It seems these days that almost every fashion shop I walk past proudly displays a fur jacket, vest or scarf in their window.
I wonder how proud the shop owners would be, or their fashion-victim customers; if they bothered taking the time to consider the cruel impact this current fashion trend is having on millions of animals and the environment.
How fickle the fashion industry and consumers are. Not too long ago it was considered downright untrendy and immoral to wear anything made out of real fur.
These days, fur is everywhere. What happened to our moral compass?
Check out any fashion magazine, party, or even your local café and you will see many women dolled up to the nines proudly wearing their latest fur purchase, no doubt thinking they look amazing with a dead animal draped all over them.
The problem is big-name design houses including Dolce & Gabbana, Alexander McQueen, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Tom Ford chose to push fur creations on the catwalks, and that of course what sets the trend in motion.
This month the biggest auction of furs ever seen in the industry will take place in Helsinki, when dealers and designers will be vying for 11 million mink pelts, two million fox and one million assorted wild animal furs. Prices are expected to reach record levels.
What a pity at these auctions they don’t run a nice little promo video that shows how they were produced, and show people the horrific images of skinned animals lying in a heap, still breathing and lifting their heads.
Eighty-five percent of the fur industry’s skins come from animals on fur factory farms. These facilities can house thousands of animals, and, as with other factory farms, they are designed to maximise profits—with little regard for the environment or animals’ well being.
And it isn’t just animal cruelty that is cause for concern. Much of the world’s fur is processed in China, where environmental regulations are often ignored.
Waste from fur farms poisons waterways and raising animals for their fur pollutes the air as ammonia is released into the atmosphere.
Furs are also loaded with chemicals to keep them from decomposing in the closet and producing a fur coat from ranch-raised animals takes more than 15 times as much energy as does producing a faux-fur coat.
Various salts—along with ammonia, formaldehyde, hydrogen peroxide, and other chromates and bleaching agents—are used to preserve and dye fur.
So many people, including many I know, are outraged when they hear about a dog or cat being abused. Yet they happily walk around in their fur.
Fortunately, there are many great designers working with cruelty-free fabrics. Designer Vivienne Westwood was persuaded to strip out fur from her collections and became a convert after seeing a video of steel traps used to catch wild animals for their furs.
Others that have banned fur include H&M, Topshop, New Look, Selfridges and House of Fraser. Diesel, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Zara.
So what can we do? Firstly we can of course boycott fur and if you don’t care about offending people who wear it (I most certainly don’t) remind friends and family what their fashion trend is contributing to.
You can also sign the PETA pledge to send a message to the fur industry as well as the designers, retailers, and others who directly profit from the suffering caused by this cruel industry.