Fur Industry Is Also Looking For Net Red Cooperation, Do You Feel Reliable?

Hundreds of men and a few women gathered in a round theater at Saga Furs headquarters. They were wearing white coats, looking at auction documents, and making strategies on how to compete in the auction of mink, fox fur and raccoon skins.

Today is the fourth day of Saga's one week auction. The auction will be held once a season, and fur buyers will gather in the hope of hoarding some fur. The bidders came from all over the world. The fur they bought has been ordered to make Fendi's coat, Saint Laurent scarf and other luxuries.

A bidder stands out from the crowd. The Fire Lady keeps a neat black wave head and wears a silver jacket. Her goal is blue shadow fox fur. Fire Lady, the real name of Fu Zhien, is the founder of a two year old fur e-commerce company in China. Its sales volume was 220 million yuan last year. She came to Finland to bid for "top quality products", which is the highest grade of fur, usually the target of white hot bidding competition. The winning price of "Fire Lady" for "blue shadow" fox fur is 1050 euros (about 8000 yuan) per fox skin. By comparison, the average selling price of less rare fox skins is only 80 euros (about 620 yuan).

However, despite the bubbling of the auction, the fur market has never been so uncertain. The International Fur Trade Association (IFF) said that global fur sales plummeted from 40 billion US dollars in 2015 (about 275 billion yuan) to 33 billion US dollars last year (about 227 billion yuan).

According to IFF, fur sellers blamed it on the slowdown in the Chinese market, which accounts for nearly half of world sales (aside from Fire Lady and more than 405 thousand and 500 micro-blog fans do not mention it). China has gone through a typical boom and bust period: as the demand and price surged in the early part of this century, farmers began to raise more foxes and mink. When the economic growth slowed down, the fur industry left a huge inventory, which is still being digested.

We must ensure that fur is regarded as a fashion element.

Until recently, the fur industry could still depend on the growing business of the West. But political challenges in Europe and the United States are threatening production and trade. Just two weeks ago, Ireland followed the example of Norway, Luxemburg and Belgium, announcing a phased ban on fur farming. Norway, Luxemburg and Belgium issued a ban last year. Fur sales are being banned in Losangeles and San Francisco, and the New York Municipal Council is considering similar laws.

Over the past two years, animal rights activists have succeeded in forcing many top luxury brands including Gucci, Michael Kors and Burberry to stop using fur. The major brands continue to join the campaign - the last time Prada stopped using fur in May.

Although the fur industry may have survived one crisis alone, the negative effects of various threats have begun to emerge. At an auction in December 2014, the price of blue shadow fox was 40% higher. Meanwhile, raccoon fur prices in Finland have fallen by more than half, with an average price of only 63 euros (about 490 yuan). Overall, Saga's auction sales fell by 28% in the last fiscal year, to 314 million euros (about 2 billion 400 million yuan).

Under the besieged situation, the fur industry is looking for a way to raise prices. What is the latest strategy? Seek support from influential red net.

Saga Furs and Bryanboy Cooperation Fund photo source: the other side provides

This year, Saga hired Bryan Grea Yambao (his nickname Bryanboy on the Instagram is more widely known) designed a series of fur themed capsules. The first five pack series was quietly listed in Luisa Via Roma in April, and they plan to launch more robust marketing activities in the autumn. The second series is larger and is not expected to be released until next year.

Saga rarely sells fur to consumers. As the second largest auction house in fur industry, its main business is to link fur farmers and buyers, and earn commissions from every transaction, so as to make profits. But extraordinary measures must be taken at extraordinary times.

"We must ensure that fur is regarded as a fashion element," Tia Matthews, director of fashion at Saga Furs, said. We can't invest hundreds of millions of dollars in doing global advertising campaigns in this area, so we must take measures to find influential red net to discuss the business prospects of the company in this way.

Saga Furs has been working with the fashion industry for a long time to help students and bring designers to their innovation and design institutions in Copenhagen. But the influence of T show is weakening. Instagram has become a new battleground for major brands to compete for consumers' attention. Fur sales have also undergone tremendous changes in recent years. Consumers no longer want to have a mink coat on the T stage, but prefer to pick up their fur. For example, add the coyote fur border on the Canada Goose jacket, or hang the Fendi fox fur keychain.

There are still many supporters in the fur industry. Many brands of banned fur, including Gucci and Prada, say they hardly use this material. According to Euromonitor data, sales in the US market have increased steadily, reaching 531 million US dollars last year (about 3 billion 700 million yuan), up from 327 million US dollars in 2013 (about 2 billion 300 million yuan).

Hurwitz Exports is a large fur supplier based in the UK. Steven Hurwitz, general manager, went to Finland to attend a Saga auction. He said: "our enterprises do not rely on luxury brands such as Prada and Gucci all over the world. We rely on huge economic aggregates. I am a commodity dealer... We rely on a huge market. " He also said that a big market like China is slowing down demand, which is a heavy blow to the fur industry.

Seeking help from influential people is aimed at promoting the popularity of fur outside China. Saga has been working with influential red net since 2015, initially aimed at increasing its number of fans in social media. Recently, the luxury tour of Lapland (Lapland), which plunged to a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, was very popular. The trip to Lapland was co organized with outdoor apparel brands Yves Salomon and Moose Knuckles.

Saga's strategy is to promote fur as a sustainable substitute for artificial fur. Artificial fur is usually made of plastic. Experts say this idea is hard to spread on social media.

Luca Solca, a senior luxury analyst at Bernstien, said: "the plan must be open to animal treatment. How can we make consumers or brands stand out? How can consumers or brands realize that they are using or wearing sustainable fur?

There are some luxury giants in Bryanboy's customers. Brands like Cartier and Loewe have asked him to promote their latest products to his 683 thousand fans on Instagram. His fans are mostly young people (67% of fans are between 19 and 32 years old, according to HYPR).

Bryanboy has worked with Saga to promote fur in social media. When Saga auctioneers contacted him again, he suggested that they collaborate in the introduction of accessories, including eyeboxes, handbags and removable collars, inspired by the rich life he flew by jet. (Saga Furs and Bryanboy declined to comment on the financial terms of cooperation).

But unlike Dior Montaigne, the use of fur will lead to polarization. Social media has become the center of anti fur sports. However, Bryanboy is not worried about a strong boycott.

He said, "I often wear fur. Surprisingly, even though the whole political position is all around it, I rarely see any comments in my social media. I have many fans and friends who support fur very much, and they know that I also like fur.

Experts agree that Saga Furs must take part in the Internet debate if it wants to contain the rising anti fur sentiment. Hannah Kamaie, the strategic director of Interbrand, a brand consultancy, said that Saga Furs might be very difficult to pass on information to consumers.

"Net red groups and terminal consumers are not fans they know," she said. They need to consider who their customers are and try to talk with their customers with their views. Their customers are not end-users, but brands, enterprises and decision makers.

Meanwhile, animal rights activists are continuing their anti fur campaign.

PJ Smith, director of fashion policy at Humane Society of The United States, said about the activities of Bryanboy organizations: "consumers will not be fooled. In fact, consumers do not want products that will bring extreme pain to animals at all. Smart companies are changing their practices, rather than staying at home.

Of course, the capsule series promoted by Internet Celebrities is unlikely to substantially increase the sales of fur, which is enough to offset the impact of global political and economic forces. But as Mark Oaten, chief executive of the International Fur Association, points out, marketing is not just about sales. It has something to do with forming cognition, and constantly developing business prospects with your existing team.

He said, "why do you advertise to consumers? There are many reasons, one of which is after-sales service. This is to make consumers feel comfortable and happy about their purchase decisions. "