Fur trade in 2024 isn't all bear skin rugs and grandma's coat

One is Ballarat's own Myleah Bailey, who started her fur journey at 18 years old when she bought a vintage fur coat.

"I didn't know what to do with it," she said.

But Ms Bailey said she fell in love with furs and continued to collect them.

But she went from collector to professional when she reached out to Jackson Furs - a name that has been around since 1866.

There Ms Bailey learned about fur care - which covers cleaning, repair, restoration and even remodelling furs.

She is one of just a few furriers in Australia.

Ms Bailey has hundreds of furs in her collection - some 100 years old.

Furs include a 50 year old seal skin, minx skin, silver fox, coyote, black bear, and rex rabbit.

Many furs are made from pest animals in Australia but also Australia has have their own furs like kangaroo and possum.

She estimated their worth to be around half a million dollars.

Now Ms Bailey owns Jackson Furs in Golden Point. She has taken courses overseas and has a mentor in Canada.

A furrier also selects skins, colour grade pelts for uniformity, and also store fur products.

"Fur doesn't like the heat, so we store furs over hot months to make sure everything's temperature and humidity controlled," Ms Bailey said.

She said a big thing now was people finding vintage fur, or after inheriting pieces from their family but not knowing what to do with the fur.

"We are specialist cleaners because you can't unfortunately take it to the dry cleaners," Ms Bailey said.

"There are many, many people out there who have their grandmother's, or great-grandmother's fur coat in the cupboard and they don't know what to do with it."

Ms Bailey said people with big, fur coats can have they remade into items they will use - a shorter coat for the Australian winter, pillows or blankets.

"The industry has moved on a lot over the last 20 to 40 years," she said.

"We're very much an eco and sustainable industry - people want to be more sustainable in their clothing in their everyday lives and this is a sustainable eco product."

Ms Bailey will host Craft Lab workshops during the City of Ballarat's Heritage Festival.

She said the fur trade in Australia went back a long, long time.

"This is a trade that has been going since Australia was settled and longer with Aboriginals using their beautiful possum skin cloaks," Ms Bailey said.

Jackson Furs was once a pelt trader but soon realised furs could be made in Australia from kangaroos and possums as well as invasive pests like foxes.

She said the fur trade was still around.

Ms Bailey said the workshops are an opportunity for people to have fun with it.

"It's very tactile," she said.

The rex rabbit fur is soft and can be dyed bright colours and silver fox's fur is much longer than the pest fox in Australia.

Ms Bailey will have the workshop and pelts on display at the Ballarat Mining Exchange over the Heritage Festival.

The Ballarat Heritage Festival runs from May 17-26 and its full program for the 10 day event can be found at the website.

The City of Ballarat-run event is expected to see 25,000 to 30,000 visitors and bring $2 million to the Ballarat economy.