Lnew year marks an important start for the Italian fashion industry.
With an amendment to the 2022 Budget Law which entered into force on January 1st, the the Italian government has said no to fur farms like minks, foxes, chinchillas and raccoons. A historic turning point, promoted and hoped for by activists and animal welfare associations for at least ten years.
The end of the farms
After the production of animal fur had been suspended in conjunction with the spread of the pandemic, the ban is now final: by 30 June 2022 the remaining farms will be dismantled, scattered between Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Abruzzo, and will thus 7,039 minks saved breeders raised in those structures. Italy thus joins a long list of European countries with such regulations already in force, such as the United Kingdom and Switzerland. While animal welfare agencies have achieved historic victory, is fake fur really the sustainable alternative?
More and more fashion houses are saying goodbye to animal furs
The measure launched by the Italian government is the latest piece in an international panorama that has long since renounced the use of animal fur in its products, well before 2022. Last September the Kering group, which controls Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga among others, had announced the elimination of natural furs from all its products, an operation similar to those already introduced in previous seasons by Prada, Valentino, Versace, Burberry And Giorgio Armani. A decision, therefore, widely shared among the fashion houses but in stark contrast to the flourishing numbers of the sector. Between 2000 and 2010, for example, global fur sales had increased by 70%.
The decision to renounce animal fur in 2022 fits into a current context in which fashion brands are no longer mere producers of clothes and accessories, but where they are called to take political, social and ethical positions. In a kind of new form of activism solicited by social networks.
Fur, real or fake, is increasingly the protagonist also in street style (Photo: Getty Images).
Synthetic or animal fur: what is the lesser evil?
“The future of high-end products will come from the know-how of what our atelier is able to do“. With these words in 2018 Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel, had announced that the historic French Maison had also chosen to give up on exotic furs and leathers. But what are, really, these high-end products that replace animal furs?
One of the most common alternatives is represented by faux fur, fake fur made from synthetic fibers and in particular from polymers, such as acrylic, modacrylic or blends of different varieties. Many derived from fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, so much so that already in 2014 the European Commission had declared acrylic the substance with the worst environmental impact. Synthetic furs they are neither biodegradable nor recyclable and they take hundreds of years to decompose, in landfills, just like plastic bottles or bags (or fast fashion clothes). Thus turning into a huge threat to the environmental ecosystem.
Is there a synthetic fur in 2022 that does not harm the environment?
In this ideological dualism, there are brands that are actively working to make faux fur less harmful to the environment. Within the FW20 / 21 collection Stella McCartney, for example, he presented the Koba Fur Free Fur, a sustainable, biodegradable and recyclable fur, composed of 37% of fibers of vegetable origin, such as corn, and of regenerated polyester. It has been operating for about five years House of Fluff, a fur brand produced with biodegradable, recycled materials or from fabrics and leathers of European origin. Shrimps, a London brand founded by Hannah Weiland, made a name for itself with a line of faux fur outerwear, introducing the conversation about synthetic and cruelty-free furs in the industry, and gaining the support of PETA.
Virtuous examples that represent a concrete alternative to a practice that in all its forms has been harming both animals and the environment for decades.