Los Angeles Plans to Ban Fur by 2020
Animal rights activists have been especially vocal against the use of fur in recent fashion seasons, and their protests have reached a new milestone. On Tuesday afternoon, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to ban the manufacturing and sale of fur, a decision set to fully go into effect by 2020.
The fashion circuit has seen a lot of anti-fur protests over the past year, with activists standing outside shows like Marc Jacobs and Burberry, holding signs and chanting or sometimes even knocking models over, to bring attention to the issue. Some have fought back, such as when the French Fur Federation created a hotline for people who felt threatened by the protestors, but the industry's reaction has mostly favored animal rights: brands like Gucci, Versace, and Michael Kors stopped using the material, and for Spring 2019, London Fashion Week went entirely fur-free for the first time.
LA follows fellow California cities West Hollywood, San Francisco, and Berkeley in banning fur, but is the largest to make this move so far. City Attorney Mark Feuer has yet to legalize the decision, but PETA activists and celebrities including Alicia Silverstone and Mena Suvari are already celebrating. Supporters cite animal cruelty and environmental toxicity as reasons they wanted fashion to eliminate fur, and it seems the industry is slowly doing just that on increasingly bigger scales.
While it's unclear just how fur-free the industry will go, or whether this movement will eventually convince beauty brands to stop animal testing, fashion has taken an unprecedented step in the direction of the faux. Expect to see more designers swearing off animal skins, as well as LA's street style pioneers showing off looks as vegan as many of their diets.
