Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Why I Say No to Fur!






As much as I loved attending London Fashion Week last weekend one thing really dismayed me about the event and that was the abundance of real fur on show. Everywhere I looked I saw it and it instantly put me off a designers collection. I wish LFW would follow Oslo fashion week and ban fur. I’ve been anti fur ever since I was very young. I remember my grandma had a closet full of real fur coats that all the other girls in my family would try on and prance around in but not me. I would just glare at them disapprovingly. These days I still disapprove of fur but I don’t give those childish disapproving glares as each person has to decide for themselves what is ethical.
Now back to what I was talking about before I got side-tracked – The one place in Somerset House that I expected to be an anti-fur zone was the Esthetica exhibition. Esthetica is the British Fashion Councils programme that promotes and highlights up and coming ‘ethical’ designers. Obviously for them ‘ethical’ is a loose term open to interpretation. But for me it isn’t. Is it ethical to rear animals purely to butcher them? Is it ethical to anally electrocute them? To torture them and subject them to excruciating pain? Why do so many people only buy free range eggs but find it perfectly acceptable to buy real fur that may have been produced by suffocation, gassing or poisoning?
Did you realise more than half the fur in America is produced in China from the fur of dogs and cats? They aren’t killed humanely either with bludgeoning, being bled to death or being skinned alive being their methods of choice. In most cases you won’t even know whether it’s Chinese fur your wearing as it’s usually falsely labelled to encourage more sales and higher profits.
I’m not okay with vintage fur either (sorry to those of you that I know wear vintage furs I still love you but just don’t agree with it). The more people who wear any kind of real fur, the more acceptable it becomes to wear any fur. Animal cruelty is a cause close to my heart and it’s exactly why I choose not to wear leather either and it was behind my recent decision to go vegetarian. I don’t want to preach to you all but please before you go out buying fur have a think about where it came from if even for a minute.

25 comments:

  1. Completely agree with you.
    Whilst I'm no veggie, eat lamb and wear sheepskin, when it come to the farming of animals purely for their fur and not as a by product, skinning them alive, bludgeoning them to near death...I can't say it's anything I agree with let alone support.
    There are so many good fake furs out there that it seems ridiculous in this day and age to still think that wearing real fur is morally acceptable.

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  2. I admire this post, even though I don't agree with all of it. (I'm ok with vintage fur, for example.) And despite the fact that we don't hold the same views on everything here, I agree that it's important to think about where your clothes (and food) come from. The more informed we are, the better decisions we can make - no matter which side of the fur debate we may fall on.

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  3. This post resonated with me a lot. I'm glad to read about your critical stance about fur at LFW, and I was so thrilled when I read about Oslo awhile back.

    Personally, I don't wear real fur - new or vintage. I eat some free range, organic meat for the sake of compromise with my veggie and legume-hating partner, but fur really does not jive with my ethics. I can understand why some might choose to wear vintage furs, but I can't bring myself to even think of buying any.

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  4. I'm very surprised that Estethica would support designers using fur. I know some of their designers use leather, but this is quite shocking.

    I'm still not completely sure on my stance on fur, but I dislike the hypocrisy around justifying vintage fur. Just because it already exists, doesn't mean the animal was skinned in a less horrific way. In fact, many vintage pieces are made from Astrakhan (young or foetal lambs), which is now banned.

    Wearing vintage fur supports a 'look' and fuels an illicit trade of furs being passed off as vintage. It also softens the stigma of new designers and brands using real fur.

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  5. I hear you but then add feathers to the list. Feathers are big in fashion now too, on dresses, as jewelry, parts of hats and headpieces. Most are NOT naturally fallen off, especially in the case of full blown ball gowns (see McQueen) and so if you toot your horn against fur, add the no feathers to your list.

    I also hear you that you don't think its ok to wear fur; as in leather we all make our own decisions in what we wear and how we wear it.

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  6. Fur is very 'Everywhere', in Vogue, on the catwalk and in vintage shops... I'm not sure where I stand with wearing fur, but I'd prefer not to wear/buy it. It kinda gives me a creepy feeling... I do hear Marissa on her point about people making better decisions, i mean these days even (some) cotton based products aren't exactly environmentally friendly either.
    I'm curious to know as to whether you wear leather too!

    Great post doll.
    x.o.x.o

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  7. lol i dont wear leather either xx

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  8. i dont really wear feathers either bt thats a valid point :)

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  9. I saw an investigation a few months ago where reporters went to a store and found that items being marketed as "faux fur" actually were REAL fur. You can tell by seeing if the fur is attached to skin.

    I'm with you on this. I didn't hear the argument for vintage fur until I started blogger. To each their own, but it's not for me. I also can't stand when people who stand up for the rights of domestic animals also wear and support the wearing of fur. Hypocrisy much?

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  10. I am just so happy that I am not a fan of fur...hehehe I am allergic to fur...that is the reason why I can't stand furry dogs but pitbulls are okay...hehehe!!!

    you have such amazing points and I read a clipping about the fur in China one more thing I can't even watch the documentaries being featured with your fake bags and furs :(

    Kisses
    Sweet
    PensandLens
    @mistytewest

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  11. I am also opposed to fur for ethical reasons. I also don't like fake fur that looks like real fur for similar reasons that you don't like vintage fur, it keeps the idea gfashionable and seen in the street. I don't mind fake fur that is bright colours, so its really really obvious its not real.

    What I find the most fascinating about all this is how quickly people changed their minds about fur once it became fashionable. Ten years ago it would have been unthinkable to even have this discussion.

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  12. Definitely no fur, I absolutely agree.
    I do wear leather shoes and own a couple of leather bags though.. But damn, no real fur, never.

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  13. I agree with you about not wearing real fur. I have a real fur coat that belonged to my mother and I do not wear it. It's a reminder of her because she would wear it. There are designers like Marc Bouwer who use to design with real fur who do not design in it anymore. So you do not have to wear real fur.
    I have two doggies at home that my hubby and I love so again I agree totally on not wearing real fur.

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  14. I do agree w/you. No real furs at all. Never ever. Animals have their own rights as well. What a great post!!!!!

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  15. i have a rather complicated stance on fur. i agree with everything you've said here, and i think a big problem is the fact that people don't pay attention to what they are buying and where it's coming from. and faux fur is also a problem. it is created from highly toxic chemicals that are terrible for the planet and it doesn't do animals or humans any favors.

    i do wear leather, and i'm not vegetarian, however i always make sure to buy organic, humanely raised meat. i still have a problem with the leather industry and the chemicals it uses to treat its leather. very upsetting to take a natural product and then cure it in such an unnatural way.

    the entire industry is so messed up. though many of the fur coats and jackets i've seen during fashion week are beautiful, i could never own these things unless there was a system in place that allowed for ONLY meat we eat as food to be humanely, organically raised and the skins be cured with vegetable products and not chemicals. but if the animal isn't being eaten, then i don't see how it's ok to kill it for its coat. this is my personal position because i feel it is a compromise between the two sides.

    great article and thank you for bringing so many important pieces of information to light.

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  16. Thank you for this information I wasn't aware of. I am one who thought vintage fur was okay but you have given me something to think about.

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  17. very informative post, thank you so much. i also don't wear fur... but i do eat meat.
    <3 mode.
    http://modestylist.blogspot.com

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  18. [...] Why I Say No To Fur, Fuyume expresses her disappointment in the proliferation of fur at London Fashion Week. Even the [...]

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  19. This is such a complicated issue but I respect your opinion completely, as well as the way you presented it.

    I do wear faux fur, and I do wear leather (no feathers though!) but I try to avoid real fur, vintage or otherwise for purely aesthetic reasons. Fur LOOKS too much like an animal, and it freaks me out. That being said, I have nothing against someone who does wear it.
    I think it is personal decision, but it also needs to be an informed decision.

    Some people are not aware of the behind-the-scenes methods that take place in creating fur and leather products, and frankly, even many "regular" materials today are created using toxic chemicals and methods, hence the movement towards eco-friendly clothing lines like Edun. We still have a LONG way to go before we get to more "natural" materials that compose our clothing.

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  20. Ethical fashion should respect the rights of everyone on this planet - animals, designers, manufacturers etc. Real fur, fake bags, sweatshop labour - they all are the ugly face of this industry.

    I say no to fur, meat, faux bags, any copies of designs and the exploitation of anyone period. Not many people feel the same. Sad :(

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  21. You've inspired me to write a post on ethical fashion :-)

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  22. [...] to everyone who let comments on my ‘Say No to Fur’ post. I was astounded by the quantity and quality of the comments. You all made some valid points [...]

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  23. I agree with your view as a general guideline but I'm conflicted as to the individual application. I'm a carnivore (need to, because I'm allergic to dairy, eggs, legumes and soy, and I have to get my protein from somewhere) and wear leather (as a by-product of the meat industry), but I don't own or wear any fur items, and I don' t know that I will in the future. I'm against the creation of new fur items, and I also understand the issue with vintage fur creating a presence of fur in the public sphere that makes it somehow more okay for people to wear fur. But I'm also a refashioner, a make-do-and-mend kind of person, a clothing scavenger if you will - so I feel sad about the vintage fur coats in my grandma's closet that are still good to wear, that are really warm for winter, and that simply don't get worn any more. In a twisted way, I feel it's even more dishonoring to the animals who died for that fur coat if it doesn't even get worn. I feel it's even more of a waste that way...

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  24. I agree with you a lot, loved reading this. I was once told by a friend that by wearing fake fur i was promoting the actual real thing, but my take is that with all the materials, all the possibilities nowadays, there is a way of producing the fur look without killing anything. Let's face it, fur is always going to be there, every year it appears in some way or another. So if we can have without killing the creatures, why still produce the real thing?

    I really want to go veggie, at least in my clothing, food is another story that i have to research a lot before i make any decisions. I mentioned it the other day in my site, how I wanted to not feature any more leather goods, but it's going to be tough. The industry is still way behind in this, unless you go for certain true ethical brands that are either expensive or hard to find. I was looking for pleather and veggie alternatives, for instance, and apart from H&M who actually produces a line with this philosphy, every other high street brand made it really hard to go truly veggie. I'm so going to be asking you for tips on this when I come over xxxx

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