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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not see the big deal with wearing fur

155 replies

Itsgonnabeacoldone · 29/11/2017 07:03

If it's vintage then you aren't really supporting an industry or creating demand for new fur garments.

Some of the comments against Alexandra have been pretty vile. I have an old piano that has ivory, but it's second hand and surely it's better that it's used after being made than just thrown away?

OP posts:
justilou1 · 29/11/2017 10:12

Not relevant, but I was egged while wearing a fake fur gilet once. No teddy bears had died to make it.

silkpyjamasallday · 29/11/2017 10:18

ANIMALS ARE NOT SKINNED ALIVE!! Have a think about how hard it would be to do that, mink can bite through a falconers double layered glove, crush a rabbits skull in one bite, no one is skinning them alive for fear of losing a finger. Anyone held a scared pet still for injections at the vet? No way would you be able to skin a scared non domestic squirming animal that isn't used to being handled and get the skin off and it be useable, it has to come off in one piece with no nicks or splits. I wish people would stop spouting off about animals being skinned alive when it just doesn't happen in European or American fur farms, only in staged PETA videos from China.

If you are vegan, fair enough be opposed to the fur industry, but if you consume animal products you are contributing to suffering, one animals life is not worth more than another's, one use is not more ethical than the other. And the cheaper an animal product is, the worse their lives have been.

StepAwayFromGoogle · 29/11/2017 10:22

I work in the retail industry and just wanted to dispel some of the myths here.

Leather is what is referred to as a co-product of the meat industry, because both are valuable. However, it's not a UK industry. The vast majority of leather in UK shoes and furniture comes from South America, where they are cutting down huge swathes of the rainforest to farm animals and crops. Animal welfare is not high on their agenda.

Fur farms are truly horrible. Far worse than battery hens or pig stalls. So even if it's 'ethically' sourced, it's not nice. Much of the fur that is sold in the UK as trim comes from China. There, they take dogs from the street and skin them alive. Google it. If you can stomach it. That's why most of our high street brands ban fur entirely.

The dairy industry is pretty cruel too. As a general rule, cows are either bread for meat or dairy. If a male calf is born to a dairy cow, it is shot. It has no value. There are some farmers who are breeding cows that can be used for both meat and dairy, but they are rare.

Similarly with chickens, they are bred for either food or laying. If male chicks are born to a laying hen, they are usually gassed or they go into a mascerator. The mascerator is a long tube with lots of blades in it that chops them up. Sometimes they are gassed first, sometimes not.

Abattoirs are pretty horrendous too. The animals smell blood, they can be distressed. We monitor various indicators to show if the animal was distressed when they died. These have to be evident in less than, say, 5% of the sample. But they don't have to be absent.

I'm a vegetarian but not a vegan, so some of this I'm indirectly responsible for. I'd never wear fur. Why, when there are alternatives available? I think my point is that unless you live a very 'ethical' lifestyle we're all responsible for animals suffering in one way or another.

Skarossinkplunger · 29/11/2017 10:23

I can’t bear human beings who like to dress in animals skin. She deserves everything she gets.

munkynutts · 29/11/2017 10:24

I have an ivory cuff that has been passed down the family and its beautiful. But i dont wear it - it feels weird 😣

snash12 · 29/11/2017 10:34

I'm all for people buying fur, so long as they watch a video of it being made, start to finish first.

Have you actually seen one of those videos?? They skin those animals ALIVE. They are not shocked, sedated or anything first. It is literally ripped from their bodies.

SylviaTietjens · 29/11/2017 10:43

I’d much rather wear fur than any fleecy plastic stuff which is terrible for the environment. I dot wear fur because I live in the uk and the temperature doesn’t require it. If it was a case of be cold, wear synthetic fleece/ down or wear fur I’d choose fur.

mydogisthebest · 29/11/2017 10:44

Sorry but animals ARE skinned alive. You may not like to think they are, just as you probably think all slaughter houses humanely kill the animals, but not wanting it to be true doesn't change the truth

c3pu · 29/11/2017 10:56

I can see why people get upset about fur, but frankly I get a lot more use out of the leather on my shoes, coat and sofa than I do out of the steak I had for dinner last night. Unless they're vegan I don't think they have much moral high ground.

I don't own a fur coat of any kind, but I wouldn't be adverse to wearing fur just because it's made from an animal.

SoupDragon · 29/11/2017 11:26

Sorry if I sound really stupid but why would they put real fur on a coat and say that it's faux? Isn't real fur more expensive

If it's a Russian sable, with perfect fur, probably yes.

If it's a cat or dog they've nabbed in the street, probably no.

From memory, I think most of it was rabbit.

silkpyjamasallday · 29/11/2017 11:38

Just because there are a few videos of animals being skinned alive, which is horrendous, does not mean that it is common practice, they are PETA propaganda. PETA refused to provide details to investigating authorities of where their 'undercover' videos showing animals being skinned alive were taken, and many speculate this is because the man performing the skinning was paid to do it with the animal alive for the video. PETA themselves have admitted that skinning alive is not common practice, but argue that fur farm workers who are rushed will do it to speed up the process (which it obviously wouldn't) They have been in the news recently for trying to pass off a fake video of a cat being abused as real.

Imo a death by carbon monoxide gas which fur animals have is far preferable to the huge machines that clamp cows/pigs/sheep bodies so their throats can be slit then their body dumped on a blood soaked floor in view and hearing distance of the next animal in the line up. Or male chicks that are thrown into what is essentially a blender.

Steaksauce · 29/11/2017 11:47

Whether it's real or fake, fur looks dreadful. Cheap and tacky.
Humans don't look good wearing the fur of other animals. It looks shit.

Scabbersley · 29/11/2017 11:53

And leather is not a true by product of the meat industry

most leather is. Most very soft leather comes from africa where they eat the goats and sell the leather.

VeganCow · 29/11/2017 12:19

disbelievers, settle your own conscience with your myths that animals are 'not skinned alive' if it makes you feel better.
A pp said above:
I know a family who run a mink farm in Greece, the animals are killed using carbon monoxide in a tube container, it is a quick and humane form of slaughter, done just by their cages
CAGES. These furry mammals 'live' in hell, caged 24/7. Take away the skinned alive bit, is this not reason alone to turn away from fur? Fur is the skin of an animal that doesnt want to die. And there is no humane way to kill an animal that does not want to die.

Scabbersley · 29/11/2017 12:31

fur is not nice
leather is fine most of the time (exotic leather is always horrible though)

EyeSaidTheFly · 29/11/2017 12:34

You need to understand that those animals were tortured to death. It's so gruesome that I don't know how you can derive pleasure from wearing fur products. This applies to vintage products. I have several furs handed down but I just don't want to associate myself with that sort of cruelty. It sickens me.

Arguments suggesting that only vegans have a leg to stand on are ridiculous. Everyone should care about sentient beings and the conditions they're kept in. There is no logical inconsistency about this.

YoloSwaggins · 29/11/2017 12:35

Everyone should care about sentient beings and the conditions they're kept in.

That's why it's inconsistent, why care about fur but not meat/dairy?

Itsgonnabeacoldone · 29/11/2017 12:38

Pretty much every designer apart from Stella uses fur right?

Just saw this on the Gucci site for 41k www.gucci.com/us/en/pr/women/womens-ready-to-wear/womens-coats-furs/kingsnake-intarsia-mink-fur-coat-p-457846XP3432605

Why would anyone buy it?

OP posts:
QuopQuop · 29/11/2017 12:41

Couldn't think of anything worse than wearing another living beings skin to keep warm 😷 makes me want to vomit.

Natsku · 29/11/2017 12:47

Agree with Anatidae when you live in a properly cold country you have a different attitude towards fur. DD has a vintage handmade sheepskin coat with fur trim that is really good for the coldest days (and with a 40 minute walk to school she needs protection from the cold, it's just not comparable to the UK experience). I'd only buy vintage for most fur but I'd buy new reindeer furs because they are definitely ethical - reindeer live wild most of the year and their entire body is used, nothing is wasted.

nomad5 · 29/11/2017 12:57

I think it's funny that the comments of those who live in cold climates are being ignored by many outraged posters!!

Synthetic materials are in no way as good as down , wool, fur for insulation etc.

I am also from NZ and fur hats/merino blend is the best thing you can do with bloody possums. My ecologist friends agree with me.

YoloSwaggins · 29/11/2017 12:58

Why would anyone buy it?

For the hundredth time, IF IT'S REALLY COLD.

Anatidae · 29/11/2017 13:01

Couldn't think of anything worse than wearing another living beings skin to keep warm

It doesn’t get cold in the UK though does it? If you lived in Umeå or Kiruna or Yakutsk you might feel quite differently about it.

When you live in an arctic climate, fur, wool and down are not frivolous luxuries.

Itsgonnabeacoldone · 29/11/2017 13:02

Is that at me?

OP posts:
Anatidae · 29/11/2017 13:07

Possum wool is hollow fibre - it has some quite extraordinary properties. I brought some possum/merino back from NZ and it’s the warmest thing ever. It does need to be plucked from a warm corpse though or it’s hard to get out.

Kiwis generally have a very sensible approach to these things. They seem able to realise that trapping the plague of introduced possums or hunting wapiti are necessary to protect the wider ecosystem. And every kiwi I met when I lived there was a passionate environmentalist.

Anyway, it’s going to be about -37 where I will be for Xmas and I will be wearing my fur hat, and feeling really quite ok about it.

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