NYERS STAYING WARM FUR SURE
Skins hot amid COV
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 the coronavirus.
Terrain Washington, a Brooklyn federal law-enforcement officer, dropped $3,200 on a threequarter-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-yearold 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 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.
“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, according to estimates from 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 allmink and all-fox jackets and pricey options such as a $6,995 reversible sheared mink coat with a foxtrimmed 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. 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.
“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 are hot at Madison Avenue Furs in Chelsea.
“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.”