Kering, one of the most important luxury groups on the planet (with 13.1 billion euros in turnover in 2020) and which includes brands such as Gucci, Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta, also decides to give up animal furs. A disruptive choice: if so far, in fact, the number of brands that had given up using animal furs had steadily increased, Kering is the first group to decide as a whole not to use this material, starting with the autumn collections- winter 2022-23.
Fur-free brands (and countries) are constantly increasing
A choice that collects those made unilaterally by the group’s brands, starting with Gucci, in 2017, followed by Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Alexander McQueen, Brioni and Saint Laurent. In LVMH, for example, the world‘s leading luxury group with a turnover of 44.7 billion in 2020, so far only individual brands have opted for “fur-free”. Valentino has also recently been added to the list of fur-free brands; Chanel has no longer used furs or exotic leathers since 2018, such as Giorgio Armani, since 2016, Prada, Versace, Michael Kors, Burberry. Neiman Marcus said he will no longer sell fur garments by 2023 in the Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores. Israel is the first country to ban the sale of fur, a choice shared with California, which will be fur free from 2023.
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Pinault: “The world has changed, luxury has to do too”
“For many years Kering has tried to take a leading role in the path of sustainability, promoting a vision of luxury that is inseparable from the highest environmental and social values and standards – said François-Henri Pinault, president and CEO of Kering in a note released by the group -. Also with regard to animal welfare, our group has always shown a willingness to improve practices both within its supply chain and in the entire luxury sector in general. Today is the time to take it one step further by eliminating the use of furs in all of our collections. The world has changed, together with our customers, and the luxury sector must adapt naturally ».
LVMH supports the new Furmark certification
The natural fur industry, however, tries to stem these choices by investing in traceability and sustainability, precisely with the support of LVMH: at the beginning of September, the launch of Furmark was announced, an international certification and traceability system that has aim to guarantee the consumer that the fur he is buying has been produced respecting the standards of animal welfare and environmental impact. Furmark was developed by the International Fur Federation (IFF), with contributions from LVMH and other fashion and fur brands. Furmark certified products will be on the market accompanied by a label with a unique alphanumeric code that provides their traceability chain, with information on the type of fur, origin, program applied for animal welfare, manufacturer and place of production, which are constantly being monitored by third party certification bodies.