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Furs are flying off the shelves this winter — in a city that was howling in protest over animal skin a year ago.
New Yorkers are now happily wrapping themselves in mink, fox, rabbit and sable, surprising furriers, who had been bracing for a brutal holiday season due to coronavirus.
Terrain Washington, a Brooklyn federal law enforcement officer, dropped $3,200 on a three-quarter-length swing mink this fall at her favorite store, Madison Avenue Furs. On Saturday, she picked up a $199 brown rabbit bomber jacket for her 6-year-old son as a late Christmas present.
“It’s his introduction to fur,” she said.
Washington wears her mink when she and her husband dine outside, which is nearly every Saturday night. “I needed to get something warm,” she said. “My mink is so warm and it’s something to keep for a lifetime.”
For Marc Kaufman of Marc Kaufman Furs in Chelsea, times are so good that he’s having trouble keeping up with demand. His biggest sellers are minks, foxes and shearlings with price tags ranging from $1,000 to $10,000.
Kaufman attributes rising sales to the chilly winter weather and all the socializing that has to be done outside because of Covid-19 concerns, including sidewalk dining.
“When people go out to eat, now they need to keep on their coats — and they need really warm ones,” he said.
Dimitrios Furs is also busy, with about a 20 percent boost in orders this year, estimates owner Dimitri Lettas.
Younger women, 25 to 35, are driving the increase, Lettas said. They’re snapping up furs in the $1,000 to $3,500 price range, opting for such items as a cashmere cape trimmed with fox and a restyled family fur. The older crowd favors all-mink and all-fox jackets and pricey options such as a $6,995 reversible sheared mink coat with a fox-trimmed hood.
“Fur lasts a lifetime — even longer,” Lettas told The Post. “They’re worn by grandmothers, mothers and daughters.”
The turnabout is all the more remarkable, considering that a strong anti-fur movement swept through New York in 2019.
In the spring, the City Council considered banning fur sales. Activists stormed Dolce & Gabbana, and Manhattan bars instituted faux-only dress codes. Even Macy’s vowed to lock up its iconic Fur Vault for good this coming February.
But suddenly furriers are feeling cozy.
Kaufman told The Post he was prepared for a 45 percent slide in business when the virus outbreak hit.
Instead, he has seen a 10 percent increase in 2020.
Most of Kaufman’s customers live in the city, he said, but he has filled orders from across the country — and around the world. On Thursday, he shipped a shearling coat to a loyal customer in the military who, he thinks, is stationed in Iraq. He can’t be sure. The address was a Post Office box.
“Sales have been incredible compared to what I thought they were going to be — to what they could have been,” Kaufman said. “The internet has exploded. We’re doing amazingly well.”
Jackets and shorter coats are hot Madison Avenue Furs in Chelsea. So are dyed furs like a royal blue mink bolero with an Asian Finnish raccoon collar and hood on sale for $1,495.
“Locals are spending,” store president Larry Cowit told The Post. “And if the weather stays cold, sales will be good through the rest of the winter.”
Not everyone is thrilled with the about-face.
Animal rights activist Carole Raphaelle Davis is disappointed by fur’s enduring popularity but believes values are changing.
“Back in the day, fur was considered a symbol of wealth and status,” said Davis, who splits her time between New York and Los Angeles.
“Now, especially as a result of COVID, more people are realizing that real status comes from caring for the needy and the sick and for the environment.”
Additional reporting by Dana Kennedy.
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