Real Fur vs Faux Fur
Real material,
real honesty.
We use real fur. Here is what it is.
Synthetic fur is widely held to be the kinder, more modern choice. The picture is more interesting than that, in both directions.
What follows is a side-by-side look at the two materials in the terms we can stand behind: what each one is made of, what it leaves behind in the wash, how it is cleaned, and how it ends.
One comes from an animal. The other comes from petroleum.
Faux fur is a textile. The pile is acrylic, modacrylic or polyester — polymers manufactured from petrochemical feedstock — knitted or tufted onto a synthetic backing.
MOGSki® works with two groups of natural material. 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. Our mink, fox and raccoon dog fur reaches us through a separate supply chain. Each product page names the material in that piece, and we will publish the sourcing detail for these furs once the documentation is complete.
Animal hide and hair. The cattle and sheep hides are byproducts of other industries.
A textile knitted from petroleum-derived polymer.
A synthetic pile releases plastic fibre every time it is washed.
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.
Hide and hair, through and through.
Releases microplastic fibre, most of all in the wash.
Snow, a damp cloth, and a little patience.
A MOGSki piece is surface-cleaned. Fresh snow or a damp cloth handles light soiling. Anything more stubborn takes a little mild soap in cool water and a clean cloth, then air-drying at room temperature. Dried mud crumbles away between your fingers. That is the whole routine.
A synthetic pile is usually machine washed, which is convenient — and the wash is also where most of the microfibre shedding happens.
Surface clean. Snow, cloth, mild soap.
Machine washable — and the wash is where the fibres go.
Built to be resoled, restitched, and worn again.
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.
Resoleable. Restitchable. Made to come back.
Replaced once the pile mats down.
Nature makes originals. Machines make copies.
Every hide carries its own pattern, marking and tone. Each MOGSki piece is one of one, because each animal was — which is also why the piece that arrives has a character of its own alongside the photograph.
Synthetic pile is manufactured to a specification: the same colour, the same texture, repeated until the order is filled. That is simply the difference between a material that is grown and a material that is produced.
One of a kind, always.
Identical by design.
We would rather be believed than be liked.
Now you know.
The choice belongs to you, and it deserves to be made with full information. That is what this page is for: to tell you what our material is, where it comes from, and how it behaves over the years you keep it.
Read more about our sourcing, or the artisans who make our pieces.
MOGSki®