Buying a mink coat is one of the most significant investments in luxury fashion. The difference between a coat made from top-quality pelts and one assembled from second-rate pelts is enormous in terms of feel, durability, and appearance. Most buyers don't know what to look for. At MANZARI, every mink coat and jacket in our collection is crafted from certified, top-quality pelts sourced from the world's leading auction houses. This guide explains exactly what that means and how you can verify it on any garment you're considering buying. There are five points to check: the quality of the raw hide, the label it bears, the feel of the fur, what is found under the lining, and the origin of the hides.
Skin Quality: What Saga Lumi Royal Means
The world's most recognized mink grading system belongs to Saga Furs, a Finnish auction house. Their Saga brand is used exclusively for pelts graded according to their own criteria and is considered the industry standard. The classification is performed manually by expert classifiers. The complete quality hierarchy for mink, from best to lowest:
• Saga Lumi Royal: Silky, short-haired fur of exceptional quality that even surpasses Royal standards. Dense undercoat, perfect guard hairs. The rarest quality.
• Saga Royal: very high quality. Dense undercoat and strong, even guard hairs. Used in the finest luxury clothing.
• Saga: High quality, slightly inferior to Royal.
• Saga I: weaker overall but with solid commercial value.
• Quality II: The lowest of the standard qualities. Not eligible for a Saga label.
A coat made from Lumi Royal or Royal hides uses the best available raw material. A coat in quality II does not.
MANZARI uses only Saga Lumi Royal and Saga Royal quality pelts in every mink coat and jacket we produce.
Etiquette: Your Fastest Proof
The label sewn into a garment is the quickest way to confirm the quality of the pelts. According to Saga Furs: by using their labels in clothing, consumers can wear fur with confidence, knowing it is of the highest quality.
• Saga Royal white label: reserved exclusively for Lumi Royal and Royal quality hides.
• Saga Black Label: covers other Saga-level certified qualities.
• No label: Skins prior to Saga I are not eligible for any Saga label.
The world's most reputable mink fur labels come from three certified fur auctions: NAFA in Canada, Saga in Finland, Kopenhagen Fur in Europe, and Blackglama in North America. When one of these labels appears on a coat, the raw material comes from a certified and classified source.
3. The Touch Test
Run your hand through the fur in both directions. On a quality mink coat, the fur should be soft and silky in both directions. There should be two distinct layers: longer outer guard hairs and a shorter, denser undercoat beneath. If the fur feels prickly or comes in clumps, it is not top-quality mink.
Gently pinch the fur and then release, or lightly shake the coat. Quality mink immediately springs back into shape and does not shed. If the fur remains ruffled or if hairs come loose, this indicates poor quality pelts or improperly processed pelts.
A good quality mink pelt should also be very supple and flexible, never hard or stiff. Gently fold the pelt between your fingers: it should bend easily and spring back into shape without resistance. A stiff, board-like pelt is a sign of poor tanning or inferior quality, and it will crack and lose its shape over time.
The color should also be consistent throughout the garment. Top-quality pelts are sorted into matching lots before auction , so a well-stocked coat looks uniform from hem to collar.
Liste de contrôle du toucher
• Soyeux dans les deux sens
• Deux couches distinctes : poil de garde sur sous-poil dense
• No shedding; the fur immediately returns to its original shape after being ruffled
• Uniform color from collar to hem
4. Under the lining
Some mink coats have an open hem at the bottom of the lining, allowing you to lift it and inspect the underside of the fur directly. Others have a zipper or snap closure along the lining for the same purpose. In either case, look for an access point: if the lining is completely sewn shut with no way to check the pelts underneath, that's worth noting in itself. Once the pelts are visible, on a well-made mink garment they should resemble smooth suede, sewn together in thin, parallel strips of a consistent width. No hairs should be caught in the seams.
A coat with leather patches filling gaps, or irregular bands, is of inferior quality, regardless of what the outer label says. More leather means less fur. The skin side should be pale white, supple, and flexible. A yellowish tint or a stiff texture indicates poor tanning, which shortens the coat's lifespan.
Liner Checklist
• Thin, regular, parallel strips of skin
• Aucune pièce de cuir ni largeur irrégulière
• Aucun poil coincé dans les coutures
• White, supple, and flexible skin side
5. Shade, clarity, size and sex
Quality is one aspect of classification, but four others shape the appearance of the finished coat.
Nuance
The shade ranges from Extra Dark to Extra Pale. It does not affect the quality. What matters for a garment is that all the hides share the same shade. This uniformity is only possible when the hides come from matching lots at a certified auction.
Clarté
Lightness describes the tone of the color, from the coolest or most bluish (C1) to the warmest or most reddish (C4). In pale and blue mink types, lightness is particularly important. A C1 garment in pale mink appears more refined than a C4 version of the same color.
Size
Each pelt is measured from the nose to the base of the tail. The size influences the number of pelts used in a garment and the placement of the seams.
Source : https://www.sagafurs.com/auction/products/grading-system/size/
Sexe
Male minks are longer and broader; females are shorter with finer hides. Both are graded separately and both can achieve Lumi Royal quality. Female pelts tend to be lighter and silkier. A coat made from a single sex, matched in shade and lightness, hangs more evenly.
6. The Origin
Farm-raised European and North American mink, sold through certified auction houses, offers more consistent quality than pelts from less regulated markets. The lowest quality mink coats are primarily made from ungraded or inferior pelts, without a certified chain of custody.
Saga Furs only accepts pelts from certified European and North American farms for auction and tagging. This chain, from the farm to the grading room, then to the auction, and finally to the furrier, is what the tag in the coat attests to.
Why every MANZARI mink garment meets these standards
MANZARI (manzari.store) sources exclusively from Saga Furs' certified auctions. Every mink coat and jacket in our collection uses pelts of Saga Lumi Royal or Saga Royal quality. Our pieces carry the white Saga Royal label as standard. The shade and lightness are matched on each pelt of the same garment.
When you buy a MANZARI mink coat, you are paying for a precise and verifiable raw material standard, with a label to prove it.
Références
- Saga Furs. Système de classification – Qualité. https://www.sagafurs.com/auction/products/grading-system/quality/
- Saga Furs. Système de classification – Tailles. https://www.sagafurs.com/auction/products/grading-system/size/
- Saga Furs. Système de classification – Nuance. https://www.sagafurs.com/auction/products/grading-system/shading/
- Saga Furs. Système de classification – Clarté. https://www.sagafurs.com/auction/products/grading-system/clarity/
- Saga Furs. Système de classification – Sexe. https://www.sagafurs.com/auction/products/grading-system/sex/
- Saga Furs. Étiquettes. https://www.sagafurs.com/auction/labels/
- Saga Furs. Système de classification – Vue d'ensemble. https://www.sagafurs.com/auction/products/grading-system/
Frequently asked questions
