As more and more big fashion retailers become fur-free, the Fur Free Retailer (FFR) website has been re-launched with a new, more user-friendly look. The Yoox Net-a-Porter group has just become the 750th member of the FFR program joining UK high street retailers M&S, John Lewis, Liberty and Monsoon.

As the global Fur Free Retailer (FFR) program welcomes YOOX NET-A-PORTER
as its 750th member since its formation in 2002 its social media presence has undergone a complete makeover (see www.furfreeretailer.com)

In the UK the program is run by leading anti-fur organisation Respect for Animals (see https://respectforanimals.org/fur-free-retailers/ ) and has more than 100 members which include ASOS, John Lewis and M&S. those recently joining in the UK include Liberty, Monsoon and JD Williams.

The FFR program is run in more than 20 countries worldwide by the Fur Free Alliance, an international coalition of animal protection organisations, and looks to connect fur-free influencers – like Giorgio Armani, HUGO BOSS, H&M and Inditex – to consumers seeking ethical goods.

In celebration of the milestone, the program will be introducing a new brand identity and website. The brand refresh comes at a time when a growing number of fashion giants and high street stores are publicly embracing animal welfare with fur free policies.

Inditex, the parent company to Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka and Pull and Bear, among others, and one of the early major fashion companies to join the program, says: “The Fur Free Retailer Program is a pioneering initiative in the campaign to promote animal protection, providing a very positive impact on animal welfare and on the fashion retail industry. Inditex has a strong sense of responsibility and we are proud both of our long-standing commitment to fur free fashion and our close partnership with the FFA, which has helped us to extend best practice to our suppliers and lead by example.”

Often the decision to drop fur follows a realisation that there is no humane way to keep wild animals in cages for their entire lives.

According to Mutlu Toksoz, H&M’s Sustainability Business Expert, the adoption of a fur free policy was an ethical decision: “H&M has a long-time ban on fur and we are working to end the killing of animals for their fur.”

Before announcing its fur-free policy this summer, the $2 billion online luxury retailer YOOX Net-A-Porter surveyed more than 25,000 clients and found that a majority said they wanted YNAP to end its fur sales. The announcement of this prominent retailer to drop fur “could have a knock-on effect across the fashion industry”, according to Newsweek.

Mark Glover, Respect for Animals director says: ‘We are thrilled with the way the Fur Free Retailer program is moving ahead. The public and, increasingly, those involved in fashion are seeing through the fur trade’s shallow veneer of public relations. There is no way to produce humane fur and all those involved with the sale, promotion and production of real fur have the blood of the 100 million animals killed each year for their fur on their hands. Sham on those fashion designers and companies that sell fur and profit from the animals’ suffering’

“There is an ongoing worldwide shift towards responsible and sustainable consumerism, that fashion companies are well aware off’, says Brigit Oele, Fur Free Retailer Program Manager.
“Brands that value transparency and innovation are realising that fur production – and the inevitable cruelty associated with fur cage farming and commercial trapping – does not fit into that picture. The future of fashion inevitably is fur free.”

Besides animal welfare and ethical consumerism, the environmental impact is another reason for companies to quit fur. “We have decided to adopt a different route and we are therefore giving our sustainable corporate strategy – in this case, animal protection – precedence over the ‘fast’ and ‘simple’ route to success,” HUGO BOSS said in its 2014 fur free announcement. “Contemporary customers are part of a generation which is re-evaluating their ethical and environmental values.”