Introduction

   If you are reading this you already know how tricky it is to buy on eBay for the simple fact that not everything is what the seller says it is.

   It is your job as a eBay consumer and a smart shopper in general to develop methods and techniques that allow you to buy safely the items that you are interested. To become an, “informed buyer” you might say. If you are looking for a real fur garments then I have one simple test (technique) I am sure will help you establish the authenticity between real fur or fake fur.

Authoritative Observations

   First, let me affirm on my authority in this area. I travel a lot overseas and shop markets for both real fur and fake fur for the manufacture of garments made by my company. I’m not an advocate for buying real as apposed to fake, they both server their purpose.

   Most clothes are made oversees these days and fabric markets can be quite large in complexes with over 1,000 vendors. It is pretty standard to stroll through one of these markets and see both real and fake fur. With one distinction, they are very seldom sold in the same section of the market and even less likely to be sold together by the same vendor.

   Most often real fur vendors are grouped together and fake fur vendors are amongst other faux shops. Each sector is normally very well defined, fake is considered a fabric and real fur is considered… well real! I’ve been to Morocco, China, India and Mexico fabric markets and they are all basically the same way.

   For this reason it is not difficult to distinguish the two types of furs for a garment manufacture buyer. Fabric markets are usually well segregated if not well designated so that local garment manufactures can shop and compare like good quickly and easily. Satins vendors are near other satin vendors, velvet vendors in the velvet area, faux shops lined together with other faux shops and so forth. And, normally all vendors are quite helpful in providing you with information about their product.

   What’s my point in all this? Well, first are the vendors trying to pass fake fur off as “real fur” to manufactures? No! Never! Unless you look like a complete idiot and a transplant from an alien planet, I’ve never in my 25 plus years of shopping fabrics had a vendor tell me his fake was the real stuff. In fact, I am now getting to my point, and the meat of my simple test. Vendors don’t do it because it is so darn obvious what is fake and what is real that they would lose their clientele if they did.

   So, now you’re asking, “What is it that’s so obvious?” What is it that makes telling fake fur from real fur? And, how can I exploit this known fact for my benefit when buying on eBay.

The Obvious

   Let’s just start by saying, I can stand 100 feet from nearly any store front and tell you if it’s real or fake fur. Why do I know this? Because, (I’m American!) and most of the time during my fabric shopping trips I don’t have much time, I need to find what I am looking for fast. That means, not asking questions, but knowing exactly what I am looking for. Make sense?

   So, what is it you ask that makes it so easy? The one most discerning indicatory are - ROLLS. What most eBay buyers do not realize is that fake fur is sold by the meter or by the yard in rolls, while real fur is sold normally by the number of square inch or centimeters in pelts. In all my 25 years of shopping, I’ve never encounter it visa versa.

   To discern quickly a fake fur shop from a real fur vendor you can simply look to see if there are rolls of fabric lining the walls, or piles of pelts.

   To make my case even more, if you Google “fake fur” or “flaux fur” you will find in the number one or two position Donna Fabulous Furs dot com a very famous and well respected fake fur manufacture. At the bottom of their page I quote, “Donna works hand in hand with our manufacturers to ensure that every bolt (faux fur) of fabric is made to perfection…” Need I say more!

The One Simple Test

   So, now that you know how fake and real fur are sold, what is the simple test that you can add to your arsenal to help you become a more informed eBay buyer when looking for real fur?

   Simple! All fake fur has a synthetic pile backing just like the carpet you lay on your home floor. Maybe fake fur backing is a little softer, but you can NOT make fake fur without a employing the same woven piles backing as carpet makers do. And, then roll it up into bolts when it comes out of the textile mill.

   As for the one simple test, request that the seller find a pocket on the garment you are intending on purchasing or small section of inside lining. Pull the pocket out to reveal the inside stitching. Most used real fur garments the threads will be loose and already ready to come apart. With a small nose hair clipper just cut a few of the threads to expose a small amount of the coats inner lining.  Request that the seller take no more then one small inch of the seam and under good lighting take picture of the backing. You don’t need much to prove whether or not it’s real. Real fur will have a leather backing and fake fur will have a carpet weave type backing. It’s just that simple!


By Von Lancelot

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