Textiles and Dress

Fur farming

Fur farming refers to the breeding and raising of certain types of animals for their fur, primarily for their use in clothing and fashion. Production is concentrated in a relatively small number of countries. As of the 21st century, China has become one of the largest producers of farmed fur, while European countries have seen a decline due to regulatory changes. Most of the world's farmed fur is produced by Chinese and Polish fur-farmers. In 2018, there were 5,000 fur farms in the EU, located across 22 countries; these areas of production collectively accounted for 50% of the global production of farmed fur. However, by 2025 only 6 countries in the EU still farmed animals for fur, and three of these countries had issued a legal ban on the activity, effective within several years. Prior to their banning of fur-farming in 2025, Poland lead the European mink fur-farming industry. Only five countries in Europe still participate in the practice of fur farming, those being Finland, Denmark, Spain, Hungary and Greece. The United States is a major exporter of fur skins. Major export markets include China, Russia, Canada, and the EU. Exports to Asia as a share of total exports grew from 22% in 1998 to 47% in 2002. As of 2012, Russia was reported to be the world's biggest sales market for fur. Demand fell in the late 1980s and 1990s as a result of a number of factors, including the efforts of animal rights campaigners and the failure of designers to come up with exciting new lines. Since the turn of the millennium, however, sales worldwide have soared to record highs, fueled by radically new techniques for working with fur, and a sharp rise in disposable income in China and Russia. This growing demand has led to the development of extensive fur farming operations in China and Poland. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mink turned out to be very susceptible to human–mink infection, sparking fears of widespread outbreaks and mutations in the mink farm populations of many countries that could in turn infect humans with different strains of the coronavirus, making it potentially immune for a COVID-19 vaccine. Several mink farms in the Netherlands have been entirely culled since June 2020, and in August 2020 the phaseout of fur farming was accelerated from 1 January 2024 to 1 March 2021. In July 2020, Spain culled 100,000 mink.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Fustanella
• ▸Economy of Cuba
• ▸Cuff

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.