Millions of wild animals are exploited and slaughtered every year for the profits of fashion brands. Our industry today inhibits wild animals' right to a wild life.
In September, World Animal Protection teamed up with Collective Fashion Justice to call on London Fashion Week to adopt a policy that bans the use of furs, feathers, and exotic skins on its runways.
Unfortunately, due to the sad passing of the Queen and the period of national mourning that followed, London Fashion Week held its runway shows behind closed doors and imposed a communications black-out until after the state funeral. World Animal Protection chose to postpone our campaign activities during this sensitive time. However, we did hold productive conversations with London Fashion Week organisers, the British Fashion Council, and principal sponsors, Clearpay. We hope that these will provide the basis for progress in the near future.
Whether trapped or shot in the wild, or confined in barren cages until their slaughter, there is no way to transform a wild animal into a coat, bag, or shoe without immense cruelty and suffering. In 2018, British Fashion Council announced that London Fashion Week would be entirely fur-free for the first time. This was an important landmark in the movement for a cruelty free fashion industry and demonstrated the positive cultural leadership that London provides.
As one of the world’s ‘big four’ fashion capitals in the world, London’s fashion industry is at the cutting edge of innovation. We hope it will choose to use its position to achieve a kinder, more humane and environmentally responsible fashion industry. Wild animals have the right to a wild life.
London Fashion Week followed hot on the heels of the premier of ‘SLAY’, which World Animal Protection attended. The documentary, by filmmaker Rebecca Cappelli, documents the animal cruelty of the fashion industry’s supply chains and its harmful impacts through animal exploitation, water pollution, deforestation, and modern-day slavery.
Watch 'SLAY' for free on WaterBear.
Image credits: WaterBear Network
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Wild animals have the right to a wild life.