Faux fur baby clothes, also known as fake fur or fun fur, are clothing items designed for babies and toddlers made of synthetic fibers manufactured to resemble real fur. The most often used material is cotton. This type of material was created in 1955 and has received its strongest support from the unlikeliest of groups: animal rights, animal welfare, and environmental organizations. Although fun fur baby clothing promotes the idea of wearing dead animal hides even though they are synthetic, these three groups' official stance is that fun fur provides an animal friendly substitute to traditional fur. The animal rights, animal welfare, and environmental organizations have helped promote this stance in recent times to parents. To that end, this material has contributed to the decrease in real fur sales in various parts of the world.
Environment aside, fake fur has five advantages over real fur since it is lighter, is more durable, can be machine washed, has less shedding, and has a lower probability of an allergic reaction. The material also does not have to be hand sewn like real fur. Also, it can be manufactured anytime of the year and in any color quickly and with economies of scale. Real fur has the advantage of thickness and a more natural texture.
Faux fur baby clothing really took off in the early 1990s when the animal rights groups began endorsing the products to parents, even co-sponsoring or outright paying for some advertisements. Since then many products for babies and toddlers have sprung up in this cottage industry. The material is popular in both the United States and Canada.
The most popular faux fur baby clothing are warm hats with flaps designed to resemble Russian winter hats, baby blankets that are smooth and warm, and throw rugs, which are especially convenient since they also wrap around the baby's head and neck. Other items include stroller blankets that tuck into the product and boots and mittens to keep the baby warm. Recently, the trend has spread to toys and dolls which include teddy bears and other plush toys.
Fake fur products tend to come in four main colors. Beige and chocolate are the most popular colors followed by black/dark brown and grey. The texture tends to be smooth. A new development by some manufacturers are adding an extra cotton lining to prevent shedding while serving the dual-role of durability for machine wash.
In terms of geographic popularity in the United States, faux fur first took root in the northeast, particularly the New England region and then spread to the Great Lake States such as Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. In recent years, popularity grew in even the warmer climate Southwest and Deep South States. Moms prefer fake fur then thicker clothing plus their look is still novel enough to generate surprise reactions.
Cora Lee is the owner of BlissLiving, widely known for its faux fur baby clothing such as its full collection of Minimink faux fur line, designer diaper bags, unique baby gifts, and personalized mother's jewelry. BlissLiving.com has been listed as one of the highest rated sites on the internet by the Better Business Bureau Online, with a double AA rating, for five years in a row.
