What to do with mink coat

[LEMtheoriginal]

Please don't turn this into an anti fur debate, i hate the fir trade as much as the next person.

I have my mum's fur coat, she died at Christmas.

I don't know what to do with it? I gave a faus fur coat to a friend but obv dudnt want the fur. Just tried a vintage clothes shop and i swear youd have thought i wanted to sell her the scalps of murdered children

It was my nans before that. The poor ctitters are long passed.

It feels wrong just to discard it for two reasons.

1. It belonged to my mum and as such there is emotional atrachnent.
2. It seems pretty disrespectful to the poor bloody mink to just discard it.

I don't care about money, will a charity shop be able to mske use of it?

Any thoughts? I don't want to keep it - feels wrong

My MIL wears hers (inherited from her DM) in the house in the winter, as her house is very cold. I think it’s quite respectful to the animals who died to get the most possible use out of it really (appreciate others won’t agree) so if I were you I’d get it changed into a little lap rug for cold days as suggested upthread.

@willstarttomorrow

And for those suggesting that you turn it into something else, either you are comfortable with fur or you are not. Like most arguements in adulthood, there is not only black or white but mainly grey.

The issue here being that the fur has already been removed from the mink and the mink isn’t coming back. Recycling a vintage fur product is not contributing to the continued existence of the fur trade, which as far as I am concerned is the main point.

Agree. And it’s not going to landfill either.

Wildlife charaties and rehabbers sometimes take fur coats as they're good for animal bedding.
I know a few years ago charaties were collecting fur coats to send to Syria, I'm not sure if those campaigns are still running but it might be worth looking into.

Give it a decent burial.

I’ve got my great aunt’s old fur coat. Morally I think it’s wrong to buy fur now as I don’t want to support the fur industry or contribute to animal cruelty, but this coat is 70 years old and I’m not going to throw it away. It makes me think of her and it would be wasteful.

I once went to a concert bt an Armenian youth organisation in London the audience was dykk of mums, aunties, grandma's, many of them were wearing furs, and they didn't look secondhand

Exactly. So wearing or keeping one that has been passed from one generation to the next has nothing to do with the demand for fur.
There are loads of young people in England who parade around in Canada Goose- that’s come from the love of labels... not a fur that is decades old and has been passed down.

@MrsSprogett

I wear mine, I have two. Not popular I know. Mink steal swans eggs and eat ducklings, They are vicious. The coats will last me a lifetime. Im not replacing it every year with something made of synthetic materials that males up land fill

Yeah they should go to Waitrose for their food like everyone else, the selfish thieves

Oh wait, they can’t when they are factory farmed in a tiny box all their short lives.

I would donate it to an animal shelter, I know it sounds daft but real fur would surely make very warm and comfortable bedding for rescued kittens or smaller animals. Maybe even a smaller animal fosterer would use it for this.

Revoltingly wasteful to bin it - the mink won't magically come back to life. Wear it or sell it. Plenty of markets. The Danes are still farming mink for fur.

OP is talking about a very old coat belonging to grandmother and passed to mother. She has no intention of ever purchasing a mink coat. Let’s not take it out of context

@ThatOtherPoster

Lots of real fur for sale on eBay. Sell it and donate some of the money to PETA if you feel bad.

Don’t wash it!!!!!! All the hairs will fall out.

Agree with the selling and donating to a worthy animal charity.... but please don't donate to PETA 😡

@Ihopeyourcakeisshit

Wafts size 8 frame through thread Joan Collins stylee.

@Ihopeyourcakeisshit I'll fight you for it.

Real fur coats are used as bedding for sick animals. I have one that has been in the loft for years, don't know what to do with it (though it might be moth eaten by now, or have mice nesting in it, nobody goes in the loft).

Ebay?

I'd be interested to see a comparison of the environmental and human impact between a 70 year old fur coat, made by skilled craftspeople, that has potentially kept three generations of women warm, compared to a cheap coat of man-made fibre that has to be replaced every five years and is made in a sweat-shop.

I know which I'd rather wear.

I’ve got a couple that my Mother had. They aren’t mink though, rabbit and something else. They’ve been sitting in an old wardrobe for 5 years now whilst in decide what to do.

Am liking the idea of them going back to nature at the moment or maybe making into a blanket but I don’t know how I feel about the idea of sitting under it.

Haven’t read full thread so this might have been said but we had similar situation. Options are:

• PETA to use in their adverts.
• wildlife rescue as bedding for little ones without a mum because the fur helps them to feel comfort when sleeping.

The difficulty with wearing it, selling it or making something from it, is that if others see it and like it then it continues the idea that it’s acceptable to wear/use fur. So if you are against the fur trade best to get rid of it.

I donated my mum's to a homeless shelter. Fur is very warm and someone sleeping rough on the street would be very grateful for that warmth. The guy in the shelter said it was brilliant, they don't give a shit about wading into the debate, they'd prefer someone not die of hypothermia.
Obviously not all shelters will necessarily take the same line.

Ethically you should put it in the trash. Selling it, even as secondhand, perpetuates the idea that any fur, new or secondhand, is desirable / acceptable.
Practically, put it on eBay. Someone will want it at the right price and you may be surprised.

@ShrikeAttack

I'd be interested to see a comparison of the environmental and human impact between a 70 year old fur coat, made by skilled craftspeople, that has potentially kept three generations of women warm, compared to a cheap coat of man-made fibre that has to be replaced every five years and is made in a sweat-shop.

I know which I'd rather wear.

Yes!!!!

Bit like diamonds and laptops. Easy for most people to point finger at diamond trade as evil as they type away at their laptop or smartphone.

NOT peta!! Clueless London types who make things worse and go for the wrong targets due to a malicious agenda. Same as Shelter, the housing charity that provides no housing.