Can I allow myself to wear sealskin mittens?
I was asked that question when I took part in the Christmas market at the town’s Industrial Museum.
At one point I noticed a young woman a little way from my stand. She was looking curiously over at my goods.
As there were not many people about, she came over to me. She smiled and let her hand caress a pair of sealskin mittens with a handsome white fur trim.
Cautiously she asked, “Can you really allow yourself to wear something like that?”
– meaning sealskin mittens.
She was born and raised in Germany, but love had brought her to Denmark, where she now works and lives with her partner.
It was the first time she had seen sealskin.
While she held a pair of soft, warm sealskin mittens in her hands, we had a good talk about fur.
There are many strong opinions against the use of fur, and many ways of expressing them.
The young German woman and I quickly agreed that neither of us wants to take part in destroying nature or tormenting animals just to be able to wear fur.
We also agreed that neither of us likes being cold in winter. So we get the warm clothes out. Unfortunately that is just not always enough to keep the cold away from the body.
For generations fur has been good winter clothing.
Sealskin is a practical material with many good qualities:
- the back of the skin is thick and windproof.
- the front of the skin is covered by a layer of soft hairs; often the hairs are hollow and filled with air. That makes them insulate well against the cold.
- Snow and ice can easily be removed from the soft layer of hair. It is only the fur (the front) that gets wet in snowy weather. The skin itself (the back) is dry and tight.
- When you wear skin clothing you are warm, comfortable and dry, even when it is cold and wet.
In Greenland there is a long tradition of wearing sealskin clothing, because skin is a good and practical material when it is cold.
Really, sealskin is only a by-product.
The actual reason for catching a seal is that there has to be food on the table.
In the past a good catch meant survival for both a family and a local community.
There was a time when one seal gave a family:
- food on the table (meat and innards) in an area where you cannot grow vegetables,
- light (the blubber was used to give light in the oil lamps in the old days),
- jewellery (the claws can become the most fantastic jewellery),
- toys and handicraft (the bones can be used for many fun things)
- and clothes (the skin becomes practical and beautiful skin clothing and boots).
- The remains were used for dog food.
Today it is no longer a necessity of life that the hunter comes home with a seal.
But when a seal does come home, the whole seal is still used in different ways.
The Greenlandic hunters still learn to use nature with respect for future generations and catch seals in a sustainable way.
That is why Greenland has formally been allowed by the EU to sell their sealskin.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Greenlandic hunters could catch three times as many seals as they do at the moment without it having a negative effect on the population.
The by-product “sealskin” is cleaned and sold on to Great Greenland.
Through a long process they produce beautiful skins. They become lovely fur goods that we can use with a clear conscience.
So:
Wear sealskin with pride and a clear conscience.
Remember that the whole seal is used.
Sealskin creates life in a local community far to the north.
Tell the good story to those who, for many understandable reasons, have a sceptical attitude to fur.
Why destroy a culture that has shown that it is possible to use skin in a natural and sustainable way?
Why not support the effort the Inuit are making far to the north to look after nature?
That way we can be elegantly, warmly and well dressed and have a clear conscience at the same time.
The young German woman stood for a moment looking at the soft sealskin mittens with a warm gaze.
Then she suddenly exclaimed:
“Sealskin really is sympathetic skin!”
– and now you know what she is wishing for at Christmas…
