Top Young Designers Pen Letter To Fashion Students: Keep Fur Off The Runway

For Immediate Release:
24 October 2016

Contact:
Olivia Jordan +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 229; [email protected]

 TOP YOUNG DESIGNERS PEN LETTER TO FASHION STUDENTS: KEEP FUR OFF THE RUNWAY

PETA Joins Forces With Leading Young Designers to Urge Fashion Students Not to Accept Fur-Industry Bribes

London – The future of fashion lies in eco- and animal-friendly materials, not fur – that’s the message PETA and eight top names in fashion are giving to budding designers in a letter sent to internationally renowned design centre Central Saint Martins. Hannah Weiland of Shrimps, Faustine Steinmetz, Vika Gazinskaya, and Molly Goddard are among those urging talented upcoming designers to reject offers by fur companies that push pelts on students in exchange for sponsoring their collections – a common bribery tactic used by the dying fur industry.

“Fortunately, you don’t need to contribute to the barbaric treatment of animals practised by the fur industry in order to be a success in the fashion world”, the letter reads. “Humane fabrics have never been more in demand, and the growing number of fur-free designs on international catwalks is a clear indication that you can be daring as well as innovative and rule the runways without harming animals.”

Eighty-six per cent of the Autumn-Winter 2016 collections featured during London Fashion Week excluded fur, and recent studies show that 95 per cent of the British public refuse to wear the cruelly produced material.

As documented by PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – animals on fur farms are confined to cramped, filthy cages before being drowned, beaten, strangled, electrocuted, or even skinned alive for fur coats, collars, and cuffs. Even in so-called “Origin Assured” countries, investigations have revealed that many animals on fur factory farms suffer from starvation and neglect, including gaping, untreated wounds.

A copy of the letter is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

#