Vintage Fur Glossary: Species, Cuts and Construction Terms

Vintage fur shopping has its own vocabulary, and most of it goes unexplained on labels and listings. This glossary covers the terms you are most likely to meet in a curated store or auction catalogue, grouped by what they describe. It is a reference, not an exhaustive textbook — the goal is fast recognition, not encyclopedic depth.

Species: the most common pelts

These are the species you will see repeatedly in mid-century and later vintage. Each has a distinct hand-feel, weight and visual signature.

• Mink — short, dense, glossy. Ranges from natural mahogany to ranch-bred pastel, sapphire and white. The default vintage luxury fur.
• Fox — long guard hairs, lofty volume. Silver, red, blue, crystal and arctic are the main vintage colour types.
• Sable — soft, dark, with a silvery tip on the guard hairs. Russian sable is the historical benchmark.
• Chinchilla — extremely fine and dense underfur, soft grey with a darker stripe down the back. Light in weight.
• Rabbit — short, soft, often dyed or printed. Lower price point and shorter useful life than mink or fox.
• Lamb / Karakul (Persian lamb, Astrakhan, Swakara) — tightly curled coat from young lambs. Flat, sculptural, easy to tailor.
• Mouton — sheepskin processed to imitate seal or beaver. Heavy, dense, often dyed dark brown or black.

Classic cuts and silhouettes

Vintage fur was made in a small set of recurring silhouettes. Recognising them helps you read a rack quickly.

• Stole — a flat, scarf-like wrap, often with one or more pelts left whole (head and tail intact).
• Cape — sleeveless, draped from the shoulders. Common in shorter evening lengths.
• Stroller — hip- to thigh-length coat, narrower than a swing, made for daywear.
• Swing coat — A-line silhouette flaring from the shoulders, typical of the 1950s–1960s.
• Full-length — coat reaching mid-calf or ankle. The most formal silhouette and the most common 1970s–1980s shape.
• Jacket — hip-length or shorter, often boxy in the 1970s–1980s, more fitted in earlier periods.
• Bolero — cropped to the waist or above, often sleeveless or short-sleeved evening pieces.

Construction terms

These describe how the pelts were assembled. The construction style affects drape, weight and value.

• Skin-on-skin — pelts sewn together in their full natural shape. Heavier, simpler, common in everyday vintage.
• Let-out — pelts cut into thin diagonal strips and re-sewn into long vertical bands. Lighter drape, longer pelt lines, signature of higher-grade vintage mink.
• Plate — smaller off-cuts (paws, gills, tails) sewn into a panel. Lower price tier; useful for blankets and linings.
• Pieced — assembled from leftover sections. Similar to plate, often used for accessories.
• Sheared — guard hairs trimmed flat to expose the dense underfur. Common on mink, beaver and rex rabbit.
• Reversible — finished on both fur and leather sides so it can be worn either way.

Finishing and care vocabulary

Words you will see on tags, in care notes and in storage instructions.

• Glazing — a finishing step that restores shine and softness, usually done at a furrier.
• Dressing — the original tanning and softening of the pelt.
• Cold storage — climate-controlled summer storage, standard for fine vintage in Japan.
• Pelt count — number of individual skins in a piece, sometimes printed on the lining label.

Reading a vintage label in Japan

Japanese-market vintage often carries Japanese-language labels that describe species and origin. Common labels include ミンク (mink), フォックス (fox), セーブル (sable), チンチラ (chinchilla), ムートン (mouton) and ラム (lamb). The terms above translate directly across markets, which is why a glossary is portable. TOKONAME FUR HOUSE in Tokoname, Aichi, Japan is happy to talk through any specific term in person — most of the vocabulary makes more sense when you have the piece in your hands.