British Fashion Council announces ban on wild animal skins at London Fashion Week

At a parliamentary event earlier this week, the British Fashion Council announced that it has extended its ban on fur to now also include a ban on wild animal skins across all London Fashion Week events. 

Any brands applying to appear on the official London Fashion Week schedule must now commit to not use any fur or wild animal skins in their collections.  

World Animal Protection, working together with our partner Collective Fashion Justice, are proud to have supported the British Fashion Council in taking this important step forwards to protect wild animals from fashion exploitation.  

As one of the most important events in the international fashion calendar, a ban on wild animal skins at London Fashion Week sends a powerful message throughout the global fashion industry that killing animals for their skins is unethical and unnecessary.  

London Fashion Week is the only one of the ‘big four’ fashion weeks, including Paris, Milan and New York, to have taken such a decisive stand on fur and skins. 

With the ban on fur and wild animal skins at London Fashion Week now both secure, attention can shift to the issue of wild bird feathers used for fashion. We look forward to further supporting the British Fashion Council and London Fashion Week on their journey to becoming a truly wildlife-free fashion event.

Charlotte Regan, Wildlife Campaigns Manager at World Animal Protection UK said: 

“We are really pleased that the British Fashion Council has extended its ban on fur to include wild animal skins. This is a significant milestone, one which will hopefully set an important example for other international fashion weeks. Exploiting animals for their skins is unethical and unnecessary. Millions of animals continue to suffer and die for fashion when there are so many innovative and exciting animal-friendly materials designers and clothing companies can choose to create with instead. We congratulate the British Fashion Council on their positive action for animals and look forward to continuing our work with them to secure similar protections for wild birds exploited for their feathers.”  

Emma Håkansson, founding director of Collective Fashion Justice said: 

“LFW is the first big four fashion event to prohibit both fur and wild animal skins, and we celebrate this important progress. We also know there is more to do, continuing the conversation on feathers towards what we hope will be a totally wildlife-free policy. For decades, brands have banned fur, stating an opposition to killing animals specifically for fashion. This is exactly what happens to the crocodiles, snakes, ostriches and other wild animals skinned and plucked for fashion too, making bans on these skins and feathers consistent with an existing and widely agreed upon ethical premise.”