# Where to buy fur



## Quad_killeR (Aug 19, 2009)

Has anyone purchased fur from the following site:
http://www.mendels.com/fur2.shtml
If so how was the quality?

What are some other good sites to find fur?

Any help is appreciated.


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## Keryu (Aug 19, 2009)

I have never worked with mendels before so I can't really comment on their quality but I can see that they are really over priced. I bought from Distinctive Fabrics and I love what I got <3
http://www.distinctivefabric.com/fabric.php?product=SLDLGHRFUR1


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## Glitch (Aug 19, 2009)

Fabric.com has fur that is really good quality.  I love their shag; it is so soft and has a nice pile of 1.5 inches along with a decent color variety.  They also have realistic fur with natural tones.  ^^  (19 USD for a yard with a 60" width on the shag I used)
And, last time I checked, shipping is free.

http://www.fabric.com

If you want to try a place, drop the money to get some swatches of the furs you're interested in; don't dive headfirst into a site that you haven't used yet.  :3


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## Glitch (Aug 19, 2009)

Note: The fur I used from Fabric.com is 100% Acrylic.  

It stands up well to getting wet; I should know, I got drenched in a thunderstorm.


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## Matt (Aug 20, 2009)

I never considered getting fur offline. I've been looking all over town, and my town has like 8 fabric stores. But they don't have fake fur in stock, or what they do have is shit.


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## aftershok (Aug 20, 2009)

I found some fur on ebay http://shop.ebay.com/guyt7/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=   not sure of quality,, but might be worth a shot.


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## Glitch (Aug 20, 2009)

Matt said:


> I never considered getting fur offline. I've been looking all over town, and my town has like 8 fabric stores. But they don't have fake fur in stock, or what they do have is shit.



I really don't advise buying local; at JoAnn, fur quality is horrendous.  I know the site I pointed out is good and trustworthy;  I got my fur in less than a week and it was better than I expected.


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## Trpdwarf (Aug 20, 2009)

I have ordered from Mendal's many times. It's a good provider. As for quality? It depends upon what you get. Not all faux fur types are equal. If you are not sure if something they have will work, you can always get a free swatch set from them and compare similar desired materials.


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## Trpdwarf (Aug 20, 2009)

Glitch said:


> I really don't advise buying local; at JoAnn, fur quality is horrendous.  I know the site I pointed out is good and trustworthy;  I got my fur in less than a week and it was better than I expected.



Buying local is not a bad thing. It's not  bad thing at all. You just have to be careful what you buy. Bad faux fur that turns up at a place like JoAnn can easily turn up on a site online. I've seen plenty of sites selling "Fun fur" which is bottom of the barrel crap.

I went out looking for a local store and found one not even a 5 minute drive away, that stocks a really nice selection of faux furs, and most of it that hits the 15 dollar or more per yard mark is good quality. The stuff that hits the 30 buck per yard mark is luxurious but I can get it half yards if need be.The selection is pretty big compared to what I've seen at other fabric stores too. Sometimes we find really unique material we have not found elsewhere. Such as the fire-orange short pile that we used on Zeke's head.

The thing about local stores is that they are hit and miss if they carry faux fur at all, and if they do you probably won't find a high variety of color. But always, always try to look in your area (don't tell people otherwise, that's bad advice), because if you do find what you need locally it saves on the cost of shipping and saves on time. You won't find it if you didn't look at all. It does not cost gas to call up after looking in the phone book to narrow down places that carry some faux fur.

Besides what makes or breaks it for a material when it comes to suiting is often just the backing, and if a site does not offer swatches you are left in the dark until the material comes in. But sites can offer bad backing on material just as a store does. I've seen it too.

I've ordered an entire white swatch set from Mendel's recently to decide on a short white pile faux fur for a commission, and the best looking one had the worst backing, but the one with the best backing (from experience) does not hold dye well. So I had to go with an in between.


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## Glitch (Aug 20, 2009)

You're lucky to have a store like that around; no matter where I have lived (and that is many places), there have never been good furs - even with a lot of looking.  Plus, I can't be experimenting, seeing as I am not even old enough to get a driver's license.  ._.  My parents aren't too keen on jumping about the city for no reason, and biking in Tampa is pretty much hell with the spontaneous weather, traffic, heat, and more traffic.  

Fabric.com is good; the backing on their shag is great and they don't have that pathetic Fun Fur in stock at all.  The shipping is quick and free, and that is always a plus.

So, for me and others of the like, ordering offline is the only choice we've got.  But if there is a store with good furs and a decent enough selection, go ahead.


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## Trpdwarf (Aug 20, 2009)

Glitch said:


> You're lucky to have a store like that around; no matter where I have lived (and that is many places), there have never been good furs - even with a lot of looking.  Plus, I can't be experimenting, seeing as I am not even old enough to get a driver's license.  ._.  My parents aren't too keen on jumping about the city for no reason, and biking in Tampa is pretty much hell with the spontaneous weather, traffic, heat, and more traffic.
> 
> Fabric.com is good; the backing on their shag is great and they don't have that pathetic Fun Fur in stock at all.  The shipping is quick and free, and that is always a plus.
> 
> So, for me and others of the like, ordering offline is the only choice we've got.  But if there is a store with good furs and a decent enough selection, go ahead.



Perhaps I am. However I know my town is not going to be the only one with stores like that. I've been on LJ where people post about how they went to small fabric stores and hit the jack pot with nice faux furs.

For people like you, yes online is probably the best way. The other way is not bad though because some people might have the ability to call up stores, ask the right questions, and then head out to check it out.

Either way is advisable depending upon your circumstance. Just don't say "Don't do this" just because it does not work for you because of your circumstance. It may work for others.


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## Asswings (Aug 20, 2009)

I've never been to a johanns that carried decent faux fur.

However, I did find some okay black and brown fur at Hancocks. It seemed nice to me, but then again, the only fur I had to compare it to was the local Johanns fur, which is shit.


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## Ozriel (Aug 20, 2009)

I had a good experience buying fur from Mendels, and unlike most online fabric stores, they let you order .5 yards and under and the people there are nice.


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## Ozriel (Aug 20, 2009)

Keryu said:


> I have never worked with mendels before so I can't really comment on their quality but I can see that they are really over priced. I bought from Distinctive Fabrics and I love what I got <3
> http://www.distinctivefabric.com/fabric.php?product=SLDLGHRFUR1



Mendel's Shag has a longer grain pile length than Distinctive.


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## Glitch (Aug 20, 2009)

Ticon said:


> I've never been to a johanns that carried decent faux fur.
> 
> However, I did find some okay black and brown fur at Hancocks. It seemed nice to me, but then again, the only fur I had to compare it to was the local Johanns fur, which is shit.



JoAnn's fur is like fun fur, really.. :/  Then there's short pile in terrible colors that looks like bathroom carpet.  

I have never been to Hancock's; maybe I could poke around there so I cn at least have a local outlet.  
Sometimes it depends on your location.


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## ZiggyTheWolf (Aug 25, 2009)

Well i bought my fur at a store called Spotlight which is a big fabric
and craft shop in Australia which at the store near me stocked very 
nice fur at $50 Aussie dollars a metre which is around 40 USD about now
but the quality is excellent but i dont know what kind of shops are around
you. 
All the best


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## Beastcub (Aug 25, 2009)

as some one who has been building costumes since she was 9 and has completed 86 fursuit related orders:

joanns generally carries crap fur BUT from time to time will get in a real gem (normally around halloween) and if you find a good fur there get as much as you can afford because once it is gone they do not restock 90% of the time. i got a wonderfull thick quality seal style pooh bear colored fur, a seal type fur brown with gray flecks, a 2 inch gray with black and white strands, a frosted gray and a really short but thick tan fur perfect for a lion. all good fur and for rather cheep.
hancocks used to carry some nice furs (at usually gag worthy high prices though) and back in my pre-furry mascot cosplay days (been making fursuits loooong before i knew the term) i got most my fur from there and by some miracle they always had the perfect color (ntaural golden tan for kilala, long tan for ken-oki) but now hardly a damn thing, but they have a white, black and speckly brown all 1 inch long and all medium quality (not the best but decent enough)

as for mendles:
you can get MOST of those furs else where for cheeper
punky muppet you can get from plush furs or distinctive fabrics under the names promo shag and long pile, you can also get the mongolian fur and bubble fur from both places as well
the 3 inch tan/palimino white and black from CR crafts and if i am not mistaken mendles aslo resells CR crafts teddy and cubby furs
mendels has/had some gems, i got a super thick nice seal type fur (half inch and slick for those not familiar with the term seal fur) in a dark olive green which was perfect for wolf-link that i had never seen any where esle....and is now out of stock like forever >_<


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## Beastcub (Aug 25, 2009)

how to tell a good fur from a bad

can you see the backing through the fur? 
if you can see it without even touching the fur...BAD
part the fur can you easily see it, its not so good.
when you part the fur is it hard to see, nice fur.
if you part the fur and you cannot see the fabric backing at all, premo fur.

does it get matted easy? do pieces fall out when you touch it? when you pinch the fur and tug gently nothing more than few tiny strands should come out. is the fur rumpled, being folded or rolled wrong can crimp the fur and it is NOT easy to fix, i bought some thinking i could just brush it out, you cannot not. i have fixed damaged fur before by putting it in the dyer on "touch up" for 1-2 minutes at a time then laying flat on the floor and brushing with the grain of the fur like crazy while it was warm and repeating till fixed, BUT if it is left in too long the fibers will melt and curl and all its good for is a poodle.

when you trim it: if you can see the backing of a 1 inch fur when you shave it to half an inch (which you want to trim/shave faces and toes and such as it makes the suit look nicer) its a bad fur. promo shag from plush furs for instance you can shave down from 2 inches to almost 1/4 of an inch and never see the backing at all, shave down the plain shag from the same site to half an inch (or even at all) well... it looks like a t-shirt.

buying on line: generally the terms "fun fur" "shag" and "craft fur" are bad terms
seal fur means a thick shiny short fur about half an inch long
pile means how thick it, dense pile = better
gaurdahairs means slightly longer hairs int he fur, looks more real and usually the gaurd hairs are another color (like brown fur with black gaurd hairs)


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## KarabinerCoyote (Aug 25, 2009)

Sometimes Joann's gets some long pile faux fur, but limited to black, white and golden brown--at the larger stores. Availability seems to be seasonal. 

Looking at making use of dyed farm fox tails as wigs for headpieces. Some have nice two-tone effects. Rather pricey though.


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## Trpdwarf (Aug 26, 2009)

Beastcub said:


> as some one who has been building costumes since she was 9 and has completed 86 fursuit related orders:
> 
> joanns generally carries crap fur BUT from time to time will get in a real gem (normally around halloween) and if you find a good fur there get as much as you can afford because once it is gone they do not restock 90% of the time. i got a wonderfull thick quality seal style pooh bear colored fur, a seal type fur brown with gray flecks, a 2 inch gray with black and white strands, a frosted gray and a really short but thick tan fur perfect for a lion. all good fur and for rather cheep.
> hancocks used to carry some nice furs (at usually gag worthy high prices though) and back in my pre-furry mascot cosplay days (been making fursuits loooong before i knew the term) i got most my fur from there and by some miracle they always had the perfect color (ntaural golden tan for kilala, long tan for ken-oki) but now hardly a damn thing, but they have a white, black and speckly brown all 1 inch long and all medium quality (not the best but decent enough)
> ...



It is true that you can get the materials cheaper often, with what Mendels' offers. From what I have seen though most of those places though force you to order in yard lengths.

If I want just half a yard of lets say the gray punky muppet, I have to pay around 20 to get it from Distinctive Fabrics. But if I go with Mendels, I can get the half yard at 15, which is a 5 dollar difference in savings. So yeah, you can go to other places to get things cheaper sometimes, but if you need very little material of a color, some of the "Over priced" sites can offer more flexibility.

The place I go down to is more overpriced that Mendel's at times, it's a local place. But unlike many of the internet sites, I can buy down to a 1/4th of a yard. So if the original material cost me 30 USD for a full yard they adjust the price just like Mendels' does depending upon what you get. So if I get half a yard it's 15. a fourth, and it's under 10 dollars. That's another example. When these places overprice materials, it may translate into having more flexibility with yardage.


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## yiffytimesnews (Aug 26, 2009)

If your looking for fur why not your local fabric store, the one near me sells fake fur.


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## Raxmei (Aug 27, 2009)

I have a friend who bought from Mendel's and was satisfied with what she got. I've sampled their stuff and their natural color fur was coarser than I prefer. I've had good results from CR crafts. They have a decent selection at reasonable price and quality. http://www.crscraft.com/Lobby.asphttp://www.crscraft.com/Lobby.asp


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## Dragoninja (Aug 27, 2009)

Here are some sites I've looked up. I haven't yet placed an order from any of them so I cannot vouch for their quality.

http://www.crscraft.com/Products/SearchList.asp
http://www.syfabrics.com/Browse.aspx/Faux-Furs/183
http://www.distinctivefabric.com/category.php?cat=LONGFUR
http://www.tactiletreasures.iwarp.com/photo.html
http://imstuffedfur.com/home.html
http://interiormall.com/cat/ncollections.asp?c1=Fabric&c2=Faux+Fur&ref=home
http://www.mendels.com/fur2.shtml
http://www.fakefauxfurfabric.com/index.html

Again, this is only a list I've compiled over time. I have no clue as to how nice the furs from each site actually are.

I got a few swatch sets from CR's Crafts and wasn't too impressed. Their "seal" line of fur isn't too shabby according to Beastcub's fur guidelines, it's a little denser than their other stuff, but I'm sure there are nicer furs out there.

I also got ~5 yards of super soft 1" golden tan fur from my local JoAnn fabric store. I believe it was a fluke since it was the only quality fur I've ever seen there. It hasn't been restocked either. JoAnn typically has very coarse, awful fur. I would not recommend it, HOWEVER, I live in the middle of nowhere so I would definitely recommend you check out the fabric stores NEAR YOU to get an idea of the stuff you can and can't find.

Hope this helped.


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## Vixen-Hopelight (Oct 4, 2018)

Has anyone checked Hobby Lobby? I've heard from a friend that's where she got her fur. 
Also, I have a problem, I want to make my first fursuit head and I want to use great quality fur. But my parents say that I shouldn't buy that and settle for more cheaper fur because it's my first and it's going to be a "rough draft" fursuit head and that they don't want me to waste my money (that's what they said). I understand what they are saying and I slightly agree that I shouldn't buy nicer fur yet since it's my first. I want to see what you all think.


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