The Debate around furs
To continue a sustainable fashion topic from our latest post, let's talk about fur. More and more famous fashion houses are going fur free, in this list are: Gucci, Versace, Burberry, Calvin Klein (banned fur in 1944), Michael Kors, DKNY, Ralph Lauren (since 2006), Chanel, Furla and many others. Whether or not fur is “not good” depends upon one’s perspective. From one side, taking an animal's life for fashion is cruel and not acceptable as it is not necessary for survival nowadays. From the other side, faux furs are incredibly harmful to our environment as they are typically made from synthetic polymeric fibres, such as acrylic, modacrylic and polyester, which are all essentially forms of plastic. So when some of the faux-fur garments will end up in the landfill, it can take up to 1,000 years to decompose. In comparison, real fur can biodegrade naturally within six months to a year. Of course, there are different types of faux fur and if in high-fashion brands convince that the high quality materials are used and don't have same harmful impact on the environment, this can be scary when the faux-fur trends will seep out into fast-fashion brands.
Real or faux fur is a very double question. We don't want to be cruel to the animals, but is it fair to be cruel to the world by producing faux fur? At the same time, it is very unlikely that fur will ever return as an acceptable trend. What do you think about it? Designers, are you using fur in your collections? Do you like and buy furs for your wardrobe? Share your thoughts with us.
