How to become a pelt dresser, tanner or fellmonger

Official title: Pelt dressers, tanners and fellmongers

Also called: Fellmonger, Pelt grader, Tanner

Pelt dressers, tanners and fellmongers trim, scrape, clean, tan, buff and dye animal hides, pelts or skins to produce leather stock and finished furs for making garments and other products.

Main tasks

• Sorting and grading pelts, hides and skins according to colour, shading, size and density
• Scraping particles of flesh, fat or protective tissue from skins or pelts to clean and soften them
• Removing hair from skin or hides soaked in lime water
• Preparing hides by curing them with salt
• Removing long, coarse hair from pelts and trimming underlying hair to even length
• Tanning and dressing pelts to improve lustre and beauty or to restore the natural appearance of pelts
• Preparing bark and myrobalan liquor for treating hides or skins
• Treating hides and skins in tanning solution to convert them into leather
• Tinting or dyeing furs to enhance natural shades of fur
• Removing wrinkles and setting grains on wet hides or skins

Pay · Outlook · AI and this job

• Median pay: HK$21,000 a month
• About 387,500 people in 2025, and about 403,200 projected by 2028. (+4.1%)
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Related jobs

• Tailors, dressmakers, furriers and hatters
• Sewing, embroidery and related workers
• Garment and related pattern-makers and cutters
• Upholsterers and related workers
• Shoemakers and related workers

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Questions people ask

Do you need a degree to become a pelt dresser, tanner or fellmonger?

Usually not. Only 8% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

Will AI change the work of a pelt dresser, tanner or fellmonger?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Census and Statistics Department (2021 Population Census): 2021 Population Census, Interactive Data Dissemination Service: working population by occupation (38 groups) and sex, age, education, income; median income and field of education (9 groups) (2021 Population Census), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Census and Statistics Department (General Household Survey): Median monthly employment earnings by occupation (9 groups), excluding foreign domestic helpers (Table 210-06317A); employed persons by occupation, age and sex (210-06307A) and by industry (210-06308A) (2025 annual (series to 2026-07)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Labour and Welfare Bureau; tables published by C&SD: Mid-term Update of Manpower Projection to 2028: supplementary statistical tables (5 occupation groups, 17 selected industries) (2025 to 2028 (published 2026-09)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Updated 4 October 2026