The winner of the Yukon Innovation Prize hopes to be able to revamp the fur industry after being awarded $60,000 last week from the territorial government and Yukon College.

That’s after Yukon Fur Real was announced the winner in a competition that saw four finalists shortlisted and awarded $10,000 to further develop their application for the Cold Climate Innovation and YG-sponsored prize.

Kelly Milner, a Whitehorse-based writer and filmmaker, is the mastermind behind the project. She is the founder of Shot In the Dark Productions, a production company based in the North that creates outdoor life and wilderness media.

About three years ago, Milner visited friends in Old Crow. They were involved with trapping, but were reluctant to sell their furs to auctions because they just weren’t getting good enough prices.

“So we started talking about how we can get fur valued again,” especially on a grassroots level, she told the Star today.

Milner was unable to make last Friday’s announcement itself.

A pair of teammates from Yukon Fur Real accepted the prize on her behalf – Haines Junction trapper Lisa Preto, who runs Minus 40 Furs, and Misha Donohoe, who has a background in communications and science.

“It does fill a gap, and it’s a really important gap,” said Donohoe after she accepted a cheque from Economic Development Minister Ranj Pillai.

Yukon fur has been subject to a global marketplace that has little traceability to the territory, Donohoe said, adding that the sale and production are governed by land claims agreements.

By taking a grassroots-level approach and targeting trappers directly to better connect them with artisans, Milner said keeping products and the work local is “something that makes sense” – especially given the demand for fur in a cold climate like the North. Plus, she said, it’s sustainable.

The team hopes to buy fur directly from trappers for a set price – “which is much higher than the auction,” said Preto.

After it comes back from tanning, artisans will be able to take workshops on sewing practices and become comfortable seeing it being used for a variety of products.

They will be able to take out the fur with a deposit, bring the sewed product back and get paid a fixed price per item (along with the deposit).

“We will look after selling the products to the public” through partnerships and pop-up shops, Preto said.

The money will be put toward setting up these shops, organizing the delivery and pickup of furs from trappers, tanning and the delivery of the batch to the public, she added. Holding workshops in communities may also need financing.

Donohoe noted that “the fur itself is on the leading edge of sustainable and ethical harvesting practices around the world.”

However, because it gets lost after being sold to areas in the United States, for example, there isn’t a chance to learn about the history of the fur and its significance to the trapper’s family.

“We need to start celebrating fur and the value it has to us,” Milner added.

Currently, artisans have to find their own buyers by networking and working at craft fairs, said Preto.

“There’s a few people that sell online, but it’s kind of – you have to know someone to find what you’re looking for,” she sighed.

Connecting trappers to the finished product could also allow greater control of their sales – meaning they would be able to trace where their product went, potentially meet the consumer and share stories of the fur.

It’s something that Preto said is important to her.

“People are buying because of the status, not because it’s cold outside,” she said. She has sold online in the past, with some products going to areas like Texas.

In an industry that can make it tough on trappers to make significant profits, Preto continued that knowing where and to whom her work was going would help both her and the consumer make more informed choices.

“Anyone who wants to buy has money, and as an artisan, you need to make money,” she said, but “there’s a point now where I don’t want to send furs where they can’t be used for (the right) reason.”

Meanwhile, the group’s intention remains to deal with the niche market.

“We’re very much focused on buy local, buy sustainable and support local trappers – in particular, people who live in rural communities,” Milner said.

That it isn’t necessarily a major industry, she added, but it impacts a significant number of rural areas in the territory.

“We’re looking at small volume but high quality,” Milner said, noting that currently, trappers have limited choices beyond selling their furs to auctions.

“It’s very hard to keep Yukon fur distinguished from other furs.”

The funding will be used to set up a more formal structure, Milner said, laughing that so far, “we’ve been a loose association of people or organizations that have this interest.”

Preto smiled, adding that “as trappers and crafters, we’re just busy trapping and sewing,” so she was grateful to make connections with others in the industry.

The concept proved to be a success in March when the team put on the UnFURled event in Whitehorse, which saw the creation of the idea dating back to Old Crow.

With more than 1,000 people visiting throughout the one-day event and more than $60,000 worth of furs for Yukon trappers, Donohoe noted, a raw beaver pelt was sold for about $60.

That’s compared to the $13 it was auctioned off for in 2013, a similar price that was reached in the 1930s, she added.

The innovation prize is designed to offer an individual or organization a chance to develop ideas and move it toward commercialization.

The other finalists included an idea to create a space that offers access to used items, a program of youth-led initiatives in the spirit of reconciliation and the creation of a mobile glass-blowing studio.

The prize had 29 applications in total, with concepts ranging from a variety of sectors including transportation, education and waste management.

Last year’s winners from Dawson City created skin care products from Yukon birch sap, and are expected to bring products like creams and serums to market this summer, Pillai noted.

For her part, Milner said she hopes to be able to have a system in place where the team can begin accepting fur by next spring.