Things to consider before buying shearling fur coats

Author: Alen Cooper

Shearling coats are a timeless trend in both men’s and women’s fashion. The clothing range is the quintessential item for any functional closet for ages together. In fact the craze for this variety of plush winter dressing items is so robust that the items are often passed on to younger generations as family heirloom. But why is this variety of clothing products so overwhelmingly popular? Well, there are more factors to it than you can count. Let us explore few of those in the following lines of the blog post.

Reasons of popularity

  1. Durability and easy to maintain – The fabric is undeniably strong and rugged compared to many other fabrics. In other words, clothing items made of it requires minimal care and maintenance to last for years at a stretch.
  2. Warm and comfortable – The fabric offers significant warmth and comfort even in extreme cold weather. In fact it is warmer than duck or goose down. The fabric is suitable for geographical regions that experience harsh, bitter winter for months together with the temperature running as low as several degrees below the freezing point.
  3. Light in weight – In terms of weight, it is much lighter than fur.

Usually the range of clothing items is resistant to water and snow. They usually do not get damaged if you take the minimal care. Nor you need to take to dry cleaners under normal circumstances and that way it saves your hard-earned money. If your prized coat gets wet in rain or snow, all you need to need to do is leave it under a shade with natural ventilation for hours together till it gets dried on its own. Once the dressing item gets dried, brush off the water spots from the surface. Moths and insects do not damage this fabric. When your stylish winter jacket is not in use, say as in summers, store it in a dry place wrapped in a paper of a cardboard box so that it can breathe and does not suffocate.

Technical difference between sheepskin and shearling

Common people often get confused by the terms mentioned above thinking both are one and same. However that is not the case and the two are completely different. Competent designers making genuine shearling jacket for men for years at a stretch voluntarily contribute to clarify the confusion. Shearling is obtained in tanning the pelts sourced from young lambs a special procedure. The hide is tanned with the natural wool still intact on the surface. The woolen surface remains on one side while the suede leather surface e remains on the other. Usually the woolen side is worn inside to ensure optimal warmth and comfort in severe cold. On the other hand sheepskin is sourced from the hides of fully grown sheep. However both the terms are often used interchangeably.

As already mentioned above, this range of garments is resistant to water. But that does not mean the fabric does not get soaked. Presence of dense wool prevents water to penetrate through one surface to the other. This is the reason that makes lambskin garments highly functional in downpours and snow. You can slip on the coat in a light rain or in a snowy day to enjoy its warmth and comfort better.

Why shearling is costly

Shearling lambskin is by every standard pretty costly. However that does not affect it commercial prospect. But why is it so expensive? There are several factors that contribute to the steep price.

  1. Raising of the sheep – the coats that are costlier invariably have denser wool and thinner leather. However they offer the same degree of warmth and comfort as the more affordable varieties although being more lightweight. In this context raising of the sheep becomes crucial. Sheep that are raised in colder climates, Merino for example, have denser and thicker wool for more warmth compared to the animals raised in more moderate climatic zones. The later has lesser volume of wool and heavier hides as well.
  2. Manual labor – These coats are made from several matching pelts so that it seems the wool for a finished came from a particular lamb. Matching the pelts is a crucial part of the tanning procedure. The job solely depends on the skills and expertise of a professional. To cut a long story short, the procedure is not only time consuming but is also heavily manual incentive in nature. In addition to that specific design features add to the beauty and appeal of these coats, which in turn also sum up to the cost.

3. Softness of wool – genuine shearling fur coats are soft and supple irrespective of the item that you choose. But the costlier a coat, the softer and denser is the wool. This factors too plays its role in determining the price of any given product line.

However this variety of winter clothing merchandises provides much greater mileage on every relevant aspect than you can expect. And that is exactly the reason why smart and trendy people invest their hard-earned money on garments made from this fabric.