London Fashion Week say ‘NO’ to wild animal skins
News
London Fashion Week – one of the big four fashion weeks – recently announced a ban on wild animal skins.
Image credit: World Animal Protection / Aaron Gekoski
In a welcome move towards kinder fashion, the British Fashion Council (BFC) recently announced that they have extended their ban on fur to now also include a ban on wild animal skins at future London Fashion Week events.
With your support, we worked alongside our partner Collective Fashion Justice (CFJ) to support the BFC in taking this important step to protect wild animals from exploitation in the name of fashion.
As one of the big four fashion weeks, London has taken the lead in eliminating animal cruelty in fashion, sending a powerful message to the global industry.
We are really pleased that the British Fashion Council has extended its ban on fur to include wild animal skins. This is a significant milestone, one which will hopefully set an important example for other international fashion weeks.
Exploiting animals for their skins is unethical and unnecessary. Millions of animals continue to suffer and die for fashion when there are so many innovative and exciting animal-friendly materials that designers and clothing companies can choose to create with instead.
We congratulate the British Fashion Council on their positive action for animals and look forward to continuing our work with them to secure similar protections for wild birds exploited for their feathers.
LFW is the first big four fashion event to prohibit both fur and wild animal skins, and we celebrate this important progress.
We also know there is more to do, continuing the conversation on feathers towards what we hope will be a totally wildlife-free policy. For decades, brands have banned fur, stating an opposition to killing animals specifically for fashion.
This is exactly what happens to the crocodiles, snakes, ostriches and other wild animals skinned and plucked for fashion too, making bans on these skins and feathers consistent with an existing and widely agreed upon ethical premise.
The growing momentum to end animal cruelty in fashion
Thanks to you, our reports ‘Cruelty is Out of Fashion’ and ‘Feathers are the New Fur – Cruelty in Disguise’, in collaboration with CFJ, recently helped influence the PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival to make a similar move by banning wild animal skins and feathers.
More recently, Helsinki Fashion Week took action for wild animals by banning feathers from their shows, joining the list of progressive fashion weeks.
Riding this wave of change, iconic retailer David Jones has also taken a massive step to remove wild animal skins from its collections after being lobbied by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
This humane shift away from animal cruelty in fashion signals the growing demand for cruelty-free alternatives in the fashion industry. Moreover, it will inspire more designers, brands, clothing companies and fashion events to stop using products where animal cruelty is involved.
Together, we can keep wild animals in the wild, where they belong.
Cruelty is out of Fashion
Read our 'Cruelty is out of Fashion' report and learn how millions of wild animals suffer every year for the profits of fashion brands.
Feathers are the new fur
Read our 'Feathers are the New Fur' report and learn how wild birds suffer for the fashion industry.
End fashion cruelty
Pledge to not purchase, wear or promote any wild animal skins, feathers, or wild animal fur products.