Dutchman gets fur ahead of competition

Dutch designer Markus Boer, 30, had never worked with fur before he met his Chinese wife, Qiqi Tang.

The two first bumped into each other at a fashion party five years ago and soon fell in love. Boer's expertise as a trained menswear tailor, combined with Tang's business skills as a fashion merchandiser, has made Boer's one of the few upscale made-to-measure brands in Beijing. It specializes in menswear and furs for women.

Trained in Italian style menswear, Boer was a part-time tailor in the Netherlands while studying marketing in Hogeschool Utrecht, or the University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht.