Two materials, side by side
Faux fur is a textile. The pile is acrylic, modacrylic or polyester — polymers manufactured from petrochemical feedstock — knitted or tufted onto a synthetic backing. Synthetic textiles shed microfibres in manufacture, in wear, and above all in the wash. Those fibres are small enough to pass through wastewater treatment, and they have been found in rivers, in oceans, in soil, and in the bodies of animals and people. It is one of the better-documented environmental problems in the clothing industry.
A MOGSki piece is hide and hair the whole way through. Our footprint sits elsewhere — in dressing the hide, in the rubber soles, the hardware, the thread and the shipping — and that is where we account for it.
Where our hides come from
MOGSki works with two groups of natural material, and we describe them differently because we know them differently.
Our cattle hide, sheepskin and shearling are byproducts of other industries. They come from animals raised and consumed for food, and the hide is the part that would otherwise be discarded. That is a supply chain we can follow.
Our mink, fox and raccoon dog fur reaches us through a separate supply chain. Each product page names the material in that piece. We will publish the sourcing detail for these furs once the documentation is complete, and not before.
Built to be repaired
Our boots are hand-stitched with accessible seams and a rubber outsole that can be replaced, so a skilled cobbler or our own workshop can resole and restitch them. How long a pair lasts depends on how it is worn and how it is cared for. What we can tell you is what the construction is for: repair, and another season.
A synthetic pile garment reaches the end of its life once the pile mats down or the backing tears.
Why we write it this way
Plenty of brands would take the paragraphs above and compress them into a single word. We would rather give you the parts, and let you decide what they add up to. The choice belongs to you, and it deserves to be made with full information.
Read more about our sourcing, or the full comparison.