Bright Young Talents Bode Well for the Future of Fur

To those in the fur industry who buy at North American Fur Auctions the name Zimbal is a familiar one. It belongs to an extended family of mink ranchers in Wisconsin, and when their pelts go on the block they usually wind up listed as "top lots."

Before long, the name will be taking on additional meaning, because 22-year-old Valerie Zimbal, who grew up around mink, is poised to launch a career as a designer, using this most luxurious of fabrics.

She was graduated last spring from the Illinois Institute of Arts with a bachelor of fine arts degree, and made her first visit to the North American Fur & Fashion Expo, Montreal (NAFFEM), to see for herself the state of fur fashions and check out potential employers.

It was inevitable that while there she would encounter another youthful comer, Pascal Labelle, 25, who has made those three years he has on her pay off, with his own collection on display at the Fantasy Furs booth.

Zimbal has had the benefit of an internship with the prestigious J. Mendel in New York, she took a summer course at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and spent some time in Paris visiting fashion houses.

"Here's My Collection"

She didn't have the benefit of a booth at NAFFEM, but she was able to show the pieces she has created via an attractive presentation on a CD ROM that she passed out to interested persons along with a hard copy resume.

When she visited the Fantasy Furs booth, Labelle happily showed her his youth-oriented collection, even allowing her to try some on, and she quizzed him about how he was able to move so fast in getting established.

Readers of Fur World may recall the story of how Labelle gained recognition three NAFFEMs ago when five of his fur-leather garments for men were presented in the lunch time runway show under the imprimatur of the venerable pelt dealership Roberge.

The jackets stood out, prompting many to ask who created them, and when they visited the Roberge booth, they found Labelle, then 23, greeting a steady stream of well wishers.

Highly Legitimate

All too often when a young designer is given a chance like that the resulting creations tend to skew a bit eccentric - just to be different. Labelle resisted that approach, carefully crafting jackets that were a tad different, but not beyond the pale, and it was a point well taken when his new-found admirers came by Roberge.

"It was unbelievable," he said. "People whose names I had known all my life came in, introduced themselves and said they were impressed with my work."

In the short space of time since, he has established an atelier, turning out work on his own label, and for Akoury Leathers, which has an elegant store at Laval and Longueil in Montreal. He also teamed up with veteran designer Spiro Gouris of Fantasy Furs, who expressed himself happy to give the young man a golden opportunity.

Labelle is a graduate of the design course at Montreal's LaSalle University, and in a rare move for one so young, he opted to stay on there for a fifth year, to take extra courses in men's fit, which he says is more demanding than women's.

All in the Family

Valerie Zimbal is the youngest of three children, and not the only one in Oostburg, Wisconsin, looking to find a future in the fur industry. Her brother, James, started his own mink ranch with their cousin, Ricky, and they are already employing the knowledge accumulated throughout their young lives to produce pelts that live up to the family's standards as "top lots."

That means using the highest standards of animal husbandry, which are a far cry from the bizarre picture painted by animal activists.

For further information contact: Teresa Platt, Executive Director, Fur Commission USA, 826 Orange Avenue, #506, Coronado, CA 92118 USA, (619) 575-0139, (619) 575-5578/fax, furfarmers@aol.com, www.furcommission.com.

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