This disquieting revelation comes from a fashion history of faux fur by The Smithsonian Museum. Internet searches to me are as intriguing as an encyclopedia search when I was growing up. Feeding curiosity, one question just led to another. In this case, fashions in fur.

From the mid 19th century, homegrown rabbit, fox and other small mammals fed the lower end Australian market; large department stores like David Jones and Mark Foys sold luxury imports of mink, beaver, sable and chinchilla.

Hollywood glamour focused on fur, but by the 1950s advances in textile technology allowed furriers to replicate mink, beaver, chinchilla, seal, ermine and pony, some with more success than others. As faux became more realistic, draped paws, foxy snouts or hand sewn tiny pelts were no longer mandatory. Faux also brought fun into fur fashion.

Designer Karl Lagerfeld said young women, unlike their mothers and aunts, didn’t associate glamour or status with a fur coat. Bright colours and affordable styles attracted a younger generation of buyers.

As early as 1971, celebrities like Doris Day and Mary Tyler Moore were speaking out against the use of real fur, particularly that from endangered animals.

But the faux market was not solely animal welfare driven. Fake fur offered more than just a cheap alternative; it could be cleaned at home, was lighter to wear and less bulky in the wardrobe. It didn’t require special handling or storage.

Today, fashion is shared more by image than touch. But fur has always been a tactile fabric, and with young museum visitors it’s not only girls who ask to try on our fox fur just for the feel of it, dithering between “It’s so soft,” and “Yuk”. Our Foxy Loxy stole is so loved, we’ve sewn his brush back twice.