To Fur Or Not To Fur?

I realise that it has been a while since I have managed to do a proper old school top 5, but instead I thought I’d treat you to a slightly more serious and topical post to give you some food for thought on a sunday evening…

Now, most of you have probably already formed a very firm opinion on whether or not you wear real fur. I can tell you now, that just because we live in an arctic country it is not entirely legit to pile it on even here (Norway), though I feel we have somewhat more of an excuse than if you live in, say, California. Personally I am a bit on the fence when it comes to real fur. I love the quality, feel and warmth of the real thing, but before you ask, I have seen the photos and I am not a fan of the fur industry. In fact, I wouldn’t care one bit if the fur industry went under. I am happily conflicted, and so far my compromise is to stick to vintage and whilst I certainly don’t have the money, I also don’t have the inclination to go out and buy myself a brand new piece of fur.

But I will tell you why I am ambivalent about this issue, that seems to spark such animosity and outrage and heated emotions. To me the fur industry is all those things that animal rights protesters say – cruel, unnecessary and feeding on the vanity of women. No arguement there. But how is this any different from the rest of the fashion industry?

I have been working in the fashion industry many years now, and have also been involved in issues relating to ethical trading. Basically, it’s not a pretty world out there, and the fashion industry, much like any consumer driven industry, has in many ways blood on their hands. To me it makes little difference if the blood is from cute furry animals or other human beings. I believe that if you take a strong position against fur because of its cruelty you should also apply that to other aspects of the fashion industry, such as jewelry, which is notorious for using child labour, as is the cotton industry. If you don’t wear fur, don’t wear leather, non-organic cotton or non-ethical jewelry. And while you’re at it, don’t eat any farmed or non-organic, non-fairtrade food either.

I’m an all or nothing kinda girl, so this philosophy is too complicated for me to follow. Even fashion companies with the very best intentions can find it hard to have full control over their supply chains. As long as the cultures and governments of big manufacturing countries such as China and India accept all the breaches to human rights and health & safety guidelines that happen every minute of every day in their factories, we are still a very long way from a perfect world.

Ultimately wearing real fur or not is an intensely personal decision. For me – everything in moderation. I wear fake fur, I try to buy organic if possible, I wish more fair trade products would appear in the shops, but I will not compromise on style, and I do occasionally wear the real thing. I accept that we do not live in a perfect world, but I wish it was more acceptable to make these personal decisions without risking abuse and defamation.

What do you think?