Can I wear fur?

You absolutely can. Not wearing it won’t make the animals alive again or prevent other animals being killed for their pelts.

you might get something thrown at you though, a girl once spat on my Muk boots. I don’t wear those anymore

Oh dear

It's vintage, I can't see any moral problems with wearing it.

You are not funding any horrific modern day industries by doing so, unlike some who would screech at you while wearing clothes made by abused children.

I absolutely could not wear the fur of an animal that has been tortured and suffered greatly to create that coat...
I inherited a fur coat years ago (and an ivory necklace) , I destroyed them and donated some money to PETA bought myself a faux fur coat instead. Not on my watch!

A friend had a beaver fur she had inherited from her grandmother. It was gorgeous. So soft and velvety and a marvellous nearly black but not quite deep brown colour.
An expensive vintage shop near me has a gorgeous silver fox fur in the window, over a lovely silver dress. It’s so soft with impeccable silk lining.

I agree with others that the animals are long dead and the best way to respect them is to make use of their sacrifice.

If anyone asked I’d say it was fake, obviously, though, just to avoid argument or being doused in tomato soup.

I would never dream of wearing a coat from newly killed fur animals. I do however wear leather shoes, handbags and have a suede jacket. I eat meat and have a sheepskin rug in the bedroom.
Still, none of that justifies killing endangered species in a most cruel way just for their pelts, so obviously new fur is a big NoNo.

And we all know how such guarantees very, very often turn out to be bogus.

Oh bless

Leather isn't a byproduct.

Slaughter is not humane.

You don’t look ‘bang on trend’ in that photo - you look like something from 1980’s TV series `Dynasty’

I think the wearing of any cotton is worse than old fur from an ethics pov.

the water required to grow enough cotton for even a pair of jeans is phenomenal and the devastation cotton farming has caused around the world is genuinely shocking.

This.

At least vintage fur coats were made by skilled craftspeople, rather than children or modern day slaves. Nobody blinks twice about Shein or Primark clothing but let’s worry about the mink that died 50 years ago.

Don’t bin it, it’s gorgeous. Wear it, it’s vintage and it’s not as if you can bring the animal back to life by not wearing it. I wear vintage fur and have never been confronted

They're vintage coats, they're there, might as well wear them. It's not like you are encouraging the manufacturing of real fur coats in any way.

It would be a lot more environmentally unfriendly to bin them, and buy fake ones instead.

Most people don't have a clue if it's real or fake fur, the way they don't have a clue if it's real or fake diamonds.

There’s money to be made in scavenging road kill I reckon. I can see people snapping up ethically sourced artisanal badger-fur coats or muntjac leather shoes

Yeah - I've read some other posts and have seen that maybe I did read her comment correctly (as arsey and passive aggressive).
I doubt myself too much.

The idea of donating unwanted furs to an animal sanctuary is such a lovely idea and I would have thought OP (as an animal lover) would have appreciated the idea instead of getting snarky.

I'm going to pass the idea onto my mum who has an unwanted and inherited mink coat.

Have some self respect and throw them out

I don’t know, maybe if it was a certified byproduct of meat.
Come to think of it I wish you could choose that with leather too.

Agree with this. OP - if you looking for absolution and everyone to agree you should wear it - you shouldn’t have posted on mumsnet.

You clearly want to wear it - so do what you want. Why do you feel you need the approval of strangers on the internet?

If you’re happy to take the risk of someone chucking something over you and thinking you’re a vile human being - you crack on. I’m not saying you are - but there are animal rights activists out there who would spot real from fake in a heartbeat so it’s a risk I would never take - but then again it would go nowhere near my body in the first place. The thought of wearing the fur of animals who had it removed from their bodies whilst they were still alive and the pain and distress they suffered as a result would utterly sicken me.

But you do you.

@AddictedToBooks i wish you hadn’t deleted your post. It certainly didn’t come cross as agressive as the post from @CosmopolitanCocktail to which you were responding, which was horrible, properly arsey and aggressive and really put my back up.

Squirell is still available online! Working on dh so we try it🙈

Seems like there’s a gap in the market for certified humanely-killed fur, much like free range eggs or fair trade coffee.

No, but it does at least mean an animal gets the benefit, not a selfish, amoral human.

To be really honest I don’t think that coat is very nice or does anything for you.

i wouldn’t usually be so honest but since you’re on the fence anyway about it- why bother for one that isn’t very nice?

This takes me to the Phoebe episode in friends whereshe inherited a fur coat....
I have a couple of coats via DP's ancestor's and I haven't worn them in public for the same reason as you OP.
But I have worn the coats out a couple of times over the past decade on a frosty morning walking rurally and they did keep me very warm compared to the faux coats I have. I don't have the heart to discard them because then I feel like it's still a waste even though the coats date back to the 1920s xx

So if the animals are killed humanely for their coats, would you say it’s ethical to eat their meat as a by-product?