Content area
Full Text
THE CRISIS HAS ADDED A NEW LAYER OF DRAMA TO THE ONGOING DILEMMA.
LONDON- To use fur, or not? That is the question vexing fashion brands and retailers large and small as a new generation of animal-rights activists rises up and does battle with the growing anti-plastic lobby - and the pro-fur one. With veganism on the rise and horror stories about plastic waste in the oceans, the debate has become hotter than ever.
Fashion, luxury brands and retailers are caught in the crossfire, with Burberry, Versace, Gucci, Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo among those that have dropped fur. A host of others - including Fendi, Louis Vuitton and Astrid Andersen - are sticking to their pelts and working with trade organizations to promote traceability, animal welfare and environmentally friendly practices in a global business that's been valued at $30 billion by the International Fur Federation.
Arguments are becoming more complex - and shrill - with animal-rights activists ramping up efforts to move beyond fur and wage a war on wool and silk, even as the campaign against plastic pleads with consumers to stop wearing clothing made from petrochemicals, which cannot biodegrade.
"Fur is the most sustainable fabric that you can actually use," argues Anderson, a Danish designer who shows in London, echoing the stance of pro-fur lobby. "It is 100 percent able to go back into the earth. And you also have it for a long time because it gets passed down through the generations," said the designer who works with Saga Furs on sourcing.
Both sides' battle cries are around sustainability, and the result is a consumer who is confused, defiant or just plain horrified at the thought of having to choose between a faux fur that sheds plastic microfibers into oceans and drinking water, and wearing animal skin, even if it is biodegradable. The brands, too, are divided: Some have an authentic anti-fur stance, others want to avoid the hassle of anti-fur protests and others still, according to industry sources, are waiting out this current cycle before returning to making fur.
Illustrating all the confusion - and polarization - around fur is this: In the same time span that Gucci, Versace, Burberry and others decided to ditch fur, Canada Goose -...