THE TRAP: “From sleek street chic to sublime sophistication, your fur options are off the Richter scale.
You can choose anything from fur’s natural shades or classic tones to vibrant traffic stopping color.”
- The Fur Council of Canada
The industry pitches fur as a high-end, luxurious product, thereby justifying exorbitant prices to misinformed consumers. Canada Goose jackets, for example, start at $650 CAD), a price they try to justify, in part because of the coyote fur trim around the hood.
Based on data from Statistics Canada, the average pelt price for a coyote is about $28.34.
Given that a single pelt can undoubtedly make several hoods, it is difficult to conceive of how much this ‘authentic fur’ contributes to the inflated price of $650-$1000 for a Canada Goose jacket. The same goes with Moose Knuckles ($750), Mackage ($600-800), PJs ($1170), and other pushers of fur trim.
Average mid-2012 pelt prices from North American Fur Auctions, the largest auction house in North America confirm the same thing: Weasel ($2.75), Skunk ($3.69), Raccoon ($3-19), Muskrat ($8-10), Beaver ($9-32), Mink ($21), Grey Fox ($26), Red Fox ($39), Badger ($41), Marten ($46-128), Otter ($70) and Lynx ($123).
There is no doubt that the retail price of fur-trimmed items are inflated to create a perceived value, which in turn creates demand.
For people who respect animals, pelt prices are shocking because of how little an actual life is valued at. Fur is worth nothing unless it is on the animal it belongs to.