Winter is just around the corner and you know you will be seeing fur boots, coats, and other fashion products up for sale on becoming a fashion statement. Whether the product was made from a fur farm or from an animal who was trapped in the wild, “wild, every fur coat, trinket, and a bit of trim caused an animal tremendous suffering—and took away a life”(Peta). This industry is by far unethical, each fur practice involves brutal behaviors including hanging animals, beating animals, suffocating animals and the list goes on. When in the wild, the practices are even more brutal including steel-jaw traps, dehydration, and gangrene. No matter how these innocent fur animals are being killed, this is wrong and should be put to an end. One can still be “trendy” by wearing faux fur or cruelty-free fabrics; both are sold and available in stores all over the market. No one needs an expensive fur coat to be trendy for the season can’t we all agree?
Luxury companies over the years have become more sustainable when banning fur material and focused on faux fur looks if needed inside their collections. Some of these brands include Gucci, Burberry, Versace, and Ralph Lauren. The problem with faux fur is how real it looks. First of all, people might not purchase it because it looks real and they don’t support the torture of animals. Second, it still creates a demand and looks that some might believe this is real fur while it could be faux. Third, why support something fake and not the original piece? While faux fur seems to be more ethical, its environmental effects are very unethical. These environmental effects revolve a lot around pollution; whether it be polluting our water or air.
On the other hand, other brands believe real fur should be continued as a sustainable method. A great example of this would be designer Cathrine Saks for Saks Potts who believes she has found a sustainable method to keep producing real fur. She said in an interview “real fur is a natural material that decomposes into the earth without harming the environment after use, rather than plastic fibers from synthetic products (including some faux fur), which can end up polluting our water”(Saks). Cathrine would rather focus on environmental and sustainable issues rather than animal brutality issues when looking at this concern. Although Cathrine does believe in an animal cruelty-free environment where animals are treated with respect. But how can we guarantee no harm to these innocent animals?
As the fur industry is growing, there is also no fur protection for these fur animals. Even on a global level, fur animals are not being protected by some sort of rules. Trapping these animals is also a practice that is being allowed without any consequences. Having no system for this unethical behavior is missing just like what I talked about in my previous blog posts about fast fashion replication. The fashion industry is in heavy need of rules and regulations.
The real question to ask is whether it's even ethical to wear both real and faux fur and whether or not practices in creating them are safe for both the consumer and animal. These materials have been in style for several decades and will only continue to do so if there is a demand for them. Our society tends to glamorize the fur industry but with our planet becoming more fragile and in need of sustainability, this fashion trend of fur products might not be the best move.
Sources
Davis, Jessica. “Vintage, Faux and Real: Navigating Fur in Fashion in an Age of Sustainability.” Harper's BAZAAR, 10 Mar. 2021, https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/fashion/fashion-news/a29086833/is-faux-fur-sustainable/.
“The Fur Industry: Animals Used for Their Skins.” PETA, 16 Aug. 2021, https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/fur/.
“The Truth about Fur.” FOUR PAWS International - Animal Welfare Organisation, 18 Feb. 2022, https://www.four-paws.org/campaigns-topics/topics/animals-abused-for-fashion/the-truth-about-fur.
The debate of real or faux fur is a great example of the many issues in the fashion industry. For years people have protested the production of fur in the fast industry from the harsh treatment on animals. Hearing from your post that faux fur is harmful to the environment it seems that fur in the fashion industry just doesn't work in anyway. My question is why are people so determined and an advocate to keeping fur in the industry. Fast fashion is the latest trend anyway so I am wondering why have people not moved on from the fur trend and onto to the next one. I feel like an ongoing issue in the fashion industry is that there…
I don't even understand why fur is so glorified. Who cares if leather and fur is real, if it looks cute faux I'd wear that anyways. My mother recently bought me a rabbit fur vest and she was so excited to give it to me like it was some big deal. I was honestly kind of grossed out how this is real fur and the amount of praise and glory we get from skinning animals for fashion.
This was a very interesting topic to read about. I personally think that humans should continue to wear fake faux fur if that means less harm to animals. You mentioned that faux fur has a real look to it, so does it matter if its real or not. In the past, our ancestors used animal fur to keep warm, but in todays day and age it seems excessive to still use authentic fur when we have less cruel ways of making a product that looks exactly the same.
I think it is interesting how the problem with faux fur is how real they look. Humans originally made fur coats to keep ourselves warm, the athletics of fur is just a byproduct. Now, that we have less cruel ways to make winter clothes, it does make no sense to mimic the look of real fur.
The idea that certain people might not buy fake fur if they know it's fake despite it looking and feeling almost exactly the same is a really interesting idea within the fashion industry. To me, this hints at the idea of fashion being an internal "feel" rather than the external look. No matter how real or authentic something looks, the wearer may not want to buy it or wear it if they personally know deep down that it's a fake product.