Furrier David Ubl creates sleek fashions from quality skins. Here he takes CW along for a day in his shoes, creating clothes for Beijing's beautiful set. Check out his designs at davidubl.com
7:30 Like every other morning, my phone rings and wakes me up. The first—and by far the most important—question of the day is: “What am I going to wear?” Sometimes it takes me 10 minutes, sometimes it takes me half an hour to settle on the perfect outfit. Today I’m lucky. I pick out my clothes in just one minute.
8:20 I leave my apartment and go to the corner of my street where I wait for my driver, who picks me up and drives me to work each morning. It takes between 18 and 35 minutes to get to my office, which is way down in the south of Beijing. On the way to work, my driver teaches me Chinese. It’s the best way to make the most of my time in the car.
9:00 I arrive at my office. The first thing I do is sit down and check all my emails. Ugh, I’m not so into reading and answering emails, but it’s something I have to do. Today, the new colors for next season arrive. I have to make sure they look rich and very now. I’m pretty happy with the results. It takes five to eight days to properly dye and color animal fur.
12:00 Time for my lunch break. With so many options, it’s difficult to decide on what to have for lunch in Beijing. Luckily my company orders food for me, so I don’t have to waste time thinking about what I should eat. After eating with my colleagues, I usually end up watching fashion shows on Baidu. That, or a few episodes of Desperate Housewives.
13:00 Now I’m off to the factory to check on my new garments. The factory is just two minutes from my office, so I can go there anytime I like. From the original sketch design to the completed garment takes about 10 to 12 days. Between five and eight days to prepare the skins, one or two days to make the pattern and check it over to make sure it’s right, then one or two days to sew the pieces together for the finished product. The skins are all sewn together by machine in the factory, and the lining of the coats is sewn by hand. It’s a very difficult process to make a complete fur coat.
15:00 I’m off to a fitting with a model to see if the new coat has a good fit, or if we have to make some changes. Today’s my lucky day. The coat is a perfect fit for the model. Fitting coats on models is a very important part of my job. If the fit is bad, the coat looks bad, and I can’t show a badly-fitting coat to my customers. A good fit means a good sale.
16:00 I have a short meeting with my boss and my assistant to discuss the new designs and colors I have chosen. The rest of my workday is dedicated to Internet research and sketching new design ideas.
17:30 My driver takes me home. I often fall asleep in the car on the way home, especially in bad traffic. Ugh, I hate Beijing traffic. At home, I get some food, relax a bit, then work up some energy for the gym.
20:00 I hit the gym and and start with some upper-body warmups. Next, I do half an hour of belly work. Chinese food makes me feel so fat that I spend most of my gym time working on my abs. After that I do some kickboxing—it burns fat and makes me feel really good. It’s the best way to clear the workday from my mind.
21:30 After the gym I meet up with my little sister and we catch up on our respective days. This can sometimes take a lot of time. But today I cut it off early and go to bed with my Mac to do some research for tomorrow.
23:30 I fall asleep and dream about what will happen to me next in Beijing.
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I'm not sure what you mean by the last sentence, but I'd like to clarify that City Weekend does not pay to have our Day in the Life written, nor does the magazine receive any money to feature anyone in the column. The Day in the Life column is meant to be entertaining, give a glimpse into the life of someone doing something interesting. It's an added bonus when they inspire debate, such as our [Day in the Life of an American](http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/articles/mag-bj/ditl/day-life-american/).
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Thanks for your reply. It's a shame he gets all this publicity for free then, rather than what he deserves, which is to be made into a scarf.. That American honestly pales in comparison, he's not so bad. Probably a Palin fan!
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I love how living in Beijing works as a time machine: all of a sudden it's ok to smoke in public places, turn into a philanderer, boast shamelessly about money, and wear fur. Marty McFly and Doc will be making an appearance at Sanlitun anytime now.
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It's not just Beijing. Wednesday's New York Times ran [a piece on the prevalence of fur](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/fashion/11FUR.html?ref=fashion) in designer collections this year. Apparently fur's making a big comeback.
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http://www.peta.org/feat/chineseFurFarms/index.asp Fashion designers live in a magical kingdom in the clouds where everyone wears pyramid-shaped dresses and beautiful soft materials appear out of thin air, ready to lend themselves to fabulous cuts and trotted out several times a year at glitzy parties. Meanwhile a couple of poor folks in a village somewhere are doing this, and you've got to wonder why this world is so utterly detached from itself.
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I'd like to see what clothes you are wearing. Do you make your own material? Do you own a leather belt? What are your shoes made of?
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Ooh let's not get into that. I'm pretty sure that the house I'm living in, at least some of the clothes I'm wearing and at least one of the meals I'm going to eat today is founded on the suffering on some living thing, human or otherwise. Take my comments *only* to mean: - *wistfully*, that we could all know a little more about these chains of events; - that we oughtn't to promote wearing of fur, because it's sourced in China as shown in the video.
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I am really disappointed with Cityweekend for publishing this... All such articles do it suggest that wearing fur is OK. Why are we giving publicity to people who encourage the torture of animals? Whats next? A day in the life of human trafficker? Sure, that makes for interesting reading too, but we all know its utterly wrong and such persons and practices should NEVER be championed... I don't think that stimulating debate justifies giving a furrier publicity, and the way the intro was written certainly does not give the impression the author (Laura Fitch) has any issues whatsoever with the fur industry, if anything, it sounds like she thinks he is great! It disgusts me - and it should disgust everyone who reads this article... POOR FORM CITYWEEKEND - POOR POOR FORM. EPIC FAIL.
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I have to agree with the last post -- it is disappointing that City Weekend chose to "feature" this "piece". Even if it's for the lame sake of media sensationalism or to just put the issue out there to spark up a community debate/tomato throwing session like we're having here, a firmer stance by the publisher could have been taken. *Even if it were just a wimpy disclaimer like: "City Weekend does not necessarily share any of the views or advocate the lifestyle of the murderer interviewed here" Something! Even the China Daily recently brought up the question about fur fashion returning and its direct link to animal cruelty (although the designer failed to ever answer it): http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2010-01/21/content_9354932.htm and as you can see from that interview, it's really the fur industry that needs a big BOOing, as the ny times recently covered: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/fashion/11FUR.html so while i have absolutely no respect for David Ubl's tasteless collection, I do not hate him (the player); I hate the fur industry (the game). Of course there's the argument that animal skins are warmer, more durable, blah blah blah === B.S.!!! Wondering what to wear at that next cocktail party in the arctic? It's all about high tech synthetics: http://www.newtonsapple.tv/TeacherGuide.php?id=1282 Which makes me come to one final moral conclusion: There's no excuse for the fur industry to exist in this day and age other than the fact that they are PURELY EVIL. Really, what I'd like to know from all these luxury consumers, is what makes them think that wearing a purple foxcoat is attractive in any way, shape, or form? Talk about the definition of tasteless and low-class! Are these people for real? Who in their right mind thinks they look good showing off their greedy lack of respect for life on this planet. Excuse me, I have to vomit now!
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It seems a little strange to me that people are so emotional and angry when it comes to fur, but no one seems to get so upset when a dining review mentions or recommends a meat dish. Sure, I wish all the beef/chicken/whatever in Beijing's restaurants were raised on free-range, organic farms, but I'm afraid that's really not the case. As an ex-vegetarian, I prefer to eat meat as rarely as my job permits, but were all City Weekend dining reviews to recommend only vegetarian or vegan dishes, I'm not sure they'd be relevant to the majority of people, or to the majority of restaurants. Still, I've never been attacked for recommending steak -- who wants to start?
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Please, give me a break. The fur industry is one of many that has questionable practices. I'm willing to bet that every single poster here complaining about it is also wearing some item of clothing that is either made of leather, or was assembled in a factory operating in subpar conditions somewhere in the world, or has eaten meat within recent memory, or eggs, or milk, or some animal product that has been gleaned from an animal in captivity, or is living in a house on reclaimed land, that was built by someone who will never live in a place of similar comfort. The issue of fur is a popular one to debate, and rightly so. But debate it. Put up information supporting your arguments. Don't turn to lame personal attacks on perceived ethics, or on the magazine. Your houses are much more transparent than you think.
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there ya go, laura! come on, educate us! yes! i just hope the final justification for promoting the fur industry in city weekend isn't because there's no other choice. because really, that's just not the case.
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Oh come on... comparing eating animals with wearing fur? Must I really point out the difference? Attacking people for not being vegetarians of vegans is as annoying as attacking people for not being religious. In an ideal world, we would be either vegetarian and for those who just couldn't give up the steaks, they would only eat meat that came from organic-equitable-commerce. After all of it we would sit around a fire and sing "aaaall are saying in give peace a chance". However, seeing as we do not live in an ideal world, I believe it's a fair compromise to keep our traps shut about poultry treated like shit and ask people not to wear fur. You have to eat. You don't have to wear skunk.
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Just read this article and am absolutely incensed by City Weekend's (inclusive of their rep here, siennapc's) stance.
I am not a vegetarian and I do own leather products, and of course I'm aware of the poor conditions that animals are reared in, but this hardly infringes on the two reasons I and many others are appalled by the fur trade. Namely one, the fur trade presents a major threat to endangered animals (search any international news site concerning fur in China), and two, that it's not uncommon in China for animals that are killed for their fur to be skinned alive (this has been documented by countless organisations and journalists - cf. EAST International, Swiss Animal Protection, www.furisdead.com, www.peta.org, 20/20, or just search on youtube to give you an idea).
Falling back on the excuse that, as a bonus, you wish to inspire debate is pathetic. "PETA might not be happy with David's work, but we admire his talent for making people look great (and slim) in fur", was the extent to which the article went towards hinting at any controversy surrounding the topic, or even coming close to registering the dubious practices that are regularly reported concerning the fur industry in China. It's hard see how this conclusion from CW comes across as anything less than a straight thumbs up for the fur trade. Siennapc then going on to crassly try to defend City Weekend with the
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"When undercover investigators made their way onto Chinese fur farms, they found that many animals are still alive and struggling desperately when workers flip them onto their backs or hang them up by their legs or tails to skin them. When workers on these farms begin to cut the skin and fur from an animal's leg, the free limbs kick and writhe. Workers stomp on the necks and heads of animals who struggle too hard to allow a clean cut." ~PETA @Laura Fitch & Siennapc: I challenge you both to watch one of the countless videos available from PETA and many others which show animals being skinned alive for their fur. SERIOUSLY. Watch one. I doubt you will be able to watch two of them without crying and/or vomiting. I am very serious when I say I will gladly come to the CW office and sit with you and the entire staff and watch one of these videos with you. Then we can have a conversation about glass houses, stones and if you still think that fur is fashionable.
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EVERYONE should watch this very short video from the Humane Society of the United States. WATCH THE ENTIRE VIDEO - all you have to do is watch - you don't have to suffer like the racoon dog - you owe it to that one animal featured alone to watch it. http://www.hsus.org/furfree/resources/
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It's sad to see that so many people are ready to put rights of animals infront of the rights of the human. PETA is for sure a strong example of this. On one side they are insisting that EVERYONE should watch a video of an animal gets skinned alive, while on the other side they would easily stand firm for the "right" of an abortion... I mean, have you watched a video of an abortion maybe? Well, before you say anything about animal suffering, etc., rethink what is your stance towards abortion for instance... "polarbearstare";s comment reflects this stupidity very clear.
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Wow... and I thought this thread had died! "Before you say anything about animal suffering, etc." is a bizarre and awful way to start a sentence if you really think about it. PETA and abortion have nothing to do with this - we're just annoyed about skinning animals alive. If you really believe we should make a big list of all the things that concern us in the world and rank them by importance, and only talk about ones further down the list after the top ones are sorted, then your life must be supremely organised and I'm very impressed. In the meantime, we'll talk about animal cruelty when the subject is raised and about other controversial issues when they are. The minute CW posts a feature article about an abortion clinic, you can jump all over that.
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IN THE PRINT EDITION, CW WRITES: "PETA might not be happy with [furrier] David's work, but we admire his talent for making people look great (and slim!) in fur. We're looking forward to cruising through the next Beijing winter in one of David's coats. Check them out at davdubl.com and tell us what you think." Please see the website Fur Is Evil Dot Org to see what the fur industry is all about. Does David work with Puppy Fur and Cat Fur too? People like the vet's at ICVS should have NOTHINg to do with your magazine. I am going to personally call many of your advertisers and protest this right now!
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The dog you see in my profile picture was in a cage at a Chinese fur farm. He or she is surely no longer alive. I implore you to remove this shameless plug for Ubl's barbarism from your website.
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i cann't understand how much damage there will be if u don't wear a fur, but for animal, it's the basic and only right they can have: stay alive!
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Why do people like you, non caring and selfish, ALWAYS try to change the subject? Because YOU wear and eat cruelty DOESN'T mean everyone else does. STOP trying to cloud the subject with that OLD, TIRED, SELF RIGHTEOUS LINE - "do you wear leather, do you eat meat"?.. BS
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IF fur is making a "comeback" it's because people like CW are PIMPING IT. And WHORES are buying
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To omarmugesan re: "It's sad to see that so many people are ready to put rights of animals infront of the rights of the human. PETA is for sure a strong example of this. On one side they are insisting that EVERYONE should watch a video of an animal gets skinned alive, while on the other side they would easily stand firm for the "right" of an abortion... I mean, have you watched a video of an abortion maybe? Well, before you say anything about animal suffering, etc., rethink what is your stance towards abortion for instance... "polarbearstare";s comment reflects this stupidity very clear." ---- Why do people like you, non caring and selfish, ALWAYS try to change the subject? The issue HERE IS FUR NOT ABORTIONS. And just HOW do you know that PETA as a group supports abortion - HOW STUPID A STATEMENT IS THAT??? And, I have noticed that those bashing people for caring about and speaking up for animals, are always saying "what are you doing for people"? The people that say these things usually are NOT doing anything to help people. They just hate to see people be compassionate towards animals. Posted by omarmugesan 3 m ago
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It is sad to know that the decent animals are being skinned alive for their fur. I have nothing to comment about city weekend publishing the fur fashion article on the internet. After thoroughly screening through the comments posted, i have noticed that there are so many angry people out there, protesting about promoting fur ads/articles. Interesting debates about these pity animals somehow. While i was looking through the comments written from each different members' points of view, some people are trying to criticize and or to feel utter repugnance on David's fashion taste or design. People should not blame David, as he is just doing his job and he is a talented young fashion designer. Who wouldn't work for something where he/she is talented in? What David is doing for the fur company is designing clothes and to promote his talented fresh ideas. Who should be blamed, we all should know. Meanwhile, those who visited David's website, all of those collections are his own personal designs. Does anyone see any of his designs involve fur? Most of them are P.U. man made leather and good quality fabric. Besides, the fur factory produces fur and make them. Let's say, what if David is not working for the fur company. Instead, there will be another fur designer being hired. So, will these criticism being put on the new designer as well and it goes on? If those people who wants to comment of say anything about a designer, think about what matters first the most without putting the blame on someone. No doubt, i believe that those who are talented in fashion design where they will co-operate and have a big project going on with a famous fur/leather company, who wouldn't want to take it or at least consider about it if the earnings are high. Nevertheless, they (designers) will be hated. Put yourself in this position. If anyone would like to protest, protest the fur company and not the designers. Shame to those who knows nothing about the person they are talking about. If you want to stop, make banners and work full time as a volunteer to stop consumers from buying these animal skinning chaos. Writing and just saying things in these small comments column won't change anything. As those are desperate. When the buying stops, the killing can too!
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Fur? Really? Who the heck thought this article was a good idea? Chinese fur is world-famous for the brutality of its sourcing, subjecting miserable creatures to hours of torture while they scramble around in the dirt with no skin, it having been pulled off "fresh" to preserve the precious quality morons like David here prize so much. I hope the money was worth it guys.