Fur Retailers Report Banner Month in December

SANDY PARKER REPORT, VOL. 29, ISSUE 44, JANUARY 16, 2006
The following extract is reproduced with permission from Sandy Parker Reports, Weekly International Fur News. Sandy Parker has been covering the fur industry for more than four decades. For most of that time he has published a weekly newsletter, detailing results of international pelt auctions, wholesale price trends, business developments and movements in the trade, as well as economic and political activities that may impact on it.
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International Fur News
with Sandy Parker
Fur Retailers Report Banner Month in December
DESPITE ITS SLUGGISH START, DECEMBER TURNED OUT TO BE ONE OF THE BEST IN RECENT YEARS, with fur departments of major stores doing relatively better than other outerwear. While sales of other apparel reportedly were soft during the month, the movement of furs gathered momentum as the mercury dropped and a few coatings of snow convinced consumers that a normal winter had indeed arrived. Sales of furs as gifts also proved to be strong, possibly aided by the confluence of three major seasonal observances: Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza. The month’s experience also demonstrated clearly just how weather-sensitive the fur business has become. If there were any remaining thoughts that fashion was now the main driving force, they were quickly quashed. Although furs now are much more prominent in the fashion picture, cold weather has proven to be the all-important catalyst.
SALES OF FULL-LENGTH MINK COATS, WHICH FOR MANY YEARS WERE THE BACKBONE OF THE BUSINESS – but declining in recent years – picked up nicely in December after a disappointing fall. This category, more than any other, has become especially susceptible to the vagaries of the weather. Long regarded as a symbol of success, that image was somewhat tarnished as long as two decades ago when promoters offered them to secretaries and other working women at apparently huge discounts and affordable prices. In time, customers who still held mink coats in high esteem tended to have second thoughts after seeing them on their employees and their maids. It was then that conventional mink coats became as much utilitarian as prestige and customers of means concentrated on fashion. That also was when the weather began to become as an important factor as it is today, largely because the public learned to wait for the biggest discounts that were offered at the height of the season.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Stores Report Banner December
Month Pushes ’05 Sales Ahead
Weather’s Role in Sharper Focus
January Off to Slow Start
Wild Furs Up Sharply at NAFA
For extracts from back issues of Sandy Parker Reports see News Index. Subscribers can access an archive of complete issues at www.sandyparker.com.
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