Vintage or repurposed fur

With a vintage or second-hand fur, customers avoid directly supporting fur’s modern-day supply chain, and the brands that engage with it. Because fur has had so many fashionable heydays—the prim 50s, shaggy 60s, and over-sized 80s for starters—vintage stores are overflowing with the stuff, as are many grandmothers’ closets.

Vintage style.
Vintage style.
Image: AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine

For those who have inherited a fur that feels too old-fashioned to wear, but too precious and warm to get rid of, there are options. If the quality is still good—ie: the coat feels supple and not dry or papery, and it’s not shedding hairs—there are lots of ways to repurpose the coat. A professional furrier can cut a massive mink coat into a slimmer shape, a cropped jacket, or even a vest and some mittens, earmuffs, or a hat.

If the thought of wearing fur on the outside just doesn’t appeal, you could even line a non-fur jacket with it. Vogue’s Alessandra Codinha tracked down the Vienna-based fashion label, Envie Heartwork, which lines parkas made from used military tents with recycled fur coats.

And if you’ve inherited a fur that you just can’t wear, the US secondhand clothing chain Buffalo Exchange accepts donations of real fur in any condition for animal rehabilation centers which use the material as comforting bedding for injured and orphaned animals.

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