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A PETA poll of every single designer with a show or presentation at London Fashion Week has determined that 94% – including Burberry and Mulberry – won’t be using fur in their autumn/winter 2018 collections.
This is an improvement on LFW’s 2016 autumn/winter collections, at which 86% of designers didn’t use fur. Ahead of the autumn/winter show back in 2016, fur industry head Mark Oaten said, ‘I’ll be disappointed if we don’t see fur on at least 80% of the catwalks’ – an estimation that was clearly far off the mark.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that ‘animals are not ours to wear’ – notes that fur farming has been banned in the UK for nearly two decades because of the inherent cruelty.
On fur farms in Europe, China and elsewhere, animals are confined to tiny wire cages, denied the opportunity to do anything that’s natural or important to them and killed by electrocution, neck-breaking or drowning.
In North America, animals are also caught in the wild in steel-jaw traps and left to languish – sometimes for days – before succumbing to hunger, thirst, disease, attacks by predators or being bludgeoned to death by returning trappers.
The group’s findings come in the wake of announcements by Gucci and Michael Kors that they’ll no longer use fur.
‘This research proves that compassion is in fashion – and it’s a value that’s here to stay. The fur industry is headed for the history books, as modern designers are saying no to pelts and yes to beautiful and innovative vegan fabrics.
ELISA ALLEN
PETA director
Fashionistas are increasingly turning their backs on fur; a 2016 YouGov poll showed nine out of 10 Brits believed it’s unacceptable to buy and sell real fur, averaged across nine species.
Still, avoiding fur on the high street isn’t as straightforward as it should be; an investigation by Humane Society International/UK and the Mail on Sunday recently found that Tesco, Boots, FatFace and Romwe have all been mis-selling real fur as faux fur.
An earlier investigation from HSIUK found the same thing was happening at online retail giants. It revealed Boohoo, Amazon and Not On The High Street were all selling items such as bobble hats, keychains, scarves, shoes and coats advertised as faux fur when laboratory tests revealed them to be real animal fur.
Click here for Lucy and Tiffany Watson’s tips on how to spot real fur.
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