Husbands Undeterred By Rising Cost Of Mink

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30396, 21 March 1964, Page 17

Husbands Undeterred By Rising Cost Of Mink

Mink, the cosiest status symbol a lady can buy, is becoming more common, but no cheaper.

Supply, demand and prices are all on the rise, and there is no sign of any softening in price.

In addition to Canada and the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, Japan and the Scandinavian countries are all breeding and selling more mink each year. Six years ago about

8,000,000 ranch mink pelts were sold a year all over the world. Today, the rate is about 16,000,000 a year. A ranch mink stole costs between 200 dollars and 2000 dollars (between £66 and £660 sterling). A full length coat is likely to cost between 1200 dollars and 6000 dollars. Retailers sell about 50 times as many stoles as full length coats.

A typical full-length ranch mink coat requires about 50 pelts. Cleaning, cutting, sewing, lining and finishing for each coat represents between 100 and 150 man-hours of labour.

Wild mink, which are smaller, cost more because more pelts, and therefore more labour, too, are needed for each coat. Canada’s 1800 breeders believe they are to some extent protected against sudden changes in fashion by the number of colours which they have developed by careful breeding of ranch mink. More than 30 shades are now available, and it is possible to change the emphasis of production from one shade to another in response to changing tastes.—Reuter.