FoA: NYC is finally flipping off fur

NEW YORK, March 27, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- New York City, one of the big four fashion capitals of the world, is taking action to Flip off Fur after decades of efforts by Friends of Animals to end the cruelty of the fur industry.

Last summer, FoA publicly called on NYC to ban the sale of fur, introducing legislation and meeting with council members. Its years of efforts have culminated with City Council Speaker Corey Johnson announcing legislation to ban the sale of fur products.

"Finally the day has come that city council members see the handwriting on the wall as well. This is the first nail in the coffin of the NYC fur trade," said Friends of Animals President Priscilla Feral. "NYC can be the ultimate fashion forward role model by passing this legislation and ending what most of society has come to understand – cruelty is not fashionable."

More than 60 percent of Americans find killing animals for fur amounts to cruelty to animals, according to an Angus Reid survey. And the signs that fur is over are everywhere. Powerhouse designers headquartered in the city, such as Stella McCartney, Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, and Ralph Lauren, have gone fur free and major cities such as San Francisco, Berkeley and West Hollywood have banned the sale of fur. Los Angeles and California have also taken action and New York State is considering legislation as well.

Where once there were 450 fur factories in NYC, now there are just a handful – evidence that society's desire for a product that depends on the slaughter and suffering of 50 million animals a year has waned. Faux fur is eclipsing fur in revenues, reaching $250 million in 2010 and a predicted growth rate of 30 percent a year. And buyers are turning to cruelty-free fashion with gusto.

Not only is fur cruel to animals, its production is toxic to the environment and adds to climate change. Production of fur has 2 to 28 times a higher impact on the environment than textiles. Each mink skinned by fur farmers produces about 44 pounds of feces, which adds up to one million pounds of feces produced annually by mink farms.

In previous years, Friends of Animals has promoted efforts to shift the collective conscious, taking out ads including a billboard in Times Square promoting an end to the fur trade.

"Animal suffering and slaughter for the sake of expensive clothing – only affordable to the one percent anyway – is over,'' said Feral.

Friends of Animals, an international animal protection organization founded in New York in 1957 and headquartered in Darien, CT, advocates for the rights of animals, free-living and domestic around the world. It has been a decades-long leader in the anti-fur movement. Friends of Animals is proud to be a woman-founded and led organization. 

SOURCE Friends of Animals, Inc.

Related Links

www.friendsofanimals.org