The Armani Group Goes Fur-Free Across All Labels
WWD - The Armani Group has agreed to go entirely fur-free starting with its fall 2016 collections, following years of off-and-on appeals by animal rights activists.
In an agreement with The Humane Society of the U.S. and the Fur Free Alliance, the company said Tuesday morning that it plans to stop using animal fur in all of its products. The Fur Free Alliance is a coalition of 40 animal protection organizations in 28 countries that are trying to end the fur trade.
Giorgio Armani said in a statement released by the HSUS, “I am pleased to announce that the Armani Group has made a firm commitment to abolish the use of animal fur in its collections. Technological progress made over the years allows us to have valid alternatives at our disposition that render the use of cruel practices unnecessary as regards animals. Pursuing the positive process undertaken long ago, my company is now taking a major step ahead, reflecting our attention to the critical issues of protecting and caring for the environment and animals.”
Seventy percent of the designers who showed their fall 2016 collections on runways in New York, London, Milan and Paris featured some element of fur, according to the Fur Information Council of America’s director of communications Keith Kaplan. Citing a recent survey by the International Fur Federation, he said more than 400 designers internationally use fur.
Over the years, the Italian fashion house has been criticized by animal rights activists at times for its use of rabbit fur. In 2009, PETA supporters placed mannequins in coffinlike structures imprinted with “Armani: Fur is Dead” on the sidewalk outside of the Armani store in Taipei.