Furrier Course

The furrier is that professional figure who manufactures, sells or repairs leather objects within an industry or a factory dedicated to this work. The term fur indicates the external skin, also called mantle or more rarely fleece, of some species of mammals which is thickly covered with more or less long hair depending on the species. This in many animal species can be separated with relative ease from the underlying fleshy layers of the muscles thanks to the particular characteristics of the deep fascia and subcutaneous canvas of these skins. Due to the different use made of them, it is customary to distinguish the skins according to the part of the animal's body from which they come. We then speak of ventral skins and dorsal skins which differ in the functions they perform in nature: while the hair on the back protects better from rain and snow, the ventral one, which is very soft, protects better from heat and cold. Fur processing consists of a whole series of procedures, usually still carried out with artisanal methods, aimed at removing the animal's fur and treating it with chemical processes in order to prevent its putrefaction. The leather, then, ready for sale, is subsequently processed and sewn by the clothing houses to produce the finished fur. Animal fur, like any biological product, is subject to putrefaction and other decomposition phenomena operated by enzymes by saprophytic microorganisms. It follows that, in order to be used in clothing, the fur must be further processed to be made rot.