Furla and Versace are the latest retailers to implement a fur-ban, as a growing number of fashion houses acknowledge the environmental and ethical implications of using real animal fur in their collections.
Luxury accessories brand Furla is poised to go fur-free from November this year, starting with its Cruise 2019 collections.
All Furla products in both its women’s and men’s collections will be made using ecological fur instead.
“Over the past year, Furla has grown exponentially at an international level,” chief executive Alberto Camerlengo said in an interview with WWD.
“The decision to progressively ban from the collections the use of animal fur is a project that confirms the brand’s increasing interest in the environment, with particular attention to the animal world, to which Furla is very sensitive.
READ MORE:
“The decision, moreover, responds to the growing request for ethical products by consumers who are more and more aware and attentive to these themes.”
Furla’s decision to go fur-free comes as it saw its EBITDA increase 34.1 per cent, its best to date.
Meanwhile, Donatella Versace revealed in an interview with The Economist’s 1843 Magazine that her family’s fashion house have halted their use of fur.
“Fur? I am out of that,” Versace said.
“I don’t want to kill animals to make fashion. It doesn’t feel right.”
Versace’s website was still advertising fur at the time of print, although the company did not reveal details as to which upcoming collection would be the first without fur.
Nonetheless. PETA and the Humane Society International (HSI) both welcomed the decisions by the two Italian fashion brands.
“PETA is delighted that Furla is joining the ever-growing list of luxury brands that are recognizing that being associated with the fur industry makes them look totally out of touch,” PETA director Elisa Allen said.
HSI UK executive director Claire Bass said: “Versace is a massively influential luxury brand that symbolises excess and glamour, and so its decision to stop using fur shows that compassionate fashion has never been more on trend.
She added: “Influential brands turning their backs on cruel fur makes the few designers like Fendi and Burberry who are still peddling fur look increasingly out of touch and isolated.”
Both Furla’s and Versace’s fur-free announcements come after 31 leading celebrities including Dame Judi Dench, Sir Andy Murray and Ricky Gervais penned a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May demanding she implement a ban on animal-fur imports.
Though fur farming was banned in the UK in 2000, it is understood that it is still being imported from countries with lower animal welfare standards.
MPs have this month also launched an inquiry into the false labelling of “faux fur” items by major retailers after it was found many of these items contained real animal fur.
“The end of fur farming is well within our reach,” Allen said.
“Times are changing quickly, and thanks to technological advances that have resulted in an abundance of new eco-fabrics on the market – from pineapple leather to down alternatives – the future of fashion is vegan.”
Other luxury fashion and retail brands that have denounced the use of fur include Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Armani, Stella McCartney, Hugo Boss, Jimmy Choo and Michael Kors.
Meanwhile, major retailers that have committed to being fur-free include Topshop, Zara, the Yoox Net-a-Porter Group, Zalando, and VF Corporation, which owns Lee, The North Face, Vans, Timbaland and Wrangler.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
