Designer Jane Avery is a passionate advocate for slow fashion and the skill and knowledge that surrounds her industry as a furrier. Holding the flame for the tradition in Aotearoa, she encourages us all to embrace wearing fur with confidence and pride. Words Lucinda Diack.

We first met Jane Avery in 2019 when the designer and creator behind the slow-fashion brand Lapin was living in Dunedin and weekending at the cabin she and husband Jeff had built in Earnscleugh just outside of Alexandra. Now based full-time in Central Otago with a house build and dedicated workspace under way, included in Jane’s plans is sharing her furrier skills and knowledge with others.

Taught by her mother at the age of 11, sewing has always been part of Jane’s life. With her location inspiring thoughts of fur coats and bomber jackets to snuggle into during the cooler months, Jane began experimenting, having long been drawn to the idea of creating a responsible product. Wild rabbit fur fitted the bill ‘both creatively and ethically’. Discovering that Mooneys Furriers, the last commercial furriers in Aotearoa, were still in business only 10 minutes down the road, made it seem all the more like fate.

A long-standing resource of the fashion industry, fur was at its height of luxury in the 1920s – 1960s, before seeing a significant decline in the 1990s with the iconic ‘I’d rather go naked than wear fur’ campaign to stop the rise and commercialisation of leathers and exotic skin trades.

‘Fur is as perennial as the grass, and evidence suggests the wheel is finally once more turning in its favour as we learn, with horror, the harm synthetics are wreaking on the environment,’ explains Jane. ‘While so-called faux fur sheds plastic microfibres into our water and air, natural fur, since time immemorial, is warm, durable, able to be restyled and repurposed, and is ultimately biodegradable. It returns to the earth to enrich the soil, in contrast to the 400-plus years of pollution inflicted by plastics breaking down.’

Jane is aware that choosing fur can still be fraught with moral dilemmas. ‘In today’s world of conscious consumerism it is a material that requires discernment, such as giving preference to garments crafted from our uniquely New Zealand fur options. Rabbits and possums are considered pests. They’re overly abundant, environmentally destructive, introduced species, through no fault of their own, but we can help make good from this tragic colonial legacy by using their furs as a by-product of the very necessary process of pest management.

‘I’m only one pair of hands,’ Jane laughs, ‘and slow fashion is slow.’

‘The state of New Zealand’s fur industry is such that choosing to wear these locally harvested furs is mostly a bespoke affair. But the cultural zeitgeist is also gladly focusing the lens on vintage furs. Coats, jackets and stoles, so treasured in their day by our mothers and grandmothers, and now stored away as connections to ancestry, can be reclaimed and loved anew.’

2024 saw Jane take her designs to the world stage showing at Vancouver Fashion Week, the second-largest fashion week in North America after New York. ‘I was approached after my presentation by a fashion influencer, Josie Amanda Boulding, who told me Lapin had made her think differently about fur, which is my aim.’ Josie went on to wear a Lapin jacket at New York Fashion Week in February.

While Jane is always making one-offs, inventing and creating, it is her vintage remodelling and bespoke clients that take up much of her time. ‘I’m only one pair of hands,’ she laughs, ‘and slow fashion is slow. It is impossible for me to create a new collection every year so I chip away, but I feel very privileged to do the work I do. Loving and valuing fur should be more than just coveting pretty, fluffy softness. It’s the oldest material worn by humankind and as our social contexts change over the course of history, conscious thought should be given to appreciating its use.’

How to Wear Fur

When carefully selected and expertly crafted, wild rabbit and possum furs make for beautiful garments and accessories.

Your grandma’s fur   

Wear vintage as is, made modern with your own style. Consider mending, relining or remodelling before opting for a new garment purchase.

Old coat, new attitude

If your favourite winter coat could do with a freshen up, add a fur collar and cuffs. Be it furs from responsibly sourced New Zealand creatures or upcycled vintage, furry additions can be crafted onto existing garments.

Vintage at heart

If it’s still in supple condition, the entirety of a vintage fur coat can serve as the cosy lining for a new bespoke coat, making for discrete fur style and ultimate warmth.

And if you love fur but wearing it just isn’t you, you can embrace fur as beautiful décor in the form of throws and cushions.