F A Q (Frequently Asked Questions)

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  Why Faux fur and not real fur?
The top quality Faux Furs we use are hardly distinguishable from real fur, so we feel there is now absolutely no need to use animals for their fur. Our Faux Furs are bought by some of the world’s most demanding and discerning lovers of fashion, interior design and fur, who are also animal lovers. We feel this is a win/win situation, no animal cruelty and gorgeous fur.

  Is Faux Fur as warm as real fur?
Heat retention is measured by the R-value, which is roughly the same with our Faux Fur compared to animal fur. It is the individual fibres that actually trap the heat (rather like wearing lots of layers on a cold day is better than just one thick layer), so it makes no real difference whether they are Faux Fur fibres or animal fibres. Our Faux Furs are made with the maximum number of fibres which is one of the reasons that they are so dense, soft, silky and so like the real thing.

  Why is Tissavel faux fur so good?
Tissavel is known as the world's finest manufacturer of high fashion faux fur. Tissavel Faux Fur is the top quality (and most expensive) faux fur. It is made in France and is used in the most expensive of faux fur products. – especially in the fashion industry. It is incredibly realistic. The quality, density, softness, silkiness and incredible sheen means it is so close to the feel, look and characteristics of the real thing that it is often mistaken for real fur. Animal fur has different tones and highlights and is often a different colour at the base (undercoat) and often tipped in one or more colours and shades. Tissavel furs capture this natural look perfectly, which is why they are used by fashion designers, as they look and feel just like real fur. They really have the WOW factor. As far as we know we are the only website in Europe that offers Tissavel.

However, our Chinese furs certainly rival Tissavel for their silkiness, real fur feel and ‘natural’ fur look. Used in fur fashion they offer an excellent and reasonably priced alternative. We stock both so that we can offer our customers the widest choice of colour, design and price.

  I have seen faux fur throws cheaper in other stores and websites.
We feel, as we are sure you do, that you get what you pay for. There are many cheaper products on the market. We offer the best quality available in the market for very competitive prices. If you want something different and unique, tailor-made to your requirements, long lasting and using the best quality faux furs and fabrics available, then our products are for you. (We have seen our furs used in fur throws in a certain well-known top store for £2,000 a throw!)

Our throws are not bonded (glued) together like so many others on the market – they are 100% stitched for quality and lifespan. We are the only site to offer such a range of colours and choice of backings – double fur, faux suede, duchess satins, velvets, velvet animal prints and crushed velvets to suit any décor. We can offer such good value for money because we are the manufacturer, so you are cutting out the middleman.

We can also offer a fabric service for those who want to make their own throws, fashions or fashion accessories, and our faux fur prices are well below those in the High Street. In fact, it is almost impossible to find them on the High Street. We know of only one or two specialist stores, and these do not carry the range that we have. And they are much more expensive!

  Why do so few other companies use Tissavel faux fur?
Tissavel is the top quality branded faux fur made in France, used in the most expensive of faux fur fashions and products. It is the most expensive, but we feel that you do get what you pay for, and being lovers of faux fur we want to be able to bring the very best to our customers at a very reasonable price. We have seen similar throws in a well-known ‘top people's store’ for over £2,000.

  Why not source your Faux Fur from the UK?
We would love to be able to, but we only use the highest quality, softest, silkiest, most realistic faux furs and unfortunately we simply can’t find them made in the UK. Tissavel, made in France, is the world's top faux fur and we want to bring that quality to our customers. However, all our products are made in the UK, using skilled craftspeople and strict quality control. We constantly search for top quality fabrics, so if there is any manufacturer out there who wants to send us samples, we are more than happy to consider them, but they must be on a par with the quality of Tissavel.

  How soon will I receive the goods I ordered?

Fabric is usually dispatched next day by parcelforce.

All our products are made to order so delivery time very much depends on what you are ordering (e.g. a double-sized fur throw, 3m x 3m, with fur on both sides, will take a lot longer to make than, say, a knee-sized throw with a faux suede backing). We say to allow 28 days for delivery, although products are usually dispatched within five to seven working days from order. Delivery is usually by Parcelforce 24 or 48 (UK) or five to ten days outside the UK. We hold large stocks of fabric, but as every product is made to order, in the very rare cases that a fabric is out of stock, we will always email you an ETA.

Europe -please allow 5 - 10 days from dispatch

USA - please allow 5 - 14 days from dispatch

Asia/Australasia - please allow 15 - 21 days from dispatch

  What is the best way to care for my Faux Fur?
It is easy to care for your Faux Fur, and we always recommend that you dry clean.

Our Faux Furs are hand washable in lukewarm (almost cold) water using a gentle, mild, ‘for hand washing’ soap powder. You can machine wash our Faux Fur on ‘delicates’ cycle. However, it is often the backing on the throws/fashions that limits machine or hand washing. For example, our Faux Suedes are hand or machine washable (lukewarm or ‘delicates’ cycles) but Velvets, Satins, Printed Velvets and Crushed Velvets can shrink slightly and do crease in the washing process. Heat must not be applied to Faux Fur so it is impossible to iron and even the smallest amount of shrinkage can cause the product to look misshapen.

Spot cleaning with cold water and/or gentle soap is the best way for small areas - for a thorough cleaning we recommend dry cleaning. Also, if you are buying one of our larger throws or a throw that has Faux Fur on both sides it will be very heavy when wet and quite difficult to lift. DO NOT HEAT TO DRY OR PUT NEAR HEAT TO DRY.

That is, do not use a dryer or radiator, or place in front of a fire to dry. The best way to dry is to lay flat or hang over a line. This is because the product used to create the fabulously natural sheen on the faux fur is very susceptible to heat and any heat application will ruin the faux fur fabric.

To summarise: we do not recommend washing or machine washing our throws and advise that washing our throws will invalidate your 12 month warrantee against defective products. After all, would you wash your favourite fur or suede coat?! If you follow these simple guidelines your faux fur product will last many years, if not a lifetime. Cushion covers may be machine or hand washed in lukewarm water or on the ‘delicates’ cycle in your washing machine and dried flat or on a line. After washing, raise the pile by gently brushing with a soft hairbrush. NEVER use any bleaches, harsh cleaning products or cleaning chemicals, and do NOT tumble dry. Individual cleaning instructions will be sent out with each product.

  Occasionally throws arrive with creases in the fur. What should I do?
Sometimes this happens due to folding in transit, or if you have packed your throw away for any period of time. Generally creases will drop out in a few days once the throw has been opened and aired. If they still persist after a few days, we recommend that you cover the creased area with a slightly damp, cold, 100% clean cloth or towel for 30 minutes to an hour, and then brush the fibres into place with a soft, clean brush (like a soft hairbrush) and allow to dry naturally. Never expose the fabric to heat and NEVER iron the throw.

  How should I store my Faux Fur product?
You may sometimes wish to store your Faux Fur product. We recommend folding carefully to reduce the creasing, and placing in a clean, polythene container or zipped polythene bag. A linen clothes storer is perfect if available. Store in a cool, dry place away from direct heat, and once removed, follow instructions above for any creasing. If you use care with your Faux Fur product it will last many, many years in perfect condition.

  Do Faux Furs shed fibres?
Under normal conditions – no. We use the best quality Faux Fur and, unlike the real thing, our faux furs do not shed any fibres. However, there may be some residual fibres from cutting and making the product, so give it a shake on arrival. After that there will be no shedding under normal conditions.

  Allergies?
Our products have not been clinically tested for allergies. However, all our fibres are 100% artificial, including cushion pads, so people with allergies to animal fur should not be affected by our faux fur products. We do hear from many customers who are delighted to be able to appreciate the realistic feel of faux fur without aggravating their allergies. May we suggest that, if you have any doubts, you order a swatch of your chosen faux fur and do a test yourself, just to be sure.

  Are Faux Fur fabrics fire retardant?
No. Like the majority of artificial fabrics our Faux Furs and other fabrics are not totally fire retardant. Therefore, your throws, cushions and any other of our products should be kept well away from fires, naked flames and flammable materials etc. e.g. cigarettes, candles and open fires.

  When can I expect my delivery?
All our products are tailor-made to order. Delivery is within 28 days from order. However, most items will be dispatched within five to seven days of order. Please allow approximately three to five working days for delivery by Royal Mail (UK) and up to ten days elsewhere. We will email you when the order is dispatched, and will also email you if there is any delay with the order and give you an ETA.

  Is ordering on your website safe?
Yes, absolutely. Paying by credit/debit card uses a secure connection (SSL encryption technology) and is backed by Streamline (part of the Royal Bank of Scotland/NatWest Group plc), one of the leading secure payment solutions. Any personal information we hold is securely held and will not be passed to third parties at all under any circumstances except where it is necessary to fulfill your order or to confirm your identity. This is to protect you from fraud.

  What is the guarantee on your products?
Our products are guaranteed for 12 months from the date of purchase against faulty materials or workmanship. However, treated with care and in normal use, we confidently expect our products to last many years.

  What is “normal use”?
Our throws are designed for decorative and ‘light use’ purposes, rather than for heavy wear and tear. Faux and real fur is delicate and should be treated with care. Our throws are designed as an accessory for, perhaps, dressing the top of a bed, or dressing a sofa, and certainly fabulous for snuggling under, but it is not advisable, for example, to sit on the fur day in day out, as it will eventually crush the fibres. A word of advice about pets – they love our faux fur. Especially cats. They will delight in ‘kneading’ the fur with their claws, and in this state of total rapture will snag and eventually damage the fur. And they dribble too. (We know – we have two wonderful cats and a dog that like to visit the premises.) Please note: although we love animals damage by them is not covered by our guarantee.

  Why do you sell so many different sizes? What are the sizes for?
Yes, it is hard to choose, isn’t it, from all our sizes and options? We started with the large size, which entirely covers a double and queen-sized bed, but we had so many requests for different sizes, and we do tailor-make to customers’ requests (the only website that does this – at time of writing September 2005), so the other sizes were a natural progression and simply a result of demand. We feel we have enough sizes to enhance the many different widths and heights of beds and furniture available today.

Please note: sizes are approximate. We buy our fabrics by the roll and these are usually made to order for us by the faux fur manufacturers, so slight variations in width are normal. For example, the Chinese faux furs do tend to come up wider than 150 cm in which case we do try to make the throw a few centimetres wider (often as much as 160 cm) so that you have even more throw for your money. Because these are hand-made, minimum length will always be accurate, but again your throw may be a few centimetres longer.

  Where are your products designed and made?
All our products are designed and tailor made in the UK by our highly skilled craftspeople. Our quality control is second to none – we have checks throughout the manufacturing process and all our products have at least two final quality control checks before they are dispatched. ON our website product descriptions and photos, we have endeavoured to give as much accurate information and in as much detail as possible about our products. Our descriptions and photos are as accurate as possible. However, there are some variations in colours depending on the technology used to access the site. We have not used any professional photographers or enhanced the photos in any way. The products are as you see them. If in doubt please ask for soem swatches.

Can't find an answer to your question? Please contact us for more information.