More information on way from thriving fur trade

Date: 03/07/03

By Mary Donovan

TRANSPARENCY and information are increasingly becoming a standard requirement among consumers in mature markets.

Despite its added value, in terms of image and style, fashion is no exception. But there are differences in this sector.

The textile clothing segment, for example, is governed by legal provisions under which producers are obliged to label each item, including its components.

This is not the case for furs, however, where consumer information is provided exclusively at the discretion of the retailer or the craftsman.

Traditionally, the approach to business in this sector has been based on trust resulting from the relationship with the customer.

However, this kind of approach is less and less compatible with the new purchasing sensitivity of consumers and with more widespread, but less specialist, distribution of fur products.

With retail sales rising steadily for the last four years, showing an increase of 11% for the year 2001-2002, the trade generates around l9.5 billion each year. Worldwide it employs one million people, a large percentage of whom are within the European Union.

Conscious of consumer needs, the industry's trade organization, the International Fur Trade Federation (IFTF), is introducing measures aimed at bringing the industry into line with some of its other fashion and retail counterparts. A pilot scheme to label fur products, whether trim or complete garment, will be required on all products sold by its European members.

Garments will have the scientific Latin name and either the local language and/or the English translation. For example, in the UK, mink fur will bear the label "Mink" and the Latin name of mustela vison.

In Italy, where the scheme was launched, it would also include the local translation of visone. All EU members (plus Norway and Switzerland) have signed up to the scheme, which could be up and running by early autumn of this year.

IFTF Chairman Andreas Lenhart said: "This is an initiative from the trade which is essentially a simple identification label.

"It has been in the pipeline for some years but it takes time to develop a professional scheme upon which all our European member associations can agree. Happily, we have a scheme which can only benefit the consumer and the trade. It is accountability at all levels."

As well as the identification of fur, the product will also include a care label and the name of the manufacturer or retailer.

Lenhart hopes the scheme will extend to those organizations outside of the fur trade because of consumer pressure. "Modern-day consumers require modern-day methods of information, whether it is for food or fur," says Lenhart. "We're a 21st- century business. That means good animal welfare, a good product and good customer relations."

Part of a special feature on the EU's fashion industry.