堅定的改革家 托本•尼爾森—孟凡專訪哥本哈根皮草前任總裁

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.

全球皮草行業的領軍人物——托本•尼爾森在辛勤耕耘20餘年後，終於功成身退。他為哥本哈根皮草乃至皮草行業的發展奠定了堅實的基礎，也注入了無窮的動力。本次專訪，將為大家帶來更多關於你所不知道的托本，也希望給今後的皮草行業帶來啟發。

孟凡：在過去20多年中，您一直擔任哥本哈根皮草這艘巨艦的掌舵人。作為領航人，您在此期間一定經歷過不少特殊和迫切的問題。您是否可以和我們分享兩個例子，讓我們了解您是如何面對和解決問題的？

托本：這些年來經歷的問題較多，因此很難列舉出兩個最具代表性的例子。然而，我們面對的主要挑戰來自於關於行業的政治議題。我很難理解為什麼動物權益組織始終對皮草行業窮追不捨，這個行業具有良好的動物福利，因此這些人的理由是人們不需要皮草這樣的奢侈品，我們的行業可有可無。這是一個十分牽強的理由，因為人們做出額外的付出正是為了追求生活的樂趣。對有些人來説，能夠舒舒服服睡一覺就是一種享受。對另一些人而言，能夠每天吃到肉就感到心滿意足。同樣對於一些人來説，擁有一件皮草大衣就是一種奢華，這樣的事例不勝枚舉。動物權益組織希望從動物毛皮到肉類的使用進行全面禁止，甚至連養狗都要進行干涉。聽起來有點難以置信，但是這一行動卻具有重大的政治意義。

我們嘗試通過加強行業內在國際政治層面的合作來解決這一問題，合作方包括養殖戶、拍賣行和買家。如今，越來越多的人開始參與到這一政治進程當中，我們獲得了應有的地位。

遺憾的是，我們看到歐洲和北美的傳統皮草公司當前正處於困難的時期。因此，我們不得不尋找新的途徑接近消費者。我們認為，皮草進入大眾時尚精品店裏十分重要。我們通過皮草配飾品牌Oh! by Kopenhagen Fur 來實現這一理念，這些小皮草物件可以輕鬆融入到傳統時尚門店的産品系列中。此外，我們還同業內人士在設計領域開展緊密合作，部分通過哥本哈根皮草設計中心和KiCk(哥本哈根國際創意中心），另一部分則通過我們在中國的辦公室和設計院校合作項目來完成。這是一個長期的投入，目的是確保皮草産業能夠長期擁有自己的銷售渠道。

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.