Return of the Lamb
No one knows for sure why the fur of newborn and fetal lambs has become fashionable again. Some fashion writers speculate that it has to do with design houses purposely trying to shock people and garner media attention. Others suggest that designers are merely resuscitating the influences of '60s pop culture. Then there are those who believe the fur industry is paying designers large sums to incorporate their products into fashion wear.
Some animal advocates suspect part of the reason for the resurgence is the fur's deceptive look and feel. Whether karakul or broadtail, the fur more closely resembles watered silk or crushed velvet. Broadtail—the fur of a karakul lamb about two weeks before birth—is usually black, shiny, and so tightly curled that it forms smooth ridges. The fur noticeably loses luster over the next ten days, and uncurls and lightens in color rapidly within the first two or three days after birth. The younger the lamb or fetus, the more valuable the pelt.
The fur's deceptive appearance, combined with clever marketing, can trick consumers who may otherwise wish to avoid fur garments and accessories. A reporter with the Daily Mail in London recently talked to a fur dealer in Frankfurt, Germany who said that he sells karakul coats under the "Kara-Cool" label, which, according to the journalist, "appeals to the younger shoppers."
"The new processing techniques and the new colors mean we are appealing to a younger customer," another fur dealer told the Daily Mail. "We used to say that all you could make out of karakul was a black coat fit for a funeral, but not anymore."
Kara-Cool, astrakhan, broadtail, and Persian lamb are just a few of the labels under which the fur of newborn or fetal lambs could be sold; others include swakara or krimmer. It would seem clear that designers and retailers will continually find a way to repackage and remarket karakul and broadtail fur to an unsuspecting public—a public that has no idea how ugly the slaughter of lambs (and their mothers) can be.
The HSUS found otherwise in a groundbreaking investigation, perhaps the first investigation ever to videotape a karakul farm in central Asia.
In March 2000, HSUS investigators toured a farm near Bukhara, in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, and found that pregnant ewes were routinely slaughtered for fetal pelts. Graphic videotape shot at the farm showed a pregnant ewe held down, her throat slit, and her stomach slashed wide so that a worker could remove the developing fetus—the "raw material" for coats, vests, and other broadtail fashions.
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