Models from Boss Models Worldwide created a “live billboard” to launch PETA’s “Turn Your Back On Fur” campaign in London in 1996.(Jacqueline Arzt/AP) A shifting market For the vast majority of brands, doing away with leather or wool is a nonstarter several luxury companies that committed to go fur-free have resisted activist calls to do the same even for exotic skins like crocodile, snake and ostrich, let alone cow leather. While fur was a negligible part of most companies’ business, leather goods are the industry’s sales engine, and many vegan alternatives have their own drawbacks.

Now, PETA’s goal is to make other animal-derived materials like wool, leather and down as unacceptable as fur, pointing to practices like live plucking and calling out the conditions in which sheep and cattle are farmed, transported and slaughtered. Covid outbreaks at European mink farms diminished the industry’s status further. Social media and a broader cultural conversation around ethical consumption helped all but complete the job: Gucci declared fur passé in 2017, and its parent company Kering went fully fur-free in 2021, joining a roster of luxury brands from Chanel to Versace.įur still pops up on runways now and then, but it’s now illegal to sell in California and Israel. The same year, the group ran its famous ads featuring naked supermodels claiming they’d rather go naked than wear fur. PETA has played a significant role in that shift, blending aggressive protest tactics - including throwing red paint - with media campaigns and corporate engagement to drag the fashion industry away from its use of fur.Ĭalvin Klein was one of the earliest major fashion brands to go fur-free after PETA stormed its New York office in 1994. “Everyone aspired to have a fur,” Newkirk recalled.

When Ingrid Newkirk co-founded People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in 1980, fur was a status symbol.

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