March 29, 2024

Why Gucci Just Pledged to Go Fur-Free in 2018

Gucci may be best known for the fur-lined ‘Princetown’ loafers you see seemingly everywhere, but the brand will no longer be using real animal fur in their designs.

The ban will take effect beginning with the production of the SS ’18 collection, which showed last month in Milan.

The house, which has been credited with inspiring otherwise cost-conscious millennials to start buying luxury handbags, says fur is simply too old school for their demographic.

“Do you think using furs today is still modern? I don’t think it’s still modern and that’s the reason why we decided not to do that. It’s a little bit out-dated,” Gucci presidentMarco Bizzarritold Business ofFashion. “Creativity can jump in many different directions instead of using furs. ”

Gucci joins fashion houses like Armani, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Stella McCartney in eschewing real fur, the product of a notoriously cruel industry that sees animals confined to small cages and killed using barbaric methods, in favor of animal-friendly faux options. Gucci has been a longtime target of PETA, which called the brand’s kangaroo fur loafers “disgusting” in 2016. The animal rights activist group has also staged protests during Milan Fashion Week, where Gucci shows.

A statement from PETA following the decision reads: “Aftermore than 20 years of PETA protestsagainst Gucci’s use of fur – including the time that a PETA member doused the company’s designer Tom Ford with tomato juice to make the point that you’d have to be a vegetable not to realize that using fur is cruel – the company has finally pledged to join … in the ranks of fur-free fashion houses. ”

Given Gucci’s massive influence at the moment, the decision could cause a ripple effect throughout the fashion world, inspiring other brands to ban fur as well (though don’t look to Fendi to do so anytime soon). But the real question is: will we finally be able to afford some Gucci loafers now?

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