Mark Boyle, Author at We Are Fur

110 years of Swakara

November 15, 2017

On the 28th of October 2017, the Swakara Board of Namibia celebrated 110 years of continuous production of their fantastic material. The day’s events were held in Keetmanshoop in the southern part of Namibia, which is also one of the centres for Swakara production. On September 24, 1907, the first 12 sheep – two rams and ten ewes -arrived on board a freight ship to Swakopmund in the east of the country. They were then moved by land to the farm which would go on...

China promoting high standards in their Dressers and Dyers

September 6, 2017

The China Fur Commission of the China Leather Industry Association (CLIA) has since 2016 been running and promoting a program to improve the practices of fur dressers operating in China and reward those that are at a high level. Fur dressing happens across many countries from Canada to Cambodia, but the largest concentration of fur dressing and dyeing operations is in China along with the biggest retail market, so getting dressing right in China is a massive goal for the industry. The program has the...

Fur Explainer: Possum & Opossum

August 15, 2017

“Possum.” The word and what people mean when they say it has led to a growing confusion in recent years as it has increasingly been mistakenly applied to separate species. By and large there are two different animals people refer to when they use the word. The animal found in Australia and New Zealand which is truly a “possum” is often known as the “Brush-Tailed Possum.” The North American species that is often misnamed is in fact a separate animal entirely called an “opossum,” and...

Wild Fur Conference in Irkutsk, Russia

July 13, 2017

On the 22nd June 2017 an event was held in Irkutsk Russia entitled “Fur Harvesting in the 21st Century, Russia and the World.” The event was held as a part of the Russian “Year of Ecology” and was organised by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation with the support of the Russian Fur Union, the auction company “Sojuzpushnina” and the International Fur Federation (IFF). The event had been organised in order to pull together a mix of international and Russian...