Concerning the sustainability of the fur trade, more than 75% of the pelts that go through many of the auctions in North America go to China, South Korea.... Russia used to be a very strong market, but because of the conflict with Ukraine it hasn't been in the last two years. But every year the export of the product to China and Asian markets has increased.
There is a market in Canada. People don't necessarily see it. It's not your grandmother's fur coat any more. I have a beautiful fur coat here that I wear all the time and I get nothing but compliments on it. It is wild fur; this is not ranched mink. Every time I wear this, I get people stopping me to ask where I got this garment. Sometimes you'll see fur on purses, and it will be dyed in a certain way to make it not look like a traditional fur. You'll see pieces of fur on purses, on wallets, and it will be used as trim, even on regular garments that women wear. It is a very versatile textile.
It's used in the whole fashion spectrum. It's not what people think about any more, the full-length long brown coat that our grandmothers wore. You'd be surprised how often you see it in major retailers across Canada. Even on hats there will be sometimes rabbit fur, or there will be muskrat fur on some of the hats at major retailers across Canada.
Many people aren't even realizing how versatile a textile this can be and that it is indeed a viable market in Canada and is expanding. We just don't see it in the same way we used to, because we're picturing a full-length brown coat, and now we have little patches of fur here and there on purses or on leather jackets and that sort of thing.