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If you shop for vintage fur, sooner or later you will come across the name BLACKGLAMA.
For decades, BLACKGLAMA has been associated with exceptionally high-quality dark mink, luxury fur coats and some of the most memorable advertising campaigns in the history of the fur industry.
But it is also a name that creates a lot of confusion.
Does a BLACKGLAMA label automatically mean that a coat is authentic? Can an old BLACKGLAMA coat still be genuine if its serial number cannot be verified online?
As someone who has worked with genuine fur for more than 15 years, I regularly see these questions when inspecting vintage coats.
Watch this video to have answers on some questions about this great fur.
And here is what you should know before buying vintage BLACKGLAMA.
One of the biggest misconceptions is that BLACKGLAMA is a designer or fashion house similar to Chanel, Dior or Fendi.
It isn't.
BLACKGLAMA is a quality designation associated with selected North American black mink.
Historically, qualifying mink pelts were selected and sold through the North American fur auction system. BLACKGLAMA-certified mink was known for its exceptionally dense underfur, very short guard hairs and naturally deep dark colour.
The BLACKGLAMA name became especially famous after the iconic advertising campaign launched in the late 1960s featuring major stars and the famous concept: “What becomes a legend most?”
Over the decades, the campaign helped turn BLACKGLAMA into one of the most recognizable names in luxury mink.
This is particularly important when you're evaluating a vintage coat.
BLACKGLAMA identifies the fur, not necessarily the manufacturer of the finished garment.
The qualifying pelts could be purchased and then made into coats by furriers and fashion houses in different countries.
That means an authentic vintage BLACKGLAMA coat might have been manufactured elsewhere.
So if you find a vintage Belgian or Italian coat carrying a BLACKGLAMA label, the country of manufacture alone does not tell you whether the mink is genuine.
The atelier did not make the mink BLACKGLAMA.
The quality and certification of the pelts did.
The label is only one part of the story.
When I inspect vintage BLACKGLAMA, I pay much more attention to the actual fur.
High-quality BLACKGLAMA mink is typically characterized by:
One of the most recognizable characteristics is the short, fine guard hair.
This gives the surface of the coat a particularly smooth and velvety appearance.
When you gently open the fur with your fingers, the underfur should feel exceptionally dense and plush.
This density is one of the reasons high-quality North American mink feels so rich despite having relatively short hair.
BLACKGLAMA mink is famous for its naturally deep dark colour.
It should not necessarily look like flat artificial black.
Natural dark mink can show subtle brown, charcoal or bluish tones depending on the light and direction of the fur.
Because the BLACKGLAMA name became strongly associated with expensive luxury mink, counterfeit labels eventually became a problem.
And this is particularly relevant to the vintage market.
A label can potentially be:
copied,
reproduced,
removed from another garment,
or sewn into a different coat.
This is why I would never recommend buying an expensive vintage mink coat simply because you see a BLACKGLAMA label inside it.
You have to inspect the fur as well.
Current BLACKGLAMA information states that its quality labels use security features and unique serial numbers designed to help verify authenticity.
With older vintage pieces, however, authentication can be more complicated because label designs and identification systems changed over time.
Modern BLACKGLAMA labels can include unique serial numbers that can be checked through the brand's verification system.
But there is an important problem for vintage collectors.
A coat made several decades ago may carry an older style of label or serial number that does not correspond to the format used by today's online verification system.
This does not automatically mean the coat is fake.
For example, a coat from the 1970s or 1980s needs to be evaluated in the context of the labeling system used during that period.
That is why I would never reject a potentially valuable vintage BLACKGLAMA coat solely because an old number does not work in a modern online database.
This is probably the most important advice I can give.
A genuine-looking label attached to mediocre-quality mink should immediately raise questions.
At the same time, an old high-quality coat should not automatically be dismissed because its vintage label cannot be verified using a modern system.
Sometimes you can make an educated assessment, but I would be very careful.
Lighting, camera processing and even the direction in which the fur has been brushed can dramatically change how mink looks in photographs.
High-quality Scandinavian mink, for example, can sometimes appear very similar to North American mink in pictures.
If the coat is expensive, I always prefer to inspect it personally.
A close-up video showing the fur moving in natural light is much more useful than one polished marketplace photograph.
Potentially, yes.
But age and the label alone do not determine value.
A 40-year-old BLACKGLAMA coat that has been badly stored may be worth far less than a beautifully preserved mink coat without a famous label.
When assessing vintage fur, I always prioritize:
fur quality + condition + construction + design
before the name on the label.
A beautifully preserved vintage BLACKGLAMA coat can still be an exceptional garment decades after it was made.
After more than 15 years of working with genuine fur, my approach is very simple:
Don't buy the label. Buy the fur.
A BLACKGLAMA label can be an important clue to the history and quality of a vintage coat, but it should never replace proper inspection of the garment itself.
If you own an interesting vintage mink coat and are unsure about the type of fur, its condition or whether it is worth restoring, professional inspection is always the safest way to evaluate it.
Explore my collection of genuine fur coats, jackets and accessories at Preloved Fur , including elected pieces created with traditional fur craftsmanship.
Follow PreLoved Fur for more guides about identifying different fur types, vintage labels, quality and restoration.
