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?

If it's real you will see the skin under the fur. Very easy to spot.

I bought a woollen hat with a pompom in Norway. The pompom is extremely soft bad I had the realisation that it was likely to be real fur. It just didn’t occur to me when buying it that it would be but obviously Norway has a different culture.

@planespotting

I'm sorry but I'm calling BS on that. I collect real fur and taxidermy and I have NEVER seen real fur in a high street shop.

I did see a lot at Christmas fairs this year though. Lots of trim and bobbles on scarves and hats were real.

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

I eat meat (including rabbit occasionally) and in theory I don't see anything wrong with using the skin or fur of animals that are killed for food.

To me it is more about the fact that wearing fur upsets some other people (and that is quite a common viewpoint in our country - I might feel differently in somewhere like Finland or Russia).

Knowingly wearing real fur would be a bit like walking down the street wearing a t-shirt with a swearword on it, even though swearing doesn't bother me personally. I don't want to go out of my way to shock or hurt people.

That's why I gave away the hat I mentioned. If my suspicions that there might be real fur on my slippers are correct, it's less of an issue (and if I did have ethical objections, I've already bought them in good faith so getting rid of them wouldn't bring the rabbit back).

@spugzbunny call it whatever you like but there are pompoms and some shoes that have real fur.
We test this stuff all the time.

TaMere I replaced mine with The White Company's non feather pillows, they're very good.

I've got rabbits and hens. I haven't watch the videos, but can only imagine how painful it must be for them. It's like having the hair on your head pulled out in great handfuls. My hens make an "ow" noise if another hen pulls even one feather out. A lot of High Street shops were selling the cruelly produced angora products until it was revealed how they are produced.

I wish we were more aware of where products came from and how they were produced. People really need to think more.

@spugzbunny we test stuff for airport security, or even news articles.
So before you call BS just think some people are experts on certain subjects.

Here
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-38302019

I’ve seen a lot of real fur back in independent shops and markets. Seems it’s stings is going. It’s been a long time since Kate Moss etc.

Stigma.

I wish we were more aware of where products came from and how they were produced

That I agree with. I do think though that in ethical terms, out of man-made fibres and fur, fur might be the lesser of two evils.

TalkinPeace I think if your duvet is made in the UK it may be made from feathers from dead birds, however if it is from China it is usually from birds plucked alive as they can produce more duvets from one bird (it will regrow it's feathers and can be plucked again, at least once..). You can pretty much guarantee that if it comes from China it will have come from somewhere with no welfare standards.

Raccoon fur is common on these too, I asked on a FB page why they used real fur and they blocked me

Sadly they are mostly Chinese dog fur, as are the trims on hoods, and the furry boots from China too.

Those cute little toys you see near the till in plastic bucket and cheap screwdriver/cleaning materials/ other tat shops are also made of dog fur, sometimes cat.

People buy them because they don't know, or don't care, and they are often described as faux fur. Not helped by them often being dyed bright colours, oh also those stupid pom poms sold as keyrings and bag charms.

Post a pic, I'll tell you right away if it's real or not.

Misguided were selling shoes with a cat fur trim www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/39553061/fake-fur-sold-on-uk-high-street-found-to-contain-cat-fur

I remember reading that in China they round up feral cats from the streets and use their fur for fur trimmed items like pom poms. Very cheap source. When imported to the west it is labelled as rabbit or faux as they know that cat would not be acceptable to their market.

Quite a few mums round here (prosperous London area) wearing expensive winter coats with real fur trim - Moncler, Canada Goose etc. Doubt very much they think it is faux. Suspect they don’t care and just like the softness

@minipie last weekend I saw a family of 5
They were all wearing Canada Goose, coats or snowsuits for the wee ones.

The had 5 small dogs on a lead and for some reason they looked like they had dressed like the dogs 😳

Colour scheme and all.

The furry bobbles and hats were enormous too.

Cat fur (and dog fur) is banned in the EU

Cat fur (and dog fur) is banned in the EU

Another reason they label it as rabbit or faux.

There was an article on Countryfile about this a few months ago.

I've seen these around for several years. Can spot the real fur a mile off. They're everywhere. Couldn't understand why, I now realise most people probably didn't know.

The thing is, neither fake nor real fur is technically ethical.

The plastic of fake fur is not going to rot down and potentially will shed microfibres that's clogging up the ocean food chain.

Can't really win.