Fashion and Fur

Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on fur advertising and marketing over the last few years in a desperate attempt to make fur popular again.

Free fur has been given to designers and fashion contests have been sponsored by furriers.  

The furriers have cut their furs into tiny pieces and added bits of it as "trim" on to everything they can, from parka hoods, to earmuffs, to shoes, to scarves, etc.  They are trying to get fur back onto peoples' backs in this way, and in the short term they seem to be succeeding to some degree (but they won't be fooled for long!).  Some people who would not normally ever buy a fur coat due to cruelty concerns are buying brightly-coloured fur trimmed items, sometimes totally unaware that they have purchased real fur.  There is no requirement in Canada for real fur to be labelled at all.

Real fur in general in fact is often now being made to look more and more like fake fur (dyed bright colours and sheered short), and fake fur is looking more like real fur.  It is becoming more and more difficult to discern real fur from fake fur on the street and in the media.  Don't be fooled into thinking that real fur is back when the fur you are seeing may often be "faux-fur".

It seems that the fur industry tries every Fall to get the trappers’ hopes up as trapping season opens, and to get retailers and consumers excited – as we head into winter months.

But they must remember that as more people learn about the cruelty, more people are deciding to say “no” to cruelty and thus “no” to fur.  

The number of animals trapped in North America has actually plummeted over several years of public education – from a high of about 31-33 million down animals per year, to today's approximately 5-6 million per year.  

Fur-Bearer Defenders Home    Contact Us    Donate/Join/Renew

This web site was created by Amar Allen. All graphics are Copyright © 2002 by Amar Allen and his licensors. All rights reserved.