Fur Collar Question?

[TXFlyGuy]

Is real always better than fake? I have a B-15 (fake), and 3 G-1's (real). One G-1 collar feels course, and is not comfortable on the back of my neck.
The fake collar is plush, and silky smooth. Hard to tell it from the real ones.

 

[Edward]

Good question. It's easy to knee-jerk assume the real, thing is always superior as a material, but if it's been badly processed, from a mal-treated animal.... What fake can give you that nature rarely (if ever) can is uniformity. I think a lot of folks assume that fake also means cheap; when the G1 switched from real to fake on the collar, the wdiely held view is that that marks the point where quality diminishes. Course, there's fake and there's fake; I've seen outstanding fake mouton you'd never believe was fake, and some that is appalling.

 

[Pdxgeo]

For me synthetic fibers of any kind against my skin cause a bit of irritation after a while. That said real fibers can obviously do the same as in the case of one of your jackets...

So...hard to say. I would still vote for "real" but that doesnt mean its "better"

 

[ton312]

I think the real mouton is just more luxurious feeling. Plus the fake stuff ages poorly, in contrast the real fur can gain a patina all it's own. My Vanson has the fake stuff and it's fine for warmth but I suspect when I send my Johnson to Alan to have him make a snap off collar I'll be asking him to do two so the Vanson can benefit from the real deal as well..

 

[Peacoat]

I think the real mouton is just more luxurious feeling. Plus the fake stuff ages poorly, in contrast real fur can the gain a patina all it's own. My Vanson has the fake stuff and it's fine for warmth but I suspect when I send my Johnson to Alan to have him make a snap off collar I'll be asking him to do two so the Vanson can benefit from the real deal as well..

Exactly. If exposed to enough sunlight, the real mouton gains a nice patina. Unfortunately, my 1962 G-1 collar hasn't yet developed any patina. I may leave it in the sunlight when the sun returns to see if it ages any.

 

[bn1966]

I prefer mouton in general & have replaced fake with the real thing before, because I like the way it ages. That said I've a sneaky regard for the green collar on my B-15 & the Artic white crazy ruff on my N-2B

 

[Deacon211]

I don't necessarily think all fake fur is made the same. But some of the fake collars on G-1s wind up looking, to borrow the phrase from a friend, like "a matted sheep dog's a**hole".