Bobble hats with faux fur pom poms - this JUST CAN'T be right....can it?!

[Bluesheep8]

I already have a knitted bobble hat with a lovely soft faux fur pom poms but went out shopping without it yesterday as it was mild when I left. A few hours later, it had got colder and colder, so when I saw a lady selling this type of hat in the street from one if those mobile cart things, I decided to buy one. I chose a grey one with a natural/taupe coloured faux fur bobble and paid £5 for it. I told the lady I didn't need a bag as I wanted to wear it straightaway and commented on what a lovely big soft pom pom it was. The lady was foreign and quite heavily accented and agreed that it was lovely and said something I didn't understand so I just thanked her and walked away. You know when you sometimes then re play what someone said afterwards? Especially when you're not sure you heard correctly? Well, I then realised what she had said. She said "it's lovely. Real" (?!!) WTF? This CANNOT be right can it? It is exactly the same as all the ones in the shops...I am absolutely horrified as surely these pom poms are faux fur?

Given a lot of countries eat rabbit, including the UK, is it that much different to wearing leather?

If it is rabbit fur, which is most likely, rabbits are killed for food so why worry unless you're a vegetarian.

Why worry anyway because you didn't realise when you bought it, you assumed it was some sort of fake fur.

If you don't like it, give it to a charity shop.

I have a rabbit one. It's gorgeous. I eat them too...

Rabbits that is .

Is a bobble made from plastic really any better though?

I’ve always though that ethically sourced für has got to be a better bet than yet more plastic.

Don’t some ot the brands (like Canada goose) use coyote fur from animals that would be killed anyway as part of population control?

So rather than using petrochemicals to manufacture plastic that will never rot down, they are using a natural waste product.

The difficulty lies in being sure it is ethically sourced fur, not farmed or illegally hunted.

i work for the property and asset management services and deal with the market trading licenses and we see a lot of this. I was told by a trader that most at the Manchester and Liverpool Christmas markets are raccoon because its cheap in eastern european countries. however the markets were told to replace them with fake ones but overall werent bothering

It's pretty unlikely to be rabbit. Far more likely to be cat or dog.

Visiting Germany last December I saw bobble hats with fur pompoms, in a smart department store. They were very expensive and the label proudly announced that the pompom was" either fox or seal"!

Yup
Usually rabbit or offcuts of bigger animals used for fur coats in cold countries

Real fur is much cheaper than fake fur. A lot of 'fake' fur collars are rabbit and raccoon.

Separate the fluff of the Pom Pom and try to see the base - if it’s woven fabric (normally white) it’s fake, if it’s leathery it’s real

This is what I do. I put fur pom-poms on hats that I make and they are all fake.

H&M!!!!
A market stall i can imagine selling real fur of Siberian wildcats 🤢
But for h&m to mess up shows how messed up the supply chain is and how sick.

If you are 'absolutely horrified' by the idea of wearing real fur, I can't understand why you'd want to wear realistic-looking faux fur.

It's not just pom poms. I bought DD a coat from H&M in November, the trim is real fur, despite H&M's no fur policy.

I haven't got round to emailing them yet but this thread has reminded me.

The first sign was my cat going absolutely mad for it, did the burn and needle test - real fur.

It's usually the fur from cats and dogs I'm afraid.

Also real fur's crept right back into fashion again. I really don't understand that one as man made fur is the best it's ever been.

I have a parka-type coat (not a real Parka) and worry that the fur trim round the hood might be real, since I saw a programme about real fur being sold as fake.

I do eat meat and wear leather shoes so actually I would be OK with wearing rabbit fur if I knew the rabbits had been eaten, but the programme I saw said fur trims are often made from some kind of animal I'd never heard of, which is bred solely for the fur and kept in horrendous wire cages living a life of misery.

Cheap unlabelled fur at a market stall is unlikely to be “ethically produced” though, is it. Heaven knows what it could be.

The hat itself is probably acrylic so if you were anti plastic you wouldn’t be wearing it anyway regardless of the pompom. When it comes to fabric there is literally no 100% ethical choice unless you grow your own flax for linen or knit jumpers from wool caught on brambles from passing sheep. Best you can do is buy second hand and make the ethics somebody else’s problem.

Rabbit fur is not as long as a lot of the fur used for pompoms. I strongly suspect dog, cat, fox more likely.
Those pom pom charms are sometimes real fur, and glove trims etc.

There's ethical fur (yes, really, read up about it) but there is no way in hell I'd want real fur from the far east, especially not China. They don't treat humans very well in China, I don't think they treat animals any better.

I don't see faux fur as a good alternative either, it's horrific for the environment.

No different than eating rabbit stew, it should be labelled though, so those who don't like real fur are wise.

On several crochet groups im on (people use them for hats) this has come up, apparently its cheaper to make real fur pom poms?

I see a few problems with this.

1. Customer is not being given the facts and so can’t make an informed choice.
2. No supply trail for these products.
3. Farmed fur is not like ‘farm’ animals. There’s no field. Small individual cages/breeding pens. No naturalistic behaviours.
4. As (most) don’t make it into the food chain, welfare is low. No trip to the vet.
5. Different rules re culling/ live transport.
6. Outside of EU - who knows but you can guess...

Where do you think this cheap fashion trim is being sourced from? EU - where there are ‘higher’ welfare requirements or outside EU where they can keep the cost down... or do you think all those bunnies are living the good life in the field till they make the trip to the abattoir, even if they are in the EU/food.

There is no ethically farmed fur. Vintage drives the demand and makes the argument re recycling / waste. Which feeds the new (cheap) product.

@Zwischenwasser Canada goose is in no way an “ethical” company , they are disgusting .
I’m so glad that when I walked past their store in London there were people with placards outside and a huge poster showing how vile this company are and the way that they treat these animals . It stopped a fair few people going in

Yes, I nearly bought a similar one from a market until I asked if it was real or fake. Man looked surprised I didn't want it knowing it was real!

You have paid for the bunny's death now. You might as well wear it.