Several days before the auction, buyers and designers arrive to inspect the pelts before bidding. "When you have to stand up and check the skins for 14, 16 hours a day," Vogiatzis said, "it's not the easiest job in the world."
Vogiatzis, who joined his family's fur business 22 years ago, is one of the largest fur buyers in Greece and says his company has annual revenue of US$8 million to US$10 million. He started as a fur manufacturer in Kastoria, the center of the Greek fur industry, where he and his father employed 300 workers who made coats from minks, foxes and raccoons. But 15 years ago, Vogiatzis decided to shed the manufacturing side of his business and to deal exclusively in skins.
"It's like a small auction house here," he said of his operation. "Going around the world, selling skins — maybe it suits me better than production."
Vogiatzis has witnessed the advent of new fur markets, and the accompanying geographic shifts. When he joined his father's business, he sent furs mostly to Italy. Now most of his furs end up in Russia.
The No.1 factor affecting his business, he said, is the weather. "When the weather is cold, everything is good for us — we can sell," he said. This season, however, he is worried about a warm spell in Russia. "We depend on God sometimes," he said.
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