How do you recognize real fur? The breath test shows it!
Since the Stone Age, real fur is considered a status symbol. In some places this is still the case today. But this is increasingly questioned. It is aesthetic, enhances any outfit, is natural and keeps you warm, but we are not in the situation that we need to wear it.
To wear is not always good for you? the designers know that, too. Fake Fur has long since become an alternative. The look is pretty good and the warming qualities are there. And the mocking word "Teddyfell" has almost disappeared from the fashion vocabulary. But how can we differentiate real from fake fur? And do the manufacturers and designers always take it so seriously with the award of the materials used? We clarify!
How do I check if it's faux fur or real fur?
The price is often no longer an indication today. Well made faux fur is expensive? especially with designer parts. There are a few noticeable differences, however: While real fur blows like our own hair in a light wind, the level of faux fur remains quite stable. Under the hair it becomes clearer: fur is on the skin of the animal, faux fur on tissue. But even that is sometimes difficult to recognize. So, if you want to be 100% sure, is it just the burn test? but only on plucked fibers! Animal hair smells like burning human hair after burning. Synthetic fibers smell like plastic. They melt at the top into tiny globules.
The breath test: Another way to see real fur is to take a breath test. Because: Real hair is more flexible than synthetic hair. So, if you just lightly blow (!) The hair, real hair will already move. With Faux Fur, however, nothing would rain.
How and from what is artificial fur made?
The so-called artificial or faux fur is usually made of cotton, polyester and polyacrylic fibers. Polyacrylic fibers are woven into the base fabric from a cotton-polyester mix and an adhesive prevents them from falling out again. The Düsseldorf-based label Unechta by the designer Bärbel Zech produces deceptively real-looking fake fur scarves: "We often use special fibers from Japan to get a particularly nice grip, so many steps are necessary to color the hair. " Frequently, the roots of the hair are bright and the tips are dark. Sometimes even three-colored. "And it helps if they are of different lengths, just like real fur." Then even a furrier finds it difficult to distinguish between original and fake.
What advantages does Fake Fur have over real fur?
For a short coat you need the skins of eight foxes, 25 minks or 34 rabbits. Not for a faux fur coat. Real fur must be treated with chemicals before processing. According to a study by the independent Dutch research and development institute CE Delft, a real fur coat also has a much lower environmental impact than a comparable faux fur coat. So, from the breeding of the animals to the processing of their skins, about 300 kg of CO2 are released? until the finished fake fur coat it is about 50 kg of CO2. And what is also quite practical: artificial fur is lighter, easier to clean, sometimes even in the washing machine, and does not begin to smell in the moisture, in contrast to animal fur.
Can we trust the information provided by the manufacturers in the label?
Unfortunately, no! Stiftung Warentest recently discovered this by examining five fake fur in the laboratory. These were actually far from fake. When asked directly by the providers, which types of fur they use, Stiftung Warentest got in 17 out of 23 cases, no answer? not from well-known brands like Burberry and Fendi.
What else is there to say about fur applications?
The majority of real fur is currently not offered in the form of complete jackets or coats, but as fashionable details and applications on collars, hoods and trims. Or as a beanie drum. As the tests of Stiftung Warentest show, above all the manufacturers must become more transparent and honest with the labeling of the materials used. It is easy to say that consumers have the power. However, if they do not even know what they actually buy, because it is "unreal" and "real" in it, the customer can not specifically search for a fake-fur variant.
