Saint Laurent in turn renounces the use of animal fur

Published on : 09/24/2021 – 11:12

Is animal fur out of fashion? The last two brands of the luxury group Kering to use animal fur, Saint Laurent and Brioni, will abandon them as of the fall 2022 collections, the group announced on Friday, September 24. A milestone that had already been crossed by the brands Gucci, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta and Alexander McQueen.

A pioneer within the group, Gucci announced in October 2017 to stop the use of fur from the spring-summer 2018 collections, then joined by Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta and Alexander McQueen.

For several years, many luxury brands, including giants like Chanel, have turned away from fur.

>> To read: San Francisco becomes the first major American city to ban animal fur

Only Brioni and Saint Laurent had not taken the plunge at Kering, leading the animal rights organization Peta to demonstrate on March 10 in front of the Saint Laurent store on avenue Montaigne in Paris, after the protests expressed on the social media about an ad where model Kate Moss posed in a fox jacket.

A petition from Peta called on Saint Laurent and Brioni to “join the hundreds of other designers and brands – including Armani, Burberry, Chanel, Gucci, Macy’s, Michael Kors, Prada and Versace – who now refuse to sell clothing or accessories in fur”.

Marie-Claire Daveu, director of sustainable development at Kering, explains to AFP: “We consider that slaughtering animals that will not be eaten strictly to use their fur does not correspond to modern luxury, which must be ethical, in phase with its time and the questions of society “.

LVMH is resisting

As for the “standards related to animal welfare” published by the group in 2019, they “will continue to be rigorously applied, with regard to other animal fibers and materials,” she said. “In luxury, we are an influencer, we launch trends, so we consider that it is part of our responsibility to get things done”.

For its part, the competitor LVMH tells AFP “to leave (its) houses the possibility of continuing to use fur in order to offer (its) customers who wish to wear it products made in the most ethical way. and as responsible as possible “. He said he had banned “endangered species” furs. An “animal welfare charter” governs the group’s supplies, which aims for “100% traceability” of its sectors “by 2026”.

Faced with pressure from animal protection associations and ethical considerations from a growing part of consumers, major fashion houses, but also ready-to-wear (Burberry, DKNY) have renounced animal fur in recent years. .

The American department store chain Macy’s stopped selling them in early 2021 and the Canada Goose brand, known for its goose down jackets with hoods decorated with coyote fur, will stop making them by the end of 2022.

With AFP