Scientists believe that in the third millennium BC. e. civilization developed along the coast of the Arctic Ocean. After a sharp cold snap, people began to retreat south, along the Ural ridge, and then west to the Black Sea. From there to India and Western Europe. What did they wear when they learned to process skins, and how did they wear them? Probably, people first of all paid attention to leather raw materials, and not to fur raw materials, because They hunted mainly the most common artiodactyl animals (deer, antelope, goats, etc.). Of course, the prey was primarily intended for food. The use of skins for clothing and housing began only with the settlement of people in areas with cold climates.

  There was an urgent need for clothes and shoes, and household utensils. And in the hands of a person there was a wonderful material - animal skins. But a problem arose: how to keep the leather flexible and durable after it dries? The first method is mechanical softening: scraping with a stone scraper and kneading. And additional aging of the skin in smoke allowed it to retain its properties for quite a long time. This method was used by North American Indians when tanning buffalo skins.

  Ancient people noticed that the leather bag in which dough or sour milk was stored, and in later times wine, did not harden or break after drying. Thus, a method was discovered for fermenting skins and furs in sour bread kvass and sour milk, when, in addition to the organic acids found in these substances, various enzymes act on the skin. Northern peoples treated the skin with the fat of sea animals (seals, walruses and whales) - blubber. In this way, suede was obtained that was unique in its properties. It was noticed that wet leather became soft after contact with bird droppings. In the scientific literature this process is called shakshavanie. Shaksha contains enzymes that break down skin proteins. These same enzymes are found in the pancreas of animals. An artificial extract from the pancreas is called an oropon. They learned to extract it only in 1908. Before this they used shaksha.

  The processes of manufacturing furs and leather have a fundamentally common basis. However, tanning leather takes longer due to finishing operations, as well as a large number of technological operations, depending on the purpose of the leather. Therefore, the dressing of furs did not present any special difficulties and was carried out everywhere at the mining site. Over the centuries, this process has remained virtually unchanged. As a rule, the trade was a family affair, with secrets passed down from generation to generation. Exotic plant materials were used in tanning. Their concentration was low, the technological processes of dressing and dyeing took several weeks. The skins of sheep slaughtered in the fall turned into a sheepskin coat or sheepskin coat only by the next winter. After the conquest of Siberia, a flood of precious furs poured into Russia: sable, beaver and fox. They came into circulation as a means of payment.

   The situation changed dramatically in the 1930s. The development of chemistry has made it possible to create new technologies and use inorganic materials that improve the natural properties of leather and fur. Heavy operations were mechanized and industrial technologies were introduced. But valuable furs were flayed, kneaded and combed by hand. The fur industry was developed at a high level in England, and by the end of the 19th century in America. In Russia, the fur industry did not advance beyond handicraft workshops, although tanneries appeared already in the 17th century, and under Catherine II their number approached thirty. Before the First World War, large leather factories were located in St. Petersburg, Kazan, Vyatka, Berdichev and supplied leather products primarily for the army. But production methods continued to be artisanal in nature. The human need for leather was disproportionately greater compared to fur: to dress the army in leggings, to put officers in leather boots and give each soldier a satchel, to sew riding and riding harnesses for each horse, to cover carriages, furniture, and to make haberdashery goods. During World War II, capital was transferred to more profitable industries. After the war, one of the latest innovations was the introduction of the technology of sewing products in “dissolution”.

   At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the main suppliers of furs were Russia, the USA and Canada. The amount of fur harvested and the prices for it fluctuated. In 1928, the production of white hare and mole increased (20 times compared to 1910). And the marten harvest decreased threefold. Such sharp fluctuations were caused by changes in the productivity of hunting grounds, fishing territories and changes in demand. People have always been interested in the possibility of breeding wild fur-bearing animals in captivity. Positive experience took place in Russia in the northern regions already in the 18th century. In the summer, they caught fox and arctic fox puppies and raised them in special premises, and slaughtered them in the winter. In Russia, island fur farming was used for the first time in the 30s of the 19th century (foxes and fur seals were bred on the Commander Islands). But the real development of fur farming came in the first quarter of the 20th century.

   In 1892 in Canada, after the silver-black fox was exterminated and the price for a pelt rose to 4500 dollars, Charles Dalton began breeding them, and already in 1901 he sold the first silver-black fox pelt at a London fur auction for $2,718. Many Canadian farmers followed his example. At that time, the skin of a light silver fox cost $200, and a dark silver one cost $1,000. While food for one fox cost only $25. The high profitability of production attracted large capital to this field of activity, and small fur farmers were forced out by large American fur farms, which sharply increased prices for breeding material. If a pair of the best silver-black foxes in 1909 sold for 3,000 US dollars, then by 1913. the price rose to $20,000. After twenty years of raising foxes in captivity, Dalton sold his farm for $600,000. During the First World War, there was a decline in the fur business, because... the demand for furs fell sharply. But already in the twenties, live animals were worth much more than skins, and on a thousand Canadian fox farms with a population of 25 thousand in the 1923-1924 season, only 9,100 foxes were slaughtered. And in 1930, at the Friedrich Huth & Co. auction in London alone, 17,391 silver-black fox skins were put up for auction. By 1939 - 1940, the price for them gradually decreased to 15.4 dollars. And during the war, all livestock, including breeding ones, were slaughtered. Minks began to be raised on farms twenty years later than foxes, since hunting made it possible to obtain 550 thousand skins per year, mainly from North America. It was only in 1933 that widespread mink breeding began on farms in the USA and Canada.

   In the Soviet Union, the main attention was paid to leather production. And only in the early 60s were large fur factories built and put into operation in Moscow, Leningrad, Kazan, Riga, Kharkov. Equipment and chemicals were largely imported, especially better dyes and more complex formulations. Fur, especially valuable fur, has always been considered a luxury item. Only very wealthy people could afford products made from it. Fur coats were the property of the wealthy nobility and were worn for many years. In the 19th century in Western Europe, hats made from valuable varieties of fur were inherited and mentioned in the testamentary documents of the royal family. The common people made do with cloth clothing.

   The role of fur in human history is multifaceted. It is protection from the cold and a means of payment. A luxury item and a symbol of prestige. Magic that warms body and soul.

Sergey Dorozhkin, “Soft Gold”