News

International Fur Federation News

Here is our weekly roundup of any global news discussing fur around the globe – to make you aware of both positive and negative news being spread about our industry by the media/activists/fashion around the globe.

Fur Supporters Plan to Keep Fighting New York City’s Proposed Ban on Fur Sales

“Fur industry advocates plan to continue to turn up the heat on the New York City Council, in response to its proposal for a bill that would ban the sale of fur apparel.”

“Nancy Daigneault, vice president of the Americas for the International Fur Federation, said Friday that a number of furriers and other fur advocates have met with their respective council members and have contacted their offices. “In the last week, furriers have been picking up the phone and calling themselves and meeting with City Council members in their district, or sometimes staff if the members aren’t available,” she said. “We’re hopeful that the city will listen that it’s an ill-conceived ban. It will shut down thriving businesses, small businesses, multigenerational ones.””

“Daigneault estimated that 12 to 15 meetings have been held with council members and/or their staff. Going forward, the plan is “to continue to drive home our message about sustainability, the longevity of fur, about fake fur being plastic-based, and obviously about the jobs that will be affected in the city, which is significant,” she said, adding that fur supporters will continue to keep knocking on doors, making phone calls and setting up meetings.”

To continue reading, click the link: https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/fur-supporters-plan-to-keep-fighting-new-york-citys-proposed-ban-on-fur-sales-1203100154/

General:

Vogue Italia’s online coverage of REMIX 2019: https://www.vogue.it/vogue-talents/article/remix-2019-contest-finalisti-sedicesima-edizione-fashion-week

Interview with Anna Wintour, touching on what she thinks of natural fur: https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/anna-wintour-interview/index.html

Hong Kong Fur Design Competition 2019: https://www.businessinsider.my/amazing-nature-hong-kong-fur-design-competition-2019-the-beauty-of-nature-by-fur-fashion/

City Council war on fur is a war on small biz: https://nypost.com/2019/04/04/city-council-war-on-fur-is-a-war-on-small-biz/

Pro-fur fashionistas argue faux fur is ‘worse for the environment’: https://nypost.com/2019/04/06/pro-fur-fashionistas-argue-faux-fur-is-worse-for-the-environment/

Job loss at the heart of it all: New York City Fur Ban #JobsMatter: https://www.furinsider.com/job-loss-at-the-heart-of-it-all-new-york-city-fur-ban-jobsmatter/

More anti-fur protests planned for Brixton store: https://www.brixtonblog.com/2019/04/more-anti-fur-protests-planned-for-brixton-store/?cn-reloaded=1

Last fur farm in Germany shuts down: https://www.unilad.co.uk/animals/last-fur-farm-in-germany-shuts-down/

Another Voice: Animal welfare, fashion choice should rule fur debate: https://buffalonews.com/2019/04/05/another-voice-animal-welfare-fashion-choice-should-rule-fur-debate/

Opening of fur trade exhibit at museum rescheduled for April 20: https://www.dl-online.com/community/history/4595744-opening-fur-trade-exhibit-museum-rescheduled-april-20

The fur industry slams Corey Johnson with thousands of mailers over proposed ban: https://nypost.com/2019/04/07/the-fur-industry-slams-corey-johnson-with-thousands-of-mailers-over-proposed-ban/

The rising environmental consciousness within the fashion industry: https://www.wearefur.com/the-rising-environmental-consciousness-within-the-fashion-industry/

Ekaterina Akkhuzina – A fur & fashion trailblazer: https://www.wearefur.com/ekaterina-akkhuzina-a-fur-fashion-trailblazer/

Fashion:

Chrissy Teigen wears Fendi fur slides: https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/budget-babe-226954/chrissy-teigens-duster-jacket-fur-slides-6870265715

Jennifer Lopez wears grey tracksuit and green fur coat: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6893275/Jennifer-Lopez-nails-duty-style-arrives-Hustlers-movie-set-New-York.html

Cardi B makes grand arrival at Beautycon NYC in a full length fur ensemble: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6897355/Cardi-B-makes-grand-arrival-Beautycon-NYC-length-fur-ensemble-floppy-hat.html

Instagram of the day. Click here to view link.

Beware of believing everything you are told by animal activists. Most of what they preach is either a myth or a stunt. See some of their craziest campaigns here and make your mind up:

Fur trade, worth $30 billion a year blames video for fashion fur bans

The global fur trade is hitting back against claims that animals are skinned alive for their pelts to supply the fashion industry.

A team of top lawyers and media consultants has been hired to “explode the myth” that fur is taken from animals.

The 2009 video – seen below – went viral when it showed in excruciating detail a raccoon being skinned alive for its fur.

But investigators hired by the International Fur Federation (IFF) say they have unearthed damning evidence that the video was a stunt.

And they have released a documentary film exposing the culprits behind the major international conspiracy to destroy the reputation of the fur trade.

The documentary was produced by a retired senior producer for ITV news in the UK, who was responsible for some of the broadcaster’s biggest undercover scoops in a 20 year career.

The gruesome 2009 footage, captioned, ‘A shocking look inside Chinese fur farms’ caused widespread public revulsion and led to fur being dropped from the catwalk by Gucci and Burberry.

Legislators have also used the footage to try to implement fur bans in various regions.

After years of silence on the controversial footage, the fur trade says it now has “irrefutable proof” that the barbaric act was staged by animal rights activists in a deliberate attempt damage the industry.

The IFF sent a team to China to investigate and the men who skinned the animal alive were tracked down to a rural area outside Beijing.

The IFF says the men confessed on video that they had been bribed by a woman, understood to be an animal rights activist, to carry out the horrific stunt.

The two men provided a lawyer with sworn affidavits which the IFF says is damning evidence of a conspiracy to damage their industry.

The two men, Ma Hong She and Su Feng Gang, were working in the Shancun fur market, a few hours drive from Beijing in 2009, when they were approached with a bribe.

 Mr Ma said: “We were working that day and a man, and a woman approached us.

“They had a camera and were filming.

“We asked what “are you doing?”, and the woman said her grandfather had never seen a raccoon skinned alive.

“So, she asked if I would do it, and she’d like to film me doing so.

“I told her we can’t do that because the animal might bite us.

“She said she’d buy us a good lunch, or she’d give us a few hundred Yuan to buy our own lunch.

“After we finished the skinning we felt uncomfortable. It was cruel for the animal.

“Even now, after so many years, every time I think about what we did it makes me uncomfortable.

“It is something we regret.

“This video was posted on-line. When we saw the video, we felt unwell just to realise that we had been used by these people.

“I worked in the skinning area for two years. We’d never skin animals alive, and I’ve never seen anyone skin an animal alive.

“When they came to us they enticed us to make this video and it has badly affected the fur market.

“We really hate them. They are fake animal protestors.”

 Mr Su added:  “Mr Ma was my boss and he wanted me to skin the animal alive, but I said it was too cruel, and how much pain would the racoon feel.

“Ma said they’d give us a lot of money – so I did it.

“While I was skinning the raccoon, the woman was filming.

“The man went to another stall and was also filming.

“After a while Ma came to me and showed me the video, and I said, ‘we have been used by these people’.

“When I realised they had shared the video on-line to everyone and knowing how it had hugely affected the fur industry, I hated them.”

Mark Oaten, IFF CEO, said: “We have endured 13 years of lies and smears against our industry but we have finally ended this once and for all. We aim to explode the myth with irrefutable proof that the animal rights movement is behind a cynical stunt to discredit our industry.

“We even know the identity of the animal rights movement behind it and we will be exposing them in due course.

“We do not skin animals alive and animal rights activists are aware of this. This is why they have had to stoop to bribery and to try to damage our industry.

“We want to send a clear signal to anyone who seeks to deny consumers the freedom of choice by these quite wicked and frankly, twisted tactics – if we find you out, we are coming for you and we will expose you. And if you repeat this behaviour, we will sue you for damages.

“Our industry is no longer prepared to sit back and allow these fanatics to march into the boardrooms of designers and bandy around a rag-bag package of lies and prejudice about our business.

“My team has gathered a solid dossier and we look forward to challenging every animal rights group which uses it.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8lZQnTbn-A&feature=youtu.be

International Fur Federation

wearefur.com

thisisfurnow.com

It takes 18 possums to get one kilogram of fur.

That means it would take about 1800 possums to make 100kg – the amount of fur that was believed to have been stolen from woolbuyers Brian Redding Ltd in Gore at the weekend.

Sergeant Greg Ballantyne said police had received a report on Monday that someone had entered the Aparima Street premises overnight on Sunday and taken 100kg of possum fur valued at about $11,000.

Brian Redding owner Jim Patterson declined to comment on the stolen fur.

“I’m not very happy about it and I don’t want to comment about it in the meantime.

“There’s more to the story,” Patterson said.

Bob McLean, of McLean Wools, said possum fur was hard to identify because of the lack of branding and it was likely that whoever stole it would be selling it in small lots.

“If someone turned up with 100kg of possum fur then we’d be asking some questions,” he said.

One bale of possum fur was worth $13,000 to $14,000, McLean said.

There was strong demand for possum fur which had been driven by the tourism industry and it was used to make socks, gloves, and mixed with merino wool to make jerseys, he said. MORE>>>

Lined with possum, a rather adorable looking Australasian marsupial, they are said to be among the most exclusive ski mittens in the world. And costing an eye-watering £295 a pair, it’s little wonder they are. Made by niche British firm alexski, the black leather mittens sported by the Duchess of Cambridge on her family holiday to the French Alps were bought for her by her mother Carole Middleton as a gift. Indeed, Mrs Middleton was so enamoured of her purchase that she bought a matching pair in red for her other daughter, Pippa, also a keen skier.

The firm’s owner, Alexandra Bennett, couldn’t hide her delight yesterday when she saw Kate had been photographed in one of her products. She insisted that the use of possum fur, which she imports from Christchurch, New Zealand, and arrives in bales of raw, tanned skins, is not as cruel as it might sound. ‘They are considered vermin out there,’ she said.

Possums are a small to medium-sized marsupial which were introduced to New Zealand in the mid-1800s by European settlers in an attempt to establish a fur industry. With no native predators, its numbers have risen to levels where it is considered a serious pest. Attempts to eradicate them have reduced numbers by half to around 30 million animals and since 1996 fur from wild-caught possum has been used in clothing. MORE >>>

Prince Charles left his latest tour of New Zealand with a bit of magic in his pocket after one royalist gave him a packet of fairy dust.

Charles was given the packet of fairy dust by a member of the public during his trip down under in November 2015.

Each year the royal family publishes a list of the gifts received in the United Kingdom and around the world.

The children’s gifts included a blended woollen possum fibre poncho for Princess Charlotte and a woollen possum fibre tank top for her older brother from the Speaker of the House. More >>>

International Fur Federation features the New Zealand Fur Council on its we are fur website December 2015

Located in New Zealand. Members include trappers, fur collectors, yarn spinners and knitters from throughout the New Zealand textile industry supply chain.

The New Zealand Fur Council was established to act as one voice for the wider possum-fur/skin industry. Its prime purpose is to promote industry growth through continued access to raw materials, which are a by product of ongoing conservation programs to protect New Zealand fauna, flora and native wild life species such as the iconic New Zealand Kiwi.

Over the last year the NZ Fur council has been working closely with NEW ZEALAND’S DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION. The outcome of this collaboration was a signed Memorandum of understanding to enhance conservation outcomes through increased trapping of possums for natural heritage protection. The outcome for the industry is increased volumes of raw material to meet increasing demand for Possum apparel and accessories. MORE>>>

Rt Hon John Key visited the Woolyarns factory in Lower Hutt with local MP Christopher Bishop today. The Prime Minister tweeted photos of the visit and described Woolyarns as a leading manufacturer in the area. MORE>>>

More than 90 students from around Northland are expected to gather near Kaikohe over the next week to gain hands-on knowledge of possum trapping, fur and pelt recovery as ‘Project Possum’ enters its fifth year.

The chair of the Northland Regional Council’s Environmental Management Committee, Joe Carr, says Project Possum training is run under the umbrella of the Enviroschools Programme, which is funded in Northland by the council.

Councillor Carr, who represents the council’s Hokianga-Kaikohe constituency, says about 350, mainly young Northlanders have undertaken Project Possum training since 2011. More>>>

An agreement between the Conservation Department and Fur Council has been welcomed by veteran Wanganui possum fur and skin buyer Colin Cox.

The memorandum of understanding signed last week will make it easier for possum hunters and trappers accredited by the New Zealand Fur Council to work on conservation land. More>>>