CRUELTY IS NO LONGER IN FASHION
If you inherited it from a grandmother obsessed with that mink that gave her a certain tone on holidays, then it’s time to get rid of it and make room in your closet: because, in case you didn’t know, furs stained with animal blood have gone out of fashion.
This 2022 for our country has opened with a good purpose already realized: from 1 January were banned animal farms to produce fur. The measure is the result of a path that has lasted for over ten years and that has seen many animal rights organizations fight side by side to say stop to this cruel and unjustified practice that led, only in Italy, to the killing, every year, of over 60,000 minks.
Italy thus joins, albeit late, a series of other countries in which this measure has been in force for many years, giving rise to a new phase in the history and civilization of our territory «in which our children will have difficulty believing that once the animals were bred to then tear their fur», as explained the head of the Lav Animal-Free Fashion Area (Leva Anti Vivisection) Simona Pavesi.
Moreover, to put the sticks in the wheels to the breeding of fur animals were already thinking for years many companies in the fashion world: some well-known luxury brands have announced for years their farewell to animal fur to align themselves with the proposals of a haute couture increasingly animal-friendly.
In Italy, one of the first luxury brands to embrace a more sustainable turn was Giorgio Armani, who, in 2016, signing a protocol of the Fur Free Alliance, laid the foundations for its commitment to the total abolition of animal fur from the next Fall/Winter 2017-2018 collection.
But how many will follow the praiseworthy example? Fortunately, many.
Marco Bizzarri, CEO of Gucci, in 2017 announced that the label, under the artistic direction of Alessandro Michele, would become part of the Fur Free Alliance, just like Armani the previous year, adopting a cruelty-policyfree and devolving the proceeds of the sale of fur in previous years to associations in defense of animals, such as Humane Society International and Lav.
«Furs? I do not want to kill animals to make fashion»: these are the words of Donatella Versace when in 2018 she declares her eco-friendly turn, renouncing an iconic piece of clothing for the brand and of which it had almost become synonymous. It is closely followed by the Furla group that, on the same day, joins the No Fur movement, declaring itself open to ecological solutions for subsequent collections.
Prada and MiuMiu, by the will of Miuccia, are the following, in 2019, to write their names in the growing list of well-known brands of the fashion system that eliminate the prospect of resorting to useless practices of cruelty to tickle the usual sterile human vanity.
Consistent with a new idea of luxury increasingly more ethical and sustainable, although well behind others, in 2021 Valentino discovers the concept of fur-free as perfectly aligned with corporate values, then begins its race towards the search for new materials with which to make their own faux fur.
And after Armani, Gucci, Versace, Prada and Valentino, last but not least, also Dolce&Gabbana declared himself willing to align himself with this change, which, in this clear and inevitable turning point, is involving more and more subjects and risks leaving behind those who are still trying to stall.
But when did all this start? The moral policy of the fur-free began decades ago, when, in 1980, in the USA, the non-profit organization PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) was born, generated by a wave of activism that first provoked protests outside fashion shows, then, in the mid-90s, real campaigns like the one that saw stars like Naomi Campabell posing completely naked under the writing «I’d Rather go naked than wear fur» («I’d rather go around naked than wear a fur»).
This is just one of the many examples of the activism of those years, which led many fashion houses to desist from the production and use of animal fur, even for a mere marketing issue: the movements born with PETA created a sort of prelude to the politically correct that we hear so much about today, so buying or wearing a fur coat was considered an ethically questionable act, and so sales fell precipitously, making production unsuccessful.
from that moment the fabrics used banned the exploitation of animals to respond to a market increasingly attentive to the ethical-moral issue, so they began to make proposals that could serve as equivalent to an item of clothing that had not yet gone out of fashion.
The first alternative choice was that of "faux" furs, that is synthetic, made with a material derived from plastic: here, as you can well imagine, another issue related to the issue of the release of microfibers that had a harmful impact on the environment. Stella McCartney later came up with a solution that everyone could agree on by launching the first organic fur created from a mix of recycled polyester and ingredients of plant origin, which was called Koba Fur Free Fur.
However, it is not only brands that say stop to fur. In 2018, in fact, the British Fashion Council (a non-profit organization that promotes British fashion) is committed to making the entire London Fashion Week completely fur-free; to follow, in 2019, in Los Angeles was held the first Vegan Fashion Week in history. Then, even the luxury online sales site Farfetch has decided to eliminate from its virtual showcase all products that contain fur or animal skins in danger of extinction. And so on, much long.
In short, even if there is still a long way to go before these useless practices of authorized cruelty can become the categorical imperative in any area of the world, all the small changes that have been adding up for years are definitely marking a path that goes in the right direction.
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