05.03.2025
Faux furs are all over the fashion world. “But the trend is reversing – people are going back to the real thing as they realize that fur is a super product,” says Danish furrier, Viggo Alex Petersen.
Five years ago, the corona pandemic eroded the entire farming industry due to political legislation. But now some farmers are coming back. “As for the customers, they never went away,” tells Viggo Alex Petersen, a fifth generation furrier of his family firm, Alex Petersen.
For the past five years he has seen a 30-40 percent increase in sales, partly because fur has become fashionable.
“After the corona shutdown, clients hoarded fur because skins would become rare and they wanted to support us. They were buying coats without even trying them on. Now youngsters between 15 and 30 have discovered fur through vintage shops and they totally get it – that it is a super product that’s both natural and biodegradable,” explains Petersen when we meet in his showroom at the outskirts of Copenhagen.
His skins are bought from Saga Furs and tanned with sea salt according to age-old traditions. Only their designs are changing.
Left: Viggo Alex Petersen with special fur projects that he bought back to his showroom.
Right: In the atelier where the skins are mink, fox, shearling, swakara and chinchilla.
Fashionable fur
The trends are reversible furs, and furs that are a little lighter and shorter than a classic coat. It can just be the lining that is fur, or cashmere mixed with mink, such as designs by Italian Loro Piana. The most important thing is that it’s functional and can be used daily.
“It doesn’t have to look like fur or an expensive gift. People want something that looks smart and sporty. It doesn’t have to be expensive either. We sell lots of fur for less than a thousand euros,” tells Petersen.
In the center of his show room, which is decorated with Scandinavian designs, including Eero Aarnio’s iconic Ball Chair and Arne Jacobsen’s Egg, there’s a display of past couture collaborations. Petersen bought them back from their owners to show the various techniques of working with fur. One coat is by Paris based couturier, Jørgen Simonsen, whose clients continue to order fur despite the government’s decision to permanently close all fur farms.
“We’re very happy that Saga Furs is still here. Finland had a sensible government,” says Petersen who is inspecting Palomino and Mahogany coats from Saga Furs.
Fake versus the real thing
Other fashion houses have chosen to go big on faux furs and vegan leather.
“People use the word vegan and leather because they like the sound of it. In fact there’s nothing positive about it. It is just a mind game,” tells Alex Petersen’s chief furrier, Steen Bergström in between meetings with clients. As a professional in the fur business, he’s informed with the stats and facts.
“85 percent of vegan leather consists of recycled gasoline, 15 per cent is palm oil which is known to take a toll on nature. Then they add a chemical scent, so it smells like the real thing.”
Faux fur is no better. “If you throw it in your garden it will release micro plastics. Not only when you produce it but when you want to get rid of it is polluting,” he tells.
So why do people buy it?
“Because they’re ill informed. Because of micro plastics some thirty per cent of all bird species in Europe are gone. Their hormonal balance is disrupted so they don’t propagate – as with humans who have developed fertility problems. When plastics end up in nature, we cannot control it. On the other hand, everything can be controlled in agriculture, as long as it is regulated by the authorities,” argues Bergström.
In Denmark the standards of animal welfare were always top level – breeders cared for their minks as if they were their pets.
“If the animals are stressed it shows in the fur. So, no one has an interest in that – the only incentive is animal welfare.”
Animal welfare and sustainability
Since it became legal again to farm fur in Denmark, 15 farmers have started all over again. If the trend continues, there could soon be millions of minks in the country.
Meanwhile, fur fans have become more ardent – they won’t put up with government control, says Viggo Alex Petersen.
“It’s OK to be against fur. But then don’t wear leather shoes or eat meat. Choose a plant-based steak. Even the cotton coats that we wear in the atelier pollute more than fur production,” says Petersen.
“At the end of the day, all is about animal welfare and sustainability. Knowing where the animals came from. We just have to improve these things – then we’ve completed the circle,” Petersen enthuses.
As the only one in the business, Alex Petersen spends a fortune to promote fur through advertising and events.
“The youngsters realize that the planet is theirs for the next many decades. That is why they want natural materials such as fur skins. Influencers who have tens of thousands of followers made posts about fur. They got some 2-300 negative comments. We helped them answer their critics who replied positively. So information is the key – explaining to people what it is really about.”
Redesigning old furs
Since a fur can last for 100 years some choose to redesign it in Alex Petersen’s workshop. “They turn it into a new jacket, pillows or a plaid,” says Petersen who stores hundreds of vintage fur coats that are auctioned off.
“You can alter a fur many times. Once we did fur for children and people were shocked. But why, when you can buy children’s jackets that are more expensive? And they aren’t even sustainable. Most puffers don’t even have real feathers – just plastic based materials,” says Petersen.
The overload of faux furs means that people have become more aware of the differences in quality.
“Fashion houses now dare to look at fur again. Fendi realized that they can only sell real fur – people don’t want the fake thing. They’re all coming back – they realize that fur is such a great product. Our job is to ensure that the animals are treated well.”
It’s unclear if Petersen’s son eventually takes over the firm to become its’ sixth generation furrier.
“But let’s see what happens. For now, he studies to become a teacher. And then in a decade or so when I start thinking about retirement we hopefully have a thriving reality.“
Petersen on a fur-upholstered sofa in his showroom where clients can redesign their old furs – or buy a new one.
Denmark’s temporary shut down of a thriving industry
When the Danish government shut down all mink farms after the first outbreaks of corona, they also closed an entire industry with annual sales of over one billion euros.
“In other countries they vaccinated the animals. Here, they could have put down the minks or isolated them for ten days if they feared that they presented a health hazard. Instead, they slaughtered an entire industry,” says Petersen.
Now the mink scandal, as it’s been dubbed, has become a political nightmare. The damages to the farmers are taking forever because the government cannot find the money.
“First they said it would cost tax payers 19 billion Danish kroner (some 2,5 mio euros), then they doubled the amount. Until this point, it has cost 10 billion to settle with 100 farmers. Some 1.200 remain to be paid, which means that the total cost will exceed a hundred billion. Does the electorate know that? No, they don’t,” he reflects on a former success story that may slowly come back. ©