Fur clothing

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Fur clothing is clothing made of furry

animal hides. Fur is one of the oldest
forms of clothing, and is thought to have
been widely used as hominids first
expanded outside Africa. Some view fur as
luxurious and warm; others reject it due to
moral concerns for animal rights. The term
'fur' is often used to refer to a coat, wrap,
or shawl made from the fur of animals.
Controversy exists regarding the wearing
of fur coats, due to animal cruelty
concerns. The most popular kinds of fur in
the 1960s (known as the luxury fur) were
blond mink, silver striped fox and red fox.
Cheaper alternatives were pelts of wolf,
Persian lamb or muskrat. It was common
for ladies to wear a matching hat. In the
1950s, a must-have type of fur was the
mutation fur (naturally nuanced colours)
and fur trimmings on a coat that were
beaver, lamb fur, Astrakhan and mink.
Hood with Asiatic raccoon trimming

Coypu jacket, reversible

A French-Canadian man, wearing a fur coat and hat,
around 1910

History

Wholesale dealer (Leipzig, c. 1900)

Fur sewing machine Success from Allbook &
Hashfield, Nottingham, England

Worldwide laws regarding the legality of killing

animals for fur
  Killing animals for fur   Killing animals for
  is illegal   fur is partially
illegal1
  Killing animals for fur   Killing animals for
  is legal, but   fur is legal, but
importing or selling strict anti-cruelty
fur is illegal regulations make
fur farms
uneconomic
  Killing animals for fur   Unknown
  is legal and active  

1some animals are excluded

Fur is generally thought to have been

among the first materials used for clothing
and bodily decoration. The exact date
when fur was first used in clothing is
debated. It is known that several species
of hominoids including Homo sapiens and
Homo neanderthalensis used fur clothing.

Fur clothing predates written history and

has been recovered from various
archaeological sites worldwide. Crown
proclamations known as "sumptuary
legislation" were issued in England[1]
limiting the wearing of certain furs to the
higher social statuses, thereby
establishing a cachet based on exclusivity.
Furs such as marten, grey squirrel and
ermine were reserved for the aristocracy,
while fox, hare and beaver clothed the
middle, and goat, wolf and sheepskin the
lower. Fur was primarily used for visible
linings, with species varied by season
within social classes. Furbearing animals
decreased in West Europe and began to be
imported from the Middle East and
Russia.[2]

As new kinds of fur entered Europe, other

uses were made with fur other than
clothing. Beaver was most desired but
used to make hats which became a
popular headpiece especially during
wartime. Swedish soldiers wore broad-
brimmed hats made exclusively from
beaver felt. Due to the limitations of
beaver fur, hat-makers relied heavily on
North America for imports as beaver was
only available in the Scandinavian
peninsula.[2]

Other than the military, fur has been used

for accessories such as hats, hoods,
scarves, and muffs. Design elements
including the visuals of the animal were
considered acceptable with heads, tails
and paws still being kept on the
accessories. During the nineteenth
century, Seal and karakul were made into
indoor jackets. The twentieth century was
the beginning of the fur coats being
fashionable in West Europe with full fur
coats. With lifestyle changes as a result of
developments like indoor heating, the
international textile trade affected how fur
was distributed around the world.
Europeans focused on using local
resources giving fur association with
femininity with the increasing use of mink.
In 1970, Germany was the world's largest
fur market. The International Fur Trade
Federation banned endangering species
furs like silk monkey, ocelot, leopard, tiger,
and polar bear in 1975. The use of animal
skins were brought to light during the
1980s by animal right organisations and
the demand for fur decreased. Anti-fur
organisations raised awareness of the
controversy between animal welfare and
fashion. Fur farming became banned in
Britain in 1999. During the twenty-first
century, fox and mink have been bred in
captivity with Denmark, Holland and
Finland being leaders of mink
production.[1]

Fur is still worn in most mild and cool

climates around the world due to its
warmth and durability. From the days of
early European settlement, up until the
development of modern clothing
alternatives, fur clothing was popular in
Canada during the cold winters. The
invention of inexpensive synthetic textiles
for insulating clothing led to fur clothing
falling out of fashion.

Fur is still used by indigenous people and

developed societies, due to its availability
and superior insulation properties. The
Inuit peoples of the Arctic relied on fur for
most of their clothing, and it also forms a
part of traditional clothing in Russia,
Ukraine, the former Yugoslavia,
Scandinavia, and Japan.

It is also sometimes associated with

glamour and lavish spending. A number of
consumers and designers—notably British
fashion designer and outspoken animal
rights activist Stella McCartney—reject fur
due to moral beliefs and cruelty to
animals.[3]

Animal furs used in garments and trim

may be dyed bright colors or with patterns,
often to mimic exotic animal pelts:
alternatively they may be left their original
pattern and color. Fur may be shorn down
to imitate the feel of velvet, creating a
fabric called shearling.

Intro of alternatives in the early 20th

century brought tension to clothing
industry as the faux fur manufacturers
started producing faux fur and capitalising
on profits. By 1950s synthetic fur
garments had become popular and
affordable. Newspapers were writing
articles on major chemical companies
trying to outdo each other in the quest to
create the most realistic fake fur.[4]

The popularity of natural fur has gone up

and down in recent years. Vogue Paris
published a homage to fur in August 2017
and later Gucci followed the idea of not
using animal fur. Other high end brands to
follow this lead are Stella McCartney,
Givenchy, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren,
Michael Kors, Philosophy di Lorenzo
Serafini. Burberry announced to stop
sending models with fur on runways but
did not stop selling it in stores. There are
many companies coming up with more
sustainable ways of producing leather and
fur. Designer Ingar Helgason is developing
Bio fur which would grows synthetic pelts
the way that Modern Meadow has been
able to produce grown leather and
Diamond foundry created lab grown
diamonds. BOF fur debate hosted by
Zilberkweit director of the British Fur
Association argued that natural fur was
more sustainable. Others said that
chemical processes needed to treat
animals’ fur in order to be worn are just as
detrimental to the environment.[5][6]

Heritage fashion houses such as Hermès,

Dior and Chanel still use natural fur. Alex
Mcintosh, who leads the Fashion Futures
post grad program at London College of
Fashion, says “Change on this level would
only be driven on a genuine lack of
demand and not just social media
outcry”.[6]

Sources
Common animal sources for fur clothing
and fur trimmed accessories include fox,
rabbit, mink, raccoon dogs, muskrat,
beaver, stoat (ermine), otter, sable, seals,
cats, dogs, coyotes, wolves, chinchilla,
opossum and common brushtail
possum.[7] Some of these are more highly
prized than others, and there are many
grades and colors.

The import and sale of seal products was

banned in the US in 1972 over
conservation concerns about Canadian
seals. The import and sale is still banned
even though the Marine Animal Response
Society estimates the harp seal population
is thriving at approximately 8 million.[8] The
import, export and sales of domesticated
cat and dog fur were also banned in the US
under the Dog and Cat Protection Act of
2000.[9]

Most of the fur sold by high fashion

retailers globally is from farmed animals
such as mink, foxes, and rabbits. Cruel
methods of killing have made people more
aware as the animal rights activists work
harder to protect the animals. The
recommendations (2001) of the European
Commission's Scientific Committee on
Animal Health and Animal Welfare
(SCAHAW) state correspondingly: ‘In
comparison with other farm animals,
species farmed for their fur have been
subjected to relatively little active
selection except with respect to fur
characteristics.[10][11]

Processing of fur

Sandals with dyed fox fur

Traditional Sami fur footwear

The manufacturing of fur clothing involves
obtaining animal pelts where the hair is
left on. Depending on the type of fur and
its purpose, some of the chemicals
involved in fur processing may include
table salts, alum salts, acids, soda ash,
sawdust, cornstarch, lanolin, degreasers
and, less commonly, bleaches, dyes and
toners (for dyed fur).[12] Workers exposed
to fur dust created during fur processing
have been shown to have reduced
pulmonary function in direct proportion to
their length of exposure.[13]

The use of wool involves shearing the

animal's fleece from the living animal, so
that the wool can be regrown but
sheepskin shearling is made by retaining
the fleece to the leather and shearing it.[14]
Shearling is used for boots, jackets and
coats..

Leather made from any animal hide

involves removing the fur from the skin
and using only the tanned skin. The use of
wool involves shearing the animal's hair
from the living animal. Fake fur (or "faux
fur") designates any synthetic material
that attempts to mimic the appearance
and feel of real fur.
The chemical treatment of fur to increase
its felting quality is known as carroting, as
the process tends to turn the tips of the fur
orange. A furrier is a person who makes
fur products such as fur garments, fur
blankets etc. and repairs, alters, cleans, or
otherwise deals in furs of animals.

The process of fur manufacturing includes

waterways-pumping waste and the toxic
chemicals in to the surrounding
environment. On the other hand, fur is
naturally biodegradable, whereas faux fur
is not.[15]

Anti-fur campaigns
Anti-fur campaigns were popularized in the
1980s and 1990s, with the participation of
numerous celebrities.[16] Fur clothing has
become the focus of boycotts due to the
opinion that it is cruel and unnecessary.
PETA and other animal rights
organizations, celebrities, and animal
rights ethicists, have called attention to fur
farming.

Animal rights advocates object to the

trapping and killing of wildlife, and to the
confinement and killing of animals on fur
farms due to concerns about the animals
suffering and death. They may also
condemn "alternatives" made from
synthetic (oil-based) clothing as they
promote fur for the sake of fashion.
Protests also include objection to the use
of leather in clothing, shoes and
accessories.

Some animal rights activists have

disrupted fur fashion shows with protests,
while other anti-fur protesters may use
fashion shows featuring faux furs or other
alternatives to fur clothing as a platform to
highlight animal suffering from the use of
real leathers and furs. These groups
sponsor "Compassionate Fashion Day" on
the third Saturday of August to promote
their anti-fur message. Some American
groups participate in "Fur Free Friday", an
event held annually on the Friday after
Thanksgiving (Black Friday) that uses
displays, protests, and other methods to
highlight their beliefs regarding furs.

In Canada, opposition to the annual seal

hunt is viewed as an anti-fur issue,
although the Humane Society of the
United States claims that its opposition is
to "the largest slaughter of marine
mammals on Earth."[17] IFAW, an anti-
sealing group, claims that Canada has an
"abysmal record of enforcement" of anti-
cruelty laws surrounding the hunt.[18] A
Canadian government survey[19] indicated
that two-thirds of Canadians supported
the hunting of seals if the regulations
under Canadian law.

PETA representative Johanna Fuoss

credits social media and email marketing
campaigns for helping to mobilize an
unprecedented number of animal rights
activists. “In the year before Michael Kors
stopped using fur, he had received more
than 150,000 emails,” Fuoss tells
Highsnobiety. “This puts a certain pressure
on designers who can see that the
zeitgeist is moving away from fur. ”New
technologies and platforms have made it
easier than ever for those advocating
change to get results. While in the past,
activists had to invade runways with signs
and paint, or physically mail privately
viewed letters, today's activist can raise a
commotion without leaving the
house.[20][5][21]

The rise of social media has provided the

general public with a direct line of
communication to companies and a
platform for opinions and protest, making
it harder for brands to ignore targeted
activism. “Brands are under huge pressure
to respond to social media and avoid any
controversy.” Says Mark Oaten, chief
executive of the IFF.[22] The anti-fur
messaging is being amplified by social
media and a millennial customer base that
is paying closer attention to the values
represented by the products they buy.

The feeling of outrage against animal

suffering is particularly intense when cats
and dogs are involved, since these are the
most popular pets in Western countries.
Therefore, consumers demand to be
assured about the production of furs, in
order to avoid the risk of inadvertently
buying products made with fur from these
animals. To counteract the growing
concern of consumers, European Union
officially banned the import and export
from all Member States of dog and cat
furs, and all products containing fur from
these species, with the Regulation
1523/2007,[23] applying since 31
December 2008. A combined method for
species identification in furs, based on a
combined morphological and molecular
approach, has been proposed to
discriminate dog and cat furs from
allowed fur-bearing species, as this is a
necessary step to comply with the
ban.[24][25]

Fur trade
The fur trade is the worldwide buying and
selling of fur for clothing and other
purposes. The fur trade was one of the
driving forces of exploration of North
America and the Russian Far East.

Contemporary fashion
industries
Today, fur is a popular material used by
many fashion brands within the luxury
sector, this includes high fashion labels
Dior, Fendi, Oscar de la Renta and Louis
Vuitton, as well as high street brands like
Canada Goose and upcoming designers
such as Saks Potts. In recent years, some
brands and department stores have
decided to ban fur and use alternative
materials known as 'faux fur' or 'fake fur'.
Reasons for this include ethical concerns
and media awareness, with Burberry
announcing they were banning fur after a
highly publicised scandal about burning
billions of dollars worth of excess stock
was made public in 2018.[26]

See also
Fur farming

References
1. "Savannah College of Art and Design" .
0-
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brary.scad.edu. Retrieved 2017-11-05.
2. "Savannah College of Art and Design" .
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3. "Fur-Free Designers and Retailers"
Archived 2009-11-26 at the Wayback
Machine July 31, 2009.
4. Burberry Stops Destroying Product and
Bans Real Fur. (2018, September 06).
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destroying-product-and-bans-real-fur
5. Op-Ed | Fashion's Fur-Free Future.
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free-future
. Maisey, S. (2018, January 06). With
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. "Harp Seal" , Marine Animal Response
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11. Fur bans. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.furfreealliance.com/fur-
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12. Jos. H. Lowenstein & Sons Inc. "Fur
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23. European Parliament. 2007.
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24. Mariacher A, Garofalo L, Fanelli R,
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2 . https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business
-44885983

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media

related to Fur garments.

Ernest Ingersoll (1920). "Furs are

articles made from the skins of fur-
bearing animals prepared with the hair
left on"  . Encyclopedia Americana.

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