Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Lazarenko Svetlana via Shutterstock

Gucci 'Animal fur isn't "modern". Wearing fur belongs in the Stone Age'

Wearing fur – which is quite literally stolen off animals’ backs – is a practice that belongs in the Stone Age, writes Elisa Allen.

IN A WATERSHED moment, Italian fashion house Gucci – which, for decades, has peddled everything from kangaroo-fur loafers to sealskin coats – announced last week that it’s going fur-free.

By the company’s own account, animal fur isn’t “modern”. You can say that again. Wearing fur – which is quite literally stolen off animals’ backs – is a practice that belongs in the Stone Age.

Years ago people could claim ignorance

Unless you do live in a cave – perhaps the only justification humans ever had for draping themselves in animal fur – you’ll be aware that fur coats, collars, and trinkets are products of a cruel, violent industry. Years ago, people may have been able to claim ignorance, but today, anyone with an internet connection can see footage and photos of animals on fur farms who spend their lives confined to tiny wire cages, often with little to no protection from the snow and sleet in wintertime or the scorching summer sun.

One quick Google Images search for “fur farm” produces thousands of results showing foxes, rabbits, minks, and other animals suffering in filthy conditions with untreated wounds, injuries, and even missing limbs, sometimes alongside the rotting corpses of other animals. When their short lives are brought to an end, it’s often by painful anal electrocution, gassing, neck-breaking, drowning, or strangulation.

In China, the world’s largest exporter of fur, cats and dogs are sometimes skinned alive for their fur (which is deceitfully mislabelled and sold on the European market). In North America, coyotes are caught in bone-crushing steel-jaw traps. Those who aren’t killed outright by these devices may be shot at close range by trappers or languish for days before eventually dying of starvation, thirst, or blood loss.

Nursing mothers have even been known to chew through their own limbs in a desperate attempt to return to their babies. And right here in Ireland, more than 200,000 minks held in squalid cages on the country’s three remaining fur farms are denied the opportunity to act on any of their natural instincts – such as roaming, swimming, and caring for their young.

A civilised society

They’ll exist in this miserable state until their tiny lungs are finally filled with poison gas. Why? So that someone can prance around in a furry coat or fuzzy loafers. You’d be forgiven for questioning whether we truly live in a civilised society.

The fur industry, reeling from the blow of Gucci’s announcement, went on the defensive, claiming that “fur is the most natural luxury item there is”. Its representatives either have conveniently forgotten that ads making false claims about fur’s green credentials have been banned in multiple countries or are deliberately lying to the public.

The truth is that fur production is an ecological nightmare and has been identified as a major polluter by government agencies around the world because the chemicals used to keep pelts from decomposing in people’s wardrobes are highly toxic and have been shown to poison rivers and streams, killing off fish and other water life.

Most retailers want nothing to do with it

Despite this bloody industry’s shameful ploys, most consumers – and retailers – want nothing to do with it. Topshop, H&M, River Island, Zara, and Marks & Spencer are among the numerous high-street stores that refuse to use real fur in their collections, and Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, Calvin Klein, and Dublin darling Simone Rocha are just a few of today’s popular and proudly fur-free designers.

Gucci has finally conceded that no one needs to drape themselves in the skins of tormented animals, and – in 2017 – it’s only a matter of time until the few remaining dinosaurs of the fashion world that still use fur cop on and follow suit.

And as for Ireland, if we don’t shut down our last remaining fur farms and join our UK neighbours in banning this barbaric industry, we’re very soon going to find ourselves on the wrong side of history.

Elisa Allen is Director of PETA UK.

Opinion: ‘We are not that different from Saudi Arabia’>

Debate Room: Has Budget 2018 moved towards solving the housing crisis?>

Voices

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

View 38 comments
Close
38 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David A. Murray
    Favourite David A. Murray
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 6:38 AM

    Gucci have probably done the maths and realised that continuing with fur is going to loose them more business than taking a hollow moral stand years after they should have abandoned fur.

    172
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Harry Whitehead
    Favourite Harry Whitehead
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 1:12 PM

    @David A. Murray: Seems a bit strage though that fur or even fake fur (because the latter allegedly normalises the former) attract ire on a level unheard of towards leather. Possibly because throwing paint over a lady in a mink coat comes across as less risky than throwing it over a group of bikers or metalheads.

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ciara Kennedy
    Favourite Ciara Kennedy
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 2:26 PM

    @Harry Whitehead: you have a point but its the inhumane practices/torture that go along with fur industry. without detailing it you might want to check it out. Its a step anyway. industry shpuld be banned and intensive farming and factory farming next.

    18
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute HiddenIreland
    Favourite HiddenIreland
    Report
    Oct 18th 2017, 5:20 PM

    @Elisa Allen

    So what are you doing to stop the horrific cruel islamic halal slaughter?

    any protests against that?

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan Wiley
    Favourite Alan Wiley
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 6:41 AM

    Ok back to the hurricane !!

    87
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Thought for Food
    Favourite Thought for Food
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 6:50 AM

    What about natural fur produced from game rather than farms?

    I’m in full agreement that fur farms tend to be barbaric, but fur from hunting is taken in a clean and humane way. Surely there’s room in the market for naturally harvested fur?

    65
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Avina Laaf
    Favourite Avina Laaf
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 6:55 AM

    @Thought for Food:
    If you think it’s ok to kill wild animals for their fur.

    64
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Andy K
    Favourite Andy K
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 7:23 AM

    @Avina Laaf: Are you vegan? If no you dont have a leg to stand on. If yes I pity you….

    50
    See 6 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jackie Eco
    Favourite Jackie Eco
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 8:20 AM

    @Thought for Food: shooting arrows or bullets might spill blood on their “product” so they tend to trap – when an animal steps on the steel-jaw trap spring, the trap’s jaws slam shut, clamping down on the animal’s limb or paw. As the animal struggles in excruciating pain to get free, the steel vise cuts into his or her flesh—often down to the bone—mutilating the leg or paw. Some animals, especially mothers desperate to return to their young, will even attempt to chew or twist off their trapped limbs.

    Animals often struggle for hours, sometimes days, before they finally succumb to exhaustion, exposure, frostbite, shock, and death.

    28
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Thought for Food
    Favourite Thought for Food
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 8:21 AM

    @Avina Laaf:

    Wild animals are killed for far more than their fur. Usually they’re killed for environmental preservation.

    In many countries around the world, we humans have killed off natural predators such as wolves which results in potentially damaging levels of population growth among much of the wildlife. Without a way of controlling the population, you have situations like in Australia where the Kangaroo population is far larger than what the ecosystem can sustain.

    By hunting these animals, we help to preserve the natural balance. Meat and fur is just an added bonus.

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Avina Laaf
    Favourite Avina Laaf
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 8:26 AM

    @Thought for Food:
    I wouldn’t have a problem with that as long as it’s done humanely. I have a huge problem with killing wild animals solely for vanity or ‘sport’.

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Thought for Food
    Favourite Thought for Food
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 8:41 AM

    @Avina Laaf:

    But hunting is a sport. It’s a sport with a tangible positive impact on the environment and the ecosystem.

    The sad fact is that you’ll never find enough people to take on hunting as a professional job to keep the ecosystem in check. Only by making it a sport will you find enough people to hunt on the scale required to keep the ecosystem balanced.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jazz Buckler
    Favourite Jazz Buckler
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 9:28 AM

    @Thought for Food: Well you said it. If wolves and natural predators weren’t killed off the first place by thick humans, there would be no need for this additional culling and slaughter. Why not re-balance the the eco-system instead re-introducing natural predators etc. It’s been proven to work

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Thought for Food
    Favourite Thought for Food
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 11:43 AM

    @Jazz Buckler:

    And where do you expect to get these wolves from on short notice?

    You can complain about the culling of natural predators but the reality is that much of that occurred hundreds if not thousands of years ago to protect valuable livestock. Good luck telling an Ancient Roman farmer that he shouldn’t kill wild wolves hunting his livestock because we might need them in a few thousand years.

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Séa Graham
    Favourite Séa Graham
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 7:35 AM

    The word PETA under the author’s name invalidates the whole artical. Yes, the fur trade is wrong but PETA couldn’t give a damn about animal rights. They kill healthy animals in abundenabundance while whinging on that meat is murder

    56
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jazz Buckler
    Favourite Jazz Buckler
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 9:34 AM

    @Séa Graham: had to laugh

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lucy Post
    Favourite Lucy Post
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 6:43 PM

    @Séa Graham: This has nothing to do with the issue at hand, but PETA operates one small shelter of last resort for animals who need euthanasia to end their suffering (many of whom have been rejected by other facilities). This includes dogs who are aggressive and unadoptable because they have been kept chained their entire lives; feral cats dying of contagious diseases; animals who are wracked with cancer; elderly animals who have no quality of life and whose desperate guardians brought them to PETA because they can’t afford to pay a vet to euthanize them; and the list goes on. The service they provide is a kindness, and vitally needed in an area where many people can’t afford to pay a veterinarian to do it. Please watch this short video to see some of the animals PETA has helped in its community: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oItn9Rm9_sE

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Avina Laaf
    Favourite Avina Laaf
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 6:37 AM

    Amazing that anyone still buys fur – are they totally clueless or do they just not give a sh*t about the suffering involved??

    121
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Andy K
    Favourite Andy K
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 7:24 AM

    @Avina Laaf: Does that apply to all farms?

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Avina Laaf
    Favourite Avina Laaf
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 8:28 AM

    @Andy K:
    Farming for food also leaves a lot to be desired at times, but it’s completely different to farming so some vain prima-donna gets to wear a fur coat.

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Andy K
    Favourite Andy K
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 7:18 AM

    Does the author eat eggs? Pork? Chicken? Does she know that those animals are also kept in cages/tiny spaces?

    47
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Andy K
    Favourite Andy K
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 7:21 AM

    @Andy K: Wait, I just saw that she is part of PETA….

    She probably married a dog and is angry that the monkey they ‘represented’ in court over the selfie case was lost.

    70
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Gough
    Favourite John Gough
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 7:38 AM

    @Andy K: wow. That’s mature and really sound. Good for you Andy.

    41
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute john Appleseed
    Favourite john Appleseed
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 7:42 AM

    @Andy K: not free range

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brian O Reilly
    Favourite Brian O Reilly
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 6:39 AM

    What about shearling coats?,mine fell off the back of a lamb!

    23
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Claire Fowler
    Favourite Claire Fowler
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 10:14 AM

    Animals are not fabric – simple as that. There is absolutely no excuse for wearing fur especially when there are so many brands offering better quality non-animal fashion. Gucci have taken a stand by banning fur from their collections – it’s time for the remaining fashion houses to join them.

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sascha Camilli
    Favourite Sascha Camilli
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 9:38 AM

    Amazing news from Gucci – one of the most talked-about brands in fashion right now, so surely others will follow suit. Many already have: Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Vivienne Westwood and so many other designers are fur-free. Fashion is all about innovation and what’s new – and there really isn’t anything new or exciting about the cruel and unnecessary fur trade.

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paddy Hayden
    Favourite Paddy Hayden
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 12:28 PM

    @Sascha Camilli: Yes I remember growing up as a kid in a family of 7 in Dublin in the 70′s , I’m so glad my mother decided not to buy us all fur coats for christmas .
    However I probably would have eaten the meat if we could have had it for dinner .
    First world fashion problems .

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liv Jordan
    Favourite Liv Jordan
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 9:37 AM

    Exactly – most designers and shoppers are now pushing for cutting-edge and cruelty-free fabrics and designs. It’s only a matter of time until all luxury brands catch on and realise that using fur makes them look out of date and out of touch.

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute
    Favourite
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 8:43 AM

    What’s the problem with fur once it gotten humanly like we eat meat. Imagen how upsetting it is for Hindus seeing all the dead cows when coming to Ireland.

    We are all on this earth to be eaten by someone else we pay have evolved to have feelings and care. Which is a good thing. But need to take a more balanced approach to issues.

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Flood
    Favourite Paul Flood
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 8:55 AM

    There was a anti-fur billboard in London a few years back that showed a picture of dead animals that had been skinned for their fur. Underneath, the caption provokingly read “on average it takes 7 dumb animals to make a fur coat”. The idea of it was to make people feel guilty about dumb/innocent animals being killed.

    But after a few days some really witty person came along with red spray can and wrote under the caption: “…….but only one to wear it”.

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jennifer White
    Favourite Jennifer White
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 9:53 AM

    Wonderful article, I couldn’t agree more with Elisa!

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jim Hartnett
    Favourite Jim Hartnett
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 2:57 PM

    It never ceases to amaze me the number of people who get on their high horses about fur but happily tuck into a big steak or other meat based meal. I am a meat eater, but not a big one, and have killed animals for food but I have always abhorred the fur industry. However many modern day farming methods leave a lot to be desired and there is little or no doubt that we eat far too much meat.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jackie Eco
    Favourite Jackie Eco
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 8:22 AM

    Bless you for caring & stay safe with this impending storm

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute marty johnbann
    Favourite marty johnbann
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 6:53 AM

    Fur coats are really cold.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lucy Post
    Favourite Lucy Post
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 6:48 PM

    Good. There is no excuse for killing animals for fur, especially with the many stylish and warm non-animal materials available these days. I hope other designers follow suit.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute DaisyChainsaw
    Favourite DaisyChainsaw
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 8:03 PM

    @Lucy Post: But you’re okay killing them for food?

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Jennings
    Favourite Paul Jennings
    Report
    Oct 16th 2017, 12:33 PM

    Not cool. Fur f’s sake…

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds