With winter sitting on our doorstep, most fashion retailers have been
scrambling to stock up on warm hats, gloves and scarves and other cold
weather staples. Whilst many of these items are adorned with a fur trim,
most shoppers do not stop to question if it is
with many assuming its fake due to low price, no labelling or label stating
it is faux fur. Although the majority of the British public reject the idea
of wearing real fur, investigations carried out by Humane Society
International/UK and BBC’s consumer show ‘Fake Britain,’ found a number of
real fur items for sale at well-known high-street retailers and online
retailers, which were either wrongly labelled as faux fur or contained no
label at all.
The results of the investigations, which were conducted between November 20
and 23, reveal how inadequate and within the garment industry
is. “Shockingly, in many cases British shoppers are being duped into
mistakenly buying real animal fur cruelty,” said Wendy Higgins, HSI
Communications Director to FashionUnited. “We’ve found real animal fur
items on sale at well known brands online, as well as in high-street
independent shops, that are either mis-labelled as fake fur, or not
labelled at all. This means that whilst many people think they are leaving
fur cruelty on the shelf by choosing faux, in some cases they are in fact
paying for animal suffering without realising it.”
Established department store group House of Fraser and discount retailer
were among the number of retailers found to be selling real fur garments as
fake fur, which is surprising as the off-priced retailer is a corporate
supporter of the HSI in the US. Both retailers acknowledged that these
items were mis-
advertised. HoF said it would never knowingly mislead its customers and has
terminated its relationship with the brand which supplied the coat in
question, whilst TK Maxx told HSI UK it “doesn’t knowingly purchase items
that contain real fur” and regrets it’s internal teams did not catch the
error before hand.
In order to inform consumers of the lack of clarity within labelling, HSI
UK has launched a new campaign named ‘Make It Fake.’ The campaign aims to
raise consumer awareness for ongoing prevalence of animal fur on items
believed to be fake and calls for more robust labelling laws to ensure
consumers are fully aware of what they are purchasing. “More than 100
million rabbits, foxes, raccoon dogs and other animals endure appalling
lives and suffer terrible deaths just to make cheap trim for coats, hats
and gloves that end up on the UK high-street,” commented Claire Bass,
executive director of HSI UK.
“Polls confirm that the vast majority of people want nothing to do with
this sickening trade yet our research shows that real fur is being widely
sold in markets and stores. One logical explanation is that unsuspecting
consumers are being duped into buying real fur assuming that it’s fake.” A
poll conducted by YouGov revealed that 85 percent of the respondents expect
the use of real animal fur to be clearly marked on labels when used in
accessories and clothing. The poll also revealed that most consumer rely on
the feel of the fur (50 percent) and a cheap price (47 percent) as the lead
indicators in assessing whether the fur is real or fake. However, as the
production of real animal fur tends to be cheaper than its faux counterpart
both indicators can be misleading.
Although the UK government welcomed new EU textile labelling regulations
this March and acknowledged the need to safeguard consumers choice and
confidence in concern to products containing animal parts, HSI UK believes
there is still much work to do as the current legislation is both confusing
and poorly enforced. HSI UK is therefore urging the Department for
Business, Innovation and Skills to take action and improve the legislation.
“It
is unacceptable that inadequate labelling could be leading British
consumers to buy real fur believing it to be fake,” added Bass. “So we’re
calling on the government to introduce clear labelling of all animal fur
items including the animal species and country of origin, as is already the
case in the United States. Only then will consumers have the information
they need to make informed, ethical shopping choices.”
Image Credit: HSI and Bont voor de Dieren (Alliance of HSI)