Rabbit hair (also called rabbit fur, cony, comb, coney or lapin) is the fur of the common rabbit. It is most commonly used in the making of fur hats and coats, and is considered quite valuable.
The hair of a rabbit can be divided into three types:
A selectively bred rabbit from the 1900s, the Castor Rex, has guard hairs of the same length as the down, but this is atypical.
Rabbit hair is commonly considered a byproduct of the ordinary process of breeding rabbits for meat, and as such is manufactured in vast quantities in England and France; more than seventy million pelts a year in France alone.[1] However, the quality of fur from these rabbits tends to be low, as the rabbits are slaughtered before reaching twelve weeks old and still have the infant coat.
In temperate climates, the highest quality furs are obtained in winter from rabbits over five months old, when the thickness of the fur is even; at other times of year, varying degrees of hair shedding causes uneven patches in the fur. The coat is also at its thickest at this time of year. The highest quality pelts are suitable for clothing, and typically constitute less than half of all pelts collected.
The hair of the Angora rabbit is plucked and used as fiber, rather than as pelts.
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