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Saint Laurent is going fur-free

The French luxury company owner Kering says it needs to adapt with changing trends

A model presents a creation for Saint Laurent during the 2018/2019 fall/winter collection fashion show on 27 February 2018 in Paris. 
A model presents a creation for Saint Laurent during the 2018/2019 fall/winter collection fashion show on 27 February 2018 in Paris.  (AFP)

Saint Laurent owner Kering said its brands are all going fur-free, as the luxury group says it needs to adapt with changing trends.

Starting from the Fall 2022 collections, none of its brands will be using fur, the French company said. 

Also read: Valentino joins the fur-free club

“The world has changed, along with our clients, and luxury naturally needs to adapt to that,” chief executive officer Francois-Henri Pinault said in the statement.

The group’s biggest brand Gucci took the lead in 2017 and was followed by Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta and Alexander McQueen. Brioni and Saint Laurent still use fur but will stop after the spring collections, a representative for the company said.

Kering’s decision stands in contrast to luxury group competitor LVMH.

“Our stance is freedom of choice, for our customers and our brands,” LVMH group managing director Antonio Belloni said in April. LVMH’s Fendi sells mink fur coats for $30,000.

Fur makers described Kering’s decision as unfortunate since the group had been working with the industry to develop conservation programs around wild fur which supported farmers, notably in Namibia. Efforts made over the past years “will go to waste,” said Mark Oaten, CEO of the International Fur Federation.

Kering-owned Gucci was the first to drop fur in 2017, followed by Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta and Alexander McQueen.

"We believe that killing animals not to eat them but only for their fur doesn't correspond to modern luxury which must be ethical, in sync with its times and the questions of our societies," Marie-Claire Daveu, head of sustainable development at Kering, told AFP.

The AFP report states, according to PETA, 85% of fur sold in the world originates from animals who live their entire lives in captivity, often in conditions "of misery" and "extreme suffering". They are usually killed by poison gas, electrocution or beaten to death with clubs, it said.

The international fur trade is estimated to be worth several tens of billions of dollars annually, employing around one million people worldwide, the report adds.

Also read: Israel becomes first nation to ban fur sale in fashion trade

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