If it looks like cashmere and it feels like cashmere, it is probably cashmere.  Or, it could be rat fur.

You wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference.

Less than two weeks ago, police in Rome seized more than a million pieces of counterfeit clothing, according to a Feb. 3 article from United Press International.  Many of these items were coats and sweaters labeled as cashmere, but actually contained a mixture of “acrylic, viscose, and fur from rats and other animals.”

This gives a new meaning to “I smell a rat.”

The seizure of goods marks the end of a yearlong investigation into five Chinese-run clothing manufacturers.  The suspects were arrested in the Italian cities of Livorno and Rome and could face fraud charges.

The police also seized knockoff merino wool, silk and pashmina garments that are presumably made of similar materials to the cashmere sweaters.

The retailer who was selling these counterfeit products remains unknown.  I think it’s safe to say that any store that sells cashmere is going to have a dip in their sweater sales.  Rats!

Counterfeiting is making governments step up their crackdowns, as the practice is becoming commonplace in both local and international markets.  For many people in rural areas, counterfeiting is seen as a way of life. The price of real goods is too high for most people to buy, so they have no choice but to accept counterfeit and defective goods.

China’s legitimate industries are hurting for that reason.  Consumers are wary to buy anything with a “Made in China” tag due to the country’s reputation for selling fake goods. They may be put off by the label, even on brands that they know and love, because they’re worried the goods might be fake.  Or made of rat fur.

What I want to know is how exactly do they use the rat fur in the clothing? Rat fur is about one-eighth of an inch thick.  How do they weave that into a sweater?  Your guess is just as good as mine.

The crazy thing is, this isn’t the first time that rat fur has made an appearance in fashion.  In 2010, using rat fur in a fashion collection was actually considered a trend.  Designers such as Billy Reid, Michael Kors and Oscar de la Renta used the fur from a nutria rat in their collections.

The even crazier part is that nutria fur was rebranded as a socially acceptable and environmentally-friendly alternative way to wear fur.

The reason?  Nutria rats harm the environment by eating away the bottom of the plants that hold coastal wetlands together.  In 2002, trappers and hunters were paid a reward for every nutria rat killed in an effort to control the population, according to a June 2010 article from the Guardian. But the carcasses were simply discarded or left to rot in the swamp.  Designers thought that since they were getting killed anyway, why not make something beautiful out of them?

And the rat coat was born.  Or at least a coat trimmed with rat fur.

I’m not quite sure what People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals thinks about this one, but since they are pretty much against any fur at all, I’m thinking that they still don’t like it. Proponents for the trend advocated that, it’s a fur coat, but the animal had a cage-free life and an organic diet.

I don’t see the allure of using rat fur in a collection or wearing it.  Rats are thought of as pests that need to be killed. Women scream at the sight of them running around, but they are OK with wearing them on their gloves?  That doesn’t make any sense to me.

I guess that’s why the manufacturers needed to lie about the materials of their sweaters.  No one wants to wear what’s stuck in a trap underneath his or her sink.

Who knows where we’re going to see rat fur pop up again.  Let’s just hope it’s labeled correctly next time.

Published on February 16, 2014 at 11:29 pm