坚定的改革家 托本•尼尔森—孟凡专访哥本哈根皮草前任总裁

Torben Nielsen, the leading figure in the global fur trade, just retired with a successful career of 20 years in the industry. He contributed to the solid foundation of the industry’s development and injected endless power to the trade. In our interview, we will get you to know more about Torben and hopefully bring some inspiring ideas to the industry in future.

全球皮草行业的领军人物——托本•尼尔森在辛勤耕耘20余年后，终于功成身退。他为哥本哈根皮草乃至皮草行业的发展奠定了坚实的基础，也注入了无穷的动力。本次专访，将为大家带来更多关于你所不知道的托本，也希望给今后的皮草行业带来启发。

孟凡：在过去20多年中，您一直担任哥本哈根皮草这艘巨舰的掌舵人。作为领航人，您在此期间一定经历过不少特殊和迫切的问题。您是否可以和我们分享两个例子，让我们了解您是如何面对和解决问题的？

托本：这些年来经历的问题较多，因此很难列举出两个最具代表性的例子。然而，我们面对的主要挑战来自于关于行业的政治议题。我很难理解为什么动物权益组织始终对皮草行业穷追不舍，这个行业具有良好的动物福利，因此这些人的理由是人们不需要皮草这样的奢侈品，我们的行业可有可无。这是一个十分牵强的理由，因为人们做出额外的付出正是为了追求生活的乐趣。对有些人来说，能够舒舒服服睡一觉就是一种享受。对另一些人而言，能够每天吃到肉就感到心满意足。同样对于一些人来说，拥有一件皮草大衣就是一种奢华，这样的事例不胜枚举。动物权益组织希望从动物毛皮到肉类的使用进行全面禁止，甚至连养狗都要进行干涉。听起来有点难以置信，但是这一行动却具有重大的政治意义。

我们尝试通过加强行业内在国际政治层面的合作来解决这一问题，合作方包括养殖户、拍卖行和买家。如今，越来越多的人开始参与到这一政治进程当中，我们获得了应有的地位。

遗憾的是，我们看到欧洲和北美的传统皮草公司当前正处于困难的时期。因此，我们不得不寻找新的途径接近消费者。我们认为，皮草进入大众时尚精品店里十分重要。我们通过皮草配饰品牌Oh! by Kopenhagen Fur 来实现这一理念，这些小皮草物件可以轻松融入到传统时尚门店的产品系列中。此外，我们还同业内人士在设计领域开展紧密合作，部分通过哥本哈根皮草设计中心和KiCk(哥本哈根国际创意中心），另一部分则通过我们在中国的办公室和设计院校合作项目来完成。这是一个长期的投入，目的是确保皮草产业能够长期拥有自己的销售渠道。

There have been many challenges over the years. It's actually a little difficult to name the two largest, but we have primarily been challenged on trade political matters. I never understood why the fur industry has been the animal rights groups' favorite industry to hate. Animal welfare is in order, so the argument is that we are a useless industry and that you do not need a luxury product like fur. However, that is a strange argument because luxury is the human cause for making an extra effort. For some people it is a luxury to go sated to bed, for other more privileged people it is the luxury to eat meat every day, and for others it is luxury to buy a fur coat, etc., etc. Animal rights people want to prohibit all forms of use of animals from fur to meat and it even applies to keeping a dog. A little crazy, but the movement has great political significance.

We tried to solve the problem by strengthening the international political cooperation in the industry, a partnership that includes farmers, auction houses and buyers. We are well positioned today, when far more are involved in the trade political work down than previously.

Unfortunately, we have also seen that the traditional furrier companies have difficult times in Europe and North America. Therefore, we are forced to find new ways to get to the consumers. We believe it is important to get fur integrated into the general fashion boutiques. We have addressed this through Oh! by Kopenhagen Fur that produces small fur articles that can be easily integrated into an ordinary fashion store's product range. We have also worked closely with the industry in the design field, partly through Kopenhagen Studio and KiCK, but also through our China office and our comprehensive university programme. It is a long term investment to ensure that also in the longer term, the fur trade has a sales channel.