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Why
Do We Still Wear Fur?
Some Disturbing Truths about
Fur from Cats and Dogs
Katy
Guest,
The
Independent
December 2004
A
high-profile woman with a desire to appear fashionable
10 years ago would rather have walked out wearing nothing
but Christmas tree baubles than be draped in a dead animal.
In the animal-friendly days of 1994 a woman parading the
streets of Liverpool in a £1,300 fur coat could reasonably
have expected to be pelted with rotten eggs — even
if she was the fiancée of England's finest footballer.
But when Wayne Rooney's partner, Coleen McLoughlin, did
just that this last week, she was only pelted with a few
cantankerous words from the tabloids, mostly complaining
that her jacket bore the words "Fuckin' Freezing".
The
fur industry in the 1990s seemed as dead as a skinned mink.
Calvin Klein had renounced the use of animal pelts in his
designs. David Bailey was shooting a graphic billboard
campaign jeering "It takes 40 dumb animals to make
a fur coat ... but only one to wear it." The most
glamorous models in the world were falling over themselves
to appear in adverts for People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA),
promoting fake fur and damning the real thing.
A
decade later, some of them are exercising a model's prerogative
to change her mind. Naomi Campbell was sacked as a spokeswoman
for PETA seven years ago after modelling fur on the catwalk — and
last week the latest shot was fired in a battle between
Peta and another former ally, Cindy Crawford, who recently
signed up as the face of Blackglama fur coats. Her spokeswoman
now claims that Crawford never rejected fur and was only
doing a favour for a photographer friend when she was pictured
promoting a fake fur hat. This week Peta demanded to know
why, in that case, Crawford signed a petition promising
to "speak up for animals by refusing to wear fur".
Perhaps
as a result of last year's ban on fur farming in the UK,
imports of fur are now at their highest since 1999. "Up
until fairly recently the wearing of fur, particularly
in this country, was restricted to the wealthy and ultra-conservative,
people who would have been seen as far from fashionable," explains
The Independent's fashion editor, Susannah Frankel. "Fur
was a status symbol and a fairly crass one. A general shift
in designer fashion away from experimentation and towards
luxury has meant that now some young, stylish people are
happy to wear fur. Many of London's young designers, hitherto
seen as anti-establishment, are also prepared to work with
it."
While
The Independent has a no-fur policy, other publications
do promote it. "Elle magazine has for many years maintained
an anti-fur stance," a spokesperson said last week. "However,
we do recognise that tastes in fashion change. The decision
to carry the Fur Council 'advertorial' last year was a
commercial one taken by the international management of
the Elle brand and the supplement appeared in 20 issues
globally."
The
September issue of British Vogue, a magazine that has claimed
to be anti-farmed fur but tolerant of by-product such as
rabbit and shearling, ran a six-page, £40,000 promotion
by the International Fur Trade Federation entitled "Fur
Ever". Carried in 10 international editions too, it
told readers, "Women everywhere are embarking on a
love affair with fur."
Even
the most love-struck fashionista, though, would probably
turn up her perfect nose at some furs — if she knew
what they were. "It's perfectly legal to import dog
and cat fur," says Nicki Brooks, director of the pressure
group Respect for Animals. "Cat and dog fur comes
under 'other fur' in the DTI's figures and nobody knows
how that breaks down. I believe there is dog and cat fur
here, sitting in bonded warehouses somewhere, waiting to
be sold on. Most of it comes from China, and the animals
are kept in absolutely horrific conditions."
This
suspicion has prompted the Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock
to ask the DTI to clarify its policy on imports. His fear
is that since the US banned dog and cat fur imports this
fur will be coming our way. DTI figures show that in the
year after the American ban, the value of British imports
of "other fur" rose from £4,654,000 in
1999 to £6,735,000 in 2000. Unfortunately, there
is no way of telling what kind of furs these are.
"Nobody
has come up with any evidence [that dog or cat fur is being
sold in the UK]," says a spokesman for the DTI. "There
is difficulty getting a completely reliable test. We're
trying to work with scientists to do just that."
The
British Fur Trade Association (BFTA) is already insisting
that all its members have signed an agreement not to deal
in the fur of domestic dogs and cats. But what is so special
about domestic animals? The rational answer is nothing,
although "people can associate with them more than
with minks and foxes", says a spokesman for Peta. "We
share our homes with them. We know they're individuals.
They feel pain." Peta believes a ban on dog and cat
fur might lead by "a logical progression" to
other bans. The DTI agrees. "If we ban dog and cat
fur, people could say, 'What about rabbits?'"
While
the DTI wrestles with the statistics, pressure groups and
industry bodies are snarling over the figures: Peta insists
the BFTA's claim of a 35 per cent rise in sales in the
past year is a lie; the BFTA denounces Peta's videos depicting
cruelty on fur farms as propaganda. The moral debate is
equally contentious: fur farming is illegal here but we
import farmed fur. In the high street, Top Shop is concerned
enough at the potential outrage of its customers that it
now displays posters promising "All our fur is fake".
But
at one fur shop in the West End of London last week the
owner was confident: business hadn't been this good for
years, he said. It was a good thing that leopard and ocelot
were no longer sold, he believed, but on his shelves were
beaver, mink, squirrel and musquash: one small fur hat
on his shelves was retailing for £480. There was
even more fur being worn in the North, he observed - and
not just by Coleen McLoughlin.
'People
don't hiss at my wrap any more'
When
I first ventured out in my grandmother's fur wrap two years
ago it was not well received: a woman on the Tube shoved
a card in my face that listed 10 reasons why I shouldn't
be wearing it; when I got to the front of the queue in
Pret A Manger the woman behind the till refused to take
my money. "Why? What?" I said. From the way she
was looking at the fur around my shoulders, I realised
why. In the end, the manager sold me my sandwich while
the woman stood glaring at me.
Have
things really changed so much? I set out to see if the
same anti-fur sentiment still exists, piling myself with
real fur — rabbit slung over the shoulders, fox perched
on the head. The hat even has a pendulous, Davy Crockett-style
brush. I am fully expecting to be hissed at as I get on
the Tube. But I barely get a dirty look. Walking up Bond
Street I feel at home — the windows are full, after
all, with fur, faux and otherwise. A shop assistant looks
at me askance, but I think this is because my shoes are
scuffed rather than because I am wearing real fur. An older
woman in a fur-trimmed poncho gives me an approving smile;
a younger lady also wearing a large fur hat gives me a
conspiratorial grin. The grin says, I know I shouldn't,
but I am anyway.
But
how about a vegan health food store? I walk into the organic
mecca Fresh and Wild. There are organic mung beans. There
are fair-trade kumquats. There is me browsing through the
tofu looking like Cruella De Vil after a particularly successful
cull. Yet they're perfectly happy to sell me a carrot smoothie. "I
don't care," shrugs one of the staff when I ask what
she thinks of my furry regalia. "Some of our customers
would try to talk you round. But no one's gonna scream."
Outside
the store, I'm tapped on the shoulder. This is it, I think:
I'm heading for a bucket of red paint. I turn, wincing.
It's a young woman swaddled in a thick fur coat. "I
just wanted to ask," she says "where you got
your hat from? I'm looking for one just like it."
So
You Want An Alternative...
Fur
If
you like the look, but not the thought of traps, slaughter
and frenzied animals pacing their cages, try faux fur,
made from nylon, polyester, rayon and brushed cotton.
Leather
Peta
argues that cows, pigs, sheep, and goats are castrated,
branded, de-horned and have their tails docked without
anaesthetics. The leather trade claims some chemicals used
in producing substitutes damage the environment.
Wool
Lambs
are docked and castrated without anaesthetic, says Peta,
and deliberately scarred to keep out maggots. Try Polartec
Wind Pro, made from recycled plastic soda bottles, or Tencel,
a natural fabric made from wood pulp, which can be used
for suiting.
Silk
About
3,000 silkworms are gassed or steamed alive to make every
pound of silk. Ahimsa silk is made in India from the empty
cocoons of moths that have flown away.
Angora
Rabbits
suffer extreme pain in wire cages and are strapped down
for shearing, often a bloody process, claims Peta. Try
soft acrylics, brushed cotton and faux fur.
For more information on this issue, visit ORGANIZATIONS,
IMAGE GALLERY, FACT SHEETS, ETC., and BOOKS.
All are projects of The Animals Voice
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