But some of these faux fur-labeled items are actually made from real animal pelts. On Friday, NBCs Today Show ran a segment in which the reporter Jeff Rossen took five items labeled as faux to be examined at a laboratory. Three coats, a sweater, and a pair of bootsadvertised as faux by brands including Michael Michael Kors, Jacadi, and Nordstrom Rackall turned out to be real fur.

Naturally, finger-pointing ensued, with retailers blaming brands and brands blaming suppliers, calling attention to opaque and convoluted supply chains. Indeed, the mislabeling happenedat different stages of production and selling. In the case of a fur-collaredcoatby Michael Kors diffusion line, Michael Michael Kors, the materialwas correctly labeled on the coatitself, but falsely identified as faux on the stores websitea clerical error, according to a spokesperson from Belk. (It was coyote fur.) Nordstrom acknowledged a similar error; Spokesperson Tara Darrow told Quartzthat a copywriter for the companys Haute Look website was at fault for themisidentified sweater featured on NBC.

Another retailerincluded in the report, Neiman Marcus, blamed the supplier of a pair of rabbit-fur-trimmed boots, which were labeledas faux fur.Clearly, a mistake has been made on the vendors end, said a spokeswoman in an email. We have removed the boot from the website and from our stores.

The vendor in this case was the shoe brand Aquatalia. We regret that, due to an inadvertent error, a small quantity of rabbit fur boots were mislabeled as faux fur,' an Aquatalia spokeswoman told Quartz, in an email. We are in the process of having this product properly labeled.

Incorrect labelingof fur is a disturbingly common occurrence. Last year, Neiman Marcus settled a similar case with the Federal Trade Commission, after jacketcollars and shoe decorations labeled fauxwere found to be real fur.

Why substitute real for fake? Some animal furs (such as those of raccoons and rabbits) are relatively cheap , while high-end faux fur that feels as softasthe real thing can be quite expensive.

It also happens thatvarieties of pelt arelabeled incorrectly. A Chinese member of the Canidae family oftencalled a raccoon dogmade news whenactivists and fashion brands couldnt agree on a name for it. It had beenlabeled as Finn raccoon, raccoon, and even faux fur when the Federal Trade Commission weighed in earlier this year, ruling that the animals furcouldbe marketed as Asiatic raccoongood news for retailers who dont want the labelsto deter dog lovers.

For those seeking to avoid animalfur, Rossen offeredsome tips for determining whether a pieceis real or faux but the only way to know for suremay be to source it yourself .