Furs are getting worse – no one wants them anymore, not even in pictures. Following US media group Condé Nast, which owns publications such as Vogue, Glamor and Vanity Fair, Hearst Magazines has adopted a fur-free corporate policy for all global publications. The US lifestyle publisher announced this on Wednesday. Its more than 200 magazine issues worldwide include publications such as Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Seventeen and Cosmopolitan.
This means that from now on no real fur will be shown on printed pages, websites or social media channels, including editorials or advertisements. “Across our portfolio of fully owned global brands, Hearst Magazines prohibits the promotion of real fur in editorial content and advertising. Our policies recognize clearly defined exceptions and apply to all new business and future content,” says the sustainability report on Hearst’s website.
Hearst Magazines no longer features real fur
The group worked with the nonprofit organization Humane World for Animals (formerly Humane Society International) to develop the policy. This is the same one launched in 2021 by Elle in partnership with Humane World for Animals.
“Bravo to Hearst Magazines for making compassion for animals an enduring fashion trend. Fur’s rapid decline in prominence can give us all hope that the fashion world can become more compassionate without sacrificing creativity. Plastic and cruelty-free fur alternatives are already available and are only getting better, precisely because the fashion industry as a whole is taking a stand,” PJ Smith, Director of Fashion Policy at Humane World for Animals, said in a statement.
Advertising must also be fur-free
The list of fur-free fashion companies continues to grow – just earlier this month, the Council of Fashion Designers of America announced it would end all advertising of real fur at official New York Fashion Week events. This also applies to the fashion calendar, the social media channels and the website.
Also earlier this month, Poland, the world’s second largest fur producer, became the 18th EU country to ban fur farming. “Over the past decade, the number of animals killed for their fur has fallen by 85 percent, from 140 million in 2014 to 20 million in 2024,” according to Humane World for Animals.
Just a few weeks ago, the discount grocery store Aldi Süd withdrew a set of hair clips from sale because real fur might have been used.