Fur Commission USA had an interesting item in September about fur sales — preliminary figures from the Fur Information Council of America suggest that retails sales of furs hit about $1.7 billion in 2002. That would put retail sales just shy of the 1986-87 record high of $1.8 billion.
Animal rights activists have often taken credit for the huge decline in fur that saw sales drop from about $1.8 billion in 1987 to just $1 billion in 1990. Others blamed the decline on the 1987 stock market collapse and other economic factors.
Regardless of which explanation you prefer, it doesn’t appear that the drop in fur sales reflected any fundamental shift in consumer attitudes toward fur.
Source:
Preliminary results: US fur retail sales continue to surge. Fur Commission USA, September 3, 2003.