That doesn't mean they can do everything they want .I swear , I'm someone who do not like the idea of hurting animal just for the fun of wearing it.I think by being aware and knowing the rules that register trapper and hunter , that doesn't make me a bad person.

In some region , hunting and trapping is not only a tradition but a way of life if I could say that. Native american use real fur it's part of their cultural heritage , can you blame them for that?A friend of my father live in a region more in the north.During the winter he become a trapper .Small town in the north away from lot of ressources we have in the south , findin g a job isn't easy specially for engineer.He need to work like anyone .He like outdoor and this job can put food on the table.

The truth is , before screaming to the face of people and accusing them of being murderer , people are rarely or so poorly inform.You should know that anyone who practice professionnal hunting as a trapper  must have at least three differents licenses .Some species are protected and the quantity of killed are limited. The none respect of any rules is punishable by the law and should be report to the authorities.As far as I know , real fur does not cross the border of your crountry.It mean you can't buy it from another country on the web, it's illegal.Report any seller that offer to ship fur from another country.

Real fur required to kill an animal and to tan it.To tan fur is not armless , it required the use of chemical and toxic product which should be handle with care.That si SO not earth friendly .The price of a fur depend of the species , how many of them could be kill , how big it is and the cost of the tan process which is normally not done by the trapper.Using real fur for a garment normally mean the person who did it never buy more then needed.The smell of real fur is due to the chemical product used during the tan process.

On the other side , in this 21 century , we have plenty of imitation to choose from.Why not using them?Color and softness , there is no limit to what can be create.Many imitation are not close to the real thing and sometimes faux fur can be expensive.It has the advantage that it could be put in the washing machine anytime you want.It's synthetic which mean no earth friendly  but probably more friendly then chemical product used for the tan process.All the advantage of any fabric with no harm to animal.A major and positive point to it :synthetic is always , every time of the year available.I would like to see a fabric compagny creating a line of fur imitation that looks more real for an affordable price.That would be such a good thing.

On the web, I rarely saw people doing historical garment with real fur.That doesn't mean nobody do it.Some person want an extreme perfection , 100% accurate , for the garment.It could be a real obsession and put no limit to the price they are ready to pay for.Personally , I prefer to pay my rent before buying something too expensive.Is it really a necessity to get the 100% accurate ?

I rarely buy real fur and I must admit I was not always aware of the rules like I am today.I do not encourage the kill of animal and prefer synthetic for 99.9% .Yelling and screaming at the face of people , if you are against the use of real fur , does not help.In a society that pretend to be civilize , why do we care so much about where a fur coat came from and ignore that the steak in our plate was an animal  badly treated ?Is it because one is a luxe and the other a necessity ?I let you think about this.