Possum Fur

Possums were introduced to New Zealand 150 years ago to provide the base for a fur industry.
The industry has had a fickle history and in 1936 possums were deemed a national pest.
The traditional way of harvesting possum in New Zealand was as a fur skin.
This market had its heyday in the 1970s and the 1980s, but went into decline from 1987 onwards. 

In the early 1990’s research showed that possum fibre could be combined with merino wool.
Possum fur is unique in that it is hollow. This allows the fur to be light yet retain warmth. When spun with merino wool, a light, stable, and strong yarn is produced with superior heat retaining properties. The possum fibre and merino yarn blend is the first natural yarn to be developed in the last 100 years.

This use of the fur as a fibre is what has rejuvenated the possum industry, and the harvesting of the fur has given the industry a new direction.

Snowy Peak was one of the first companies to manufacture garments using yarns containing possum. They now have international recognition for quality and design and continues to lead the market in these areas.

Woolyarns is the leading manufacturer in Australasia of yarns containing possum fur, and has made a long term commitment both past and future to develop yarns that will meet the needs of companies like Snowy Peak and others in the future.

Why keep hand plucked, machine plucked and sliped fur separate?

This is because each type of fur behaves differently when it is processed into yarn at the mill, and the mill operators have a specific ratio of each type of fur that goes into the yarn to ensure a consistently high quality of yarn is always produced.

Managing Supply and Demand

Reasons for Quality Criteria

We at Basically Bush pride ourselves in the quality of fibre that we sell. A high quality of raw material is important to ensure a high quality end product.

You will be familiar with our fibre quality criteria. We thought it appropriate to explain the reasons for these.

Minimum fibre length of 2 cm with an average of 2.5cm is required because fibre shorter than this is lost during processing fibre into yarn. There is in fact a 20% fibre loss during processing which results in a substantial increase in the cost of raw material to the manufacturer.

Like all natural fibres, possum fibre has an average moisture regain. Because possum fibre is hollow it absorbs and consequently evaporates moisture very easily. We are contracted to sell our fibre at 16% regain, which by our somewhat unscientific, but proven method is "dry to the touch" . If we buy damp fur from the hunter we must dry it to 16% before selling to Woolyarns therefore we would loose weight and of course money.

Contamination is our "hottest" quality issue. We are required to sell fibre that has zero contamination. Should contamination reach the machinery at the mill it can cause thousands of dollars worth of damage not to mention "down-time" repairing the damage. To date we pride ourselves in supplying fibre with zero contamination. This is the result of the diligent, conscientious work of our quality controller/presser, Kim Saunders.

Quality Control and Pressing

Quality control begins with you the hunter, checking your fur to ensure that it meets all the quality requirements mentioned above, before you sell to the agent. We appreciate that it can be difficult to detect all contamination that creeps into fibre therefore quality control continues with the agent who also thoroughly checks the fur at time of sale, but still contamination gets through to our depot.

By tipping the fur onto the large metal table Kim is able to detect all heavy metallic items such as bullets, staples and stones that fall to the bottom and as he works it into the press he detects other contaminants that are often found in fur e.g. articles of clothing, pre-feed bottles, the list is endless.

This does not bode well for the work that those who have supposedly checked the fur before it reaches our depot! We would like to ask that you the hunter be conscientious in your quality control work; it all helps to raise the image of the industry.