To buy a second hand fur coat?

[DarlingDuck]

I have never worn fur, always faux fur but have found a coat I love on ebay and just realised it is real fur... I don't know if I could bring myself to wear it TBH, but if I could would it be unreasonable??

The argument that fake fur normalises the wearing of real fur is silly imo. Does the eating of Quorn sausages encourage people to eat meat?
I would say that if someone saw someone looking good wearing fake fur they would be more likely to think that there was no need for real fur.

It's not something that deserves respect, it's just how I live and is all pretty normal to me, though I'd like to think it might provide "food for thought". :o

"I would say that if someone saw someone looking good wearing fake fur they would be more likely to think that there was no need for real fur."

Definitely, especially as the quality of fake fur improves. Less and less reason for real fur.

I just see fur as looking cheap. No one thinks wealth, they just think hooker?

No right minded person would find a dead badger in the road and think, 'mmm wont let that go to waste, I'll make a gilet' They'd be repulsed at the idea.
But I saw someone pick up a dead phesant in order to eat it, didn't seem mad at all.
Eating meat and wearing fur are totally different.

Wearing fur is just wrong, sorry.

Faux fur is bloody gorgeous, you should see some of the stuff i've collected over the years..

Real fur should be left on the animals it belongs to.

No way do i think the wearing of faux fur encourages anyone to wear real.. Especially after the brilliant PETA awareness campaigns of recent years.

Everywhere sells poodle type cushions, faux fur throws etc, don't think anyone goes home and eyes up next doors dog, eh?

But Jellykat, there's rarely a real fur alternative to the pink faux fur throw that you might put in a smal daughter's bedroom... there IS an alternative to the faux fur coat and some WILL, I think, try to go "one better" and opt for the more expensive, real version.

I think more people would buy real fur if there was no fake fur alternative personally.

I am a committed animals rights activist, but I actually think that you should buy this coat if you want to. Personally, I find the idea of wearing fur abhorrent, but I don't see your purchase as an implicit condoning of the fur industry. More it's utilising something that already exists rather than wasting more of the worlds resources by buying manufactured fake fur.

Better that the animal who died for this disgusting article of clothing is at least having it's fur put to use, than languishing in a cupboard somewhere.

I bought a fake fur coat in a charity shop last winter. I checked with the shop that it was fake and they said of course it was as they never sell real fur.

It was the warmest coat I have ever had and I despite it being a harsh winter, I stayed beautifully warm.

A small tear appeared in the arm, and it was obvious that it was skin. The coat was real. Someone suggested it was shearling which I believe is shaved, dyed sheepskin, (someone else thought it was shaved bear but I blanked that one out).

Do I get rid of it?

I presume the anti-fur people on this thread don't wear Ugg boots or leather shoes?

No i still disagree, Faux Fur was bang on trend last Autumn/Winter, on every High Street, worn by Celebs with pride.. While the media/ public pick up on any celebs like Kim Kardashian who wear real, and portray them in an extremely negative way these days...

Who would want to invite the possibility of hassle while walking through the street?

I really think publicised condemnation surrounding real fur puts a hell of a lot of people off, more then faux fur would make them want the real thing. IYSWIM.

I inherited a fur coat from my mum who died last year. I would never buy a fur coat, but I keep it in my wardrobe out of sentimental reasons. I haven't discounted the thought of wearing it - it would take a lot for me to go out in it - but if I ever did, it would have to be a very special occasion, and i would find it uncomfortable to admit it was real.

Oddly, I have a faux one which looks pretty real - no one has ever questioned me about that and I never feel uncomfortable wearing it.

A committed animal rights activists viewpoint seems totally at odds with the rest of your post Cheryl.

I can adjust for having two opposing points of view for a lot of things in myself, but can a committed animal rights activist really sit their views alongside encouraging someone to wear real fur - for whatever reason?

Bakelite, you take it correctly. This anti-fur person doesn't wear leather or Uggs (which are hideous anyway, regardless of what they're made of!).

Bakelite I don't own anything leather/ suede apart from footwear, that's because i have Raynauds and get chilblains in my toes, and rheumatoid arthritus in my ankle.. at the mo i'm wearing black canvas and faux leopardskin baseball boots, but you show me a pair of faux boots i can wear in the Winter that can keep my feet as warm and i'm there..

Thing is in this day and age it's pretty difficult to be 100% ethically correct, we each draw the line as individuals where we feel strongly. Each week companies are added to the lists of 'those with dicey interests/ connections', you'd have to devote a helluva lot of time to keep on top of it all, unless you lived 100% sustainably,..

Do the anti fur protestors drive cars? buy goods in plastic packaging? provide electricity thro' their own wind turbines (kills birds y'know) etc etc.. how far does one need to go in order to not be hypocritical in this day and age?

I see fur as a functional item. I live in a place where it regularly gets down to -30C or lower in the winter, and I can tell you from experience that in those sort of temperatures artificial fibres, no matter how much you layer, do not cut it. I have been given a fur scarf, a fur hat and sheepskin mittens and I wear all of them with a down coat and sheepskin boots I got myself. If I moved back to Britain I don't think I would buy any more fur myself as I wouldn't really need it in that climate. But tbh after experiencing it as a functional thing I don't think I would bat an eyelid at anyone else wearing it, even in Britain, and certainly not at second-hand fur.

On a practical level I don't think most people can distinguish between real and faux, as faux is much better quality now, so you would be unlikely to get hassled.

@AgentZigZag.

What part of I find the whole idea of fur abhorrent was difficult to understand? And imho, animal rights goes hand in hand with sustainability and not being a mindless consumer.

I'm a committed animal rights activist who is also ardently against wastage and unnecessary destruction of the environment to produce more crap for human beings to wear. Buy buying new fake fur instead, we condone the manufacture of synthetic items when we've already overproduced so many clothes etc already. I'm not sure, but I bet mankind has destroyed the habitat of many an animal in order to produce more shit to 'stimulate economic growth'.

The fur coat is second hand. The crime has already been committed. My argument here is that if the OP can utilise the coat, do it and don't let the poor animal's death be completely for nothing.

When my great nan died I took her vintage furs to three charity shops before I could find one that would take them. She had one of those fox things that go round your neck too - we had to bury that.

I've got a fur coat in my loft that is my mother's. They asked me to sell it but I've no idea how to go about it and have visions of red paint being thrown at me if I tried!

Exactly Muggles. What a waste. A viewpoint where a person who truly cares for animals and the environment believes that the lesser evil is to use what is already there rather than buying new stuff is surely more palatable than encouraging the manufacture of more habitat destroying items.

I have several very beautiful fur coats (all but one second hand) which I wear in the winter. The only comments I have received from anybody are to say how beautiful they are, often combined with a sneaky stroke of the arm. The oldest one is from the 1920s and looks as fabulous today as when it was made.

The vast majority of expensive coats (not made in China) come from animals kept in conditions that are as humane as possible, after all a stressed animal produces poor quality fur so it makes poor financial sense to mistreat the animals. I don't think anyone can condone the actions of some fur manufacturers, but just as not all turkeys are kept under 'Bernard Matthews' conditions, so not all furriers treat their animals badly. "Kill it, Skin it, Wear it" showed a modern fur farm in Sweden.

Its not a waste at all. I buried the poor fox because thats what the poor thing deserves.

Just checked - the fur farm is in Denmark. Episode is still up on 4OD.

"Who would want to invite the possibility of hassle while walking through the street?"

Never, ever had hassle in any of my fake fur coats

And not buying it would bring the animal back to life?

As for objecting to faux fur: even the most committed vegetarians, so far as I know, don't object to soya dressed up to look and taste like meat.

I don't think connecting the meat to the fur is a valid argument really. I think many people would find using byproduct skins more palatable (excuse the pun) but I don't remember seeing Chinchilla alongside the lamb on the supermarket shelves.