Italian luxury label Gucci has announced that it will no longer show fur in its collections, starting with its spring 2018 collection. The list of furs include mink, coyote, raccoon dog, fox, rabbit, and karakul sheep. The announcement was made during the fourth annual Kering Talk, held at the London College of Fashion. As part of the announcement, Gucci announced its support of Fur Free Alliance, an organization whose goal is to end killing of animals for fur.
The move is part of the company’s recently launched 10-year Culture of Purpose sustainability plan, an effort that extends beyond textiles to the support of UNICEF’s Girl’s Empowerment initiative.
Gucci showed a $19,000 fluffy pink fox fur coat (famously worn by Beyoncé) on its fall 2016 runway and also showed a $41,000 snake-filled mink coat on its resort 2017 runway. Both are still available for purchase, however, all fur soon will be moved off the site and auctioned with proceeds donated to animal rights organizations, including Rome-based LAV.
It’s well known that Stella McCartney’s line is fur free, though McCartney’s line goes a further step and doesn’t offer any leather products either. Online retailer Net-a-Porter has also committed to a fur-free environment.
While animal rights advocates are celebrating, it seems odd that a luxury label would make a splashy statement about dropping fur, but at the same time keep all manner of leather products, also obtained by killing an animal for its skin.
When asked last year about the possibility of dropping fur, Fendi heiress and designer, Silvia Venturini Fendi, in an interview with DW brought up the conundrum of dropping fur while still killing animals. “I ask myself these same questions very often,” she said. “It really is a complicated issue, mainly ethically, but also because there is a large industry at stake. Perhaps one day the entire world will become vegan, and we won’t do fur anymore. Maybe one day we will change our habits. Why not? But when people still eat meat and wear leather…”
