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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Can I wear fur?

137 replies

CosmopolitanCocktail · 31/12/2025 17:16

I have two fur coats previously owned by my great grandmother.
I have kept them in my wardrobe for the last 20 years.
One is a short mink coat so now bang on trend.
I am a total animal lover but these animals died 60 years ago and the pelts are beautiful. To just discard them seems wasteful so truly torn.
So would I AIBU to wear it?

OP posts:
Overtheatlantic · 31/12/2025 17:32

Just don’t wear it out of respect for the millions of animals who have painfully and pointlessly died for the sake of fashion.

VoltaireMittyDream · 31/12/2025 17:35

Quite apart from any ethical considerations - which are really down to your own views and how OK you are with other people judging you - I think old fur coats look really mangy, and always smell a bit fusty. I have a friend who wears vintage furs and she often looks like a cross between a caveman and a mad old lady.

ComewithmeIntotheseaofLove · 31/12/2025 17:35

CosmopolitanCocktail · 31/12/2025 17:27

Doesn’t bring them back to life though does it?

Show quote history

No but it seems more ethical

Wordsmithery · 31/12/2025 17:36

AnnaQuayInTheUk · 31/12/2025 17:19

I personally think there is a lot of hypocrisy over fur. Most people have leather shoes, most women own at least one leather handbag. Some people have leather jackets. You're either ok with wearing the skins of dead animals or you're not. I wear leather shoes and boots

Be prepared for criticism though.

Well, no. Leather is a by product of the meat industry plus the synthetic alternatives are not as good. Mink are bred purely for their pelt plus there are plenty of good synthetic alternatives.
There is a difference.

ComewithmeIntotheseaofLove · 31/12/2025 17:37

CosmopolitanCocktail · 31/12/2025 17:30

This is coat. To bin it seems awful

Edited

No don’t bin it

wear it - you could certainly say it’s fake as it the style of fake ones

Chinsupmeloves · 31/12/2025 17:38

I wouldn't buy fur but if the items are already there then you're not responsible for having sourced it. Xx

NetherWallop · 31/12/2025 17:38

CosmopolitanCocktail · 31/12/2025 17:30

This is coat. To bin it seems awful

Edited

Faced with a similar dilemma I sent mine to Ukraine: keeping warm there is a matter of life and death, whereas I'm sure you have other coats you can wear!

ThejoyofNC · 31/12/2025 17:38

It's beautiful. I'd definitely wear it.

LighthouseLED · 31/12/2025 17:38

I don’t see anything wrong with wearing antique fur (I don’t like how it feels, so I personally wouldn’t). It’s completely different from buying a new fur coat as that would be supporting the current fur trade.

Jamesblonde2 · 31/12/2025 17:39

Real fur looks amazing. Women wearing it in Russia. Just wear them.

PumpkinPieAlibi · 31/12/2025 17:39

All this fuss over an unethically made garment that looks mangy anyway.

ShesTheAlbatross · 31/12/2025 17:41

I don’t understand people who are bothered by the ethics of wearing a coat where the animals died 60 years ago, but probably wear things made by children in god knows what sort of conditions right now.

XGiveMeStrengthX · 31/12/2025 17:42

OrdinaryGirl · 31/12/2025 17:23

My (entirely made-up but internally consistent) policy is that I would wear anything that I would eat, as long as it’s vintage.
So, cowhide, rabbit, mink, grey squirrel - yes. I would eat all those things.

Fox, pony skin, cat of any kind - no!

So I say wear the vintage fur coats. It seems like a terrible waste otherwise. I don’t think you’re endorsing or perpetuating the demand for new fur by doing so.

Updated to add: I don’t actually own any fur but do wear leather shoes.

Edited

You’d eat a mink?! 🤢🐿️🦨

Idontknowwhy15 · 31/12/2025 17:42

It doesn’t look mangy, it looks beautiful. Of course, not as beautiful as the fur would have looked on the animals but it would be wasteful to bin it

cupfinalchaos · 31/12/2025 17:43

GingerBeverage · 31/12/2025 17:19

The passage of time does not erase the nature of the abuse.

I agree with this, but you’re not fuelling the fur trade by buying an item that will be replaced. I was skiing last year and so tempted with a jacket but after reading the minks have been known to gnaw their legs off to free themselves from the traps, I wasn’t so keen.

ThisHazelPombear · 31/12/2025 17:43

They skin them alive, I wouldn’t do anything to make wearing fur more acceptable or common.

Also it’s not a nice coat the colours a bit dowdy and the style is very dated. I’m 48 and you can age yourself a lot with clothes. What would look delightfully quirky on my nieces would make me look frumpy.

Weirdoero · 31/12/2025 17:43

I would wear it. My grandmother had the most beautiful full length black mink coat. In the really bad anti fur years about 20 years ago my mother put it away and didn’t wear it anymore. It survived a number of years but then sadly got moth killed in the cupboard.

You really have to wear fur to keep it in good condition. So wear it!

Sunandfrost · 31/12/2025 17:44

Dartmoorcheffy · 31/12/2025 17:23

Leather is a byproduct of animals that have been humanely killed for the food chain. Fur absolutely is not and involves the unnecessary and cruel death of animals purely for their coats.

Show quote history

Unless it's a rabbit fur like mine tho.

Not all leather is byproduct like not all fur is the only product

TooBigForMyBoots · 31/12/2025 17:44

I wear mine occasionally. The only people to pass comments have been older women who recognise it's real and want to reminisce and have a wee stroke.😁

YANBU @CosmopolitanCocktail. Go for it!

IForgotTheApricotJam · 31/12/2025 17:47

Not my cup of tea but if it was a hand me down I would just wear it and say it's fake just to avoid confrontation.
I wouldn't buy a new fur coat though, that's just wrong.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 31/12/2025 17:49

It doesn't look good to wear the results of peeling a bunch of animals alive any more than it looks good to wear the results of shooting a herd of elephants or contributing towards the extinction of the snow leopard.

If waste is a concern, buy a second hand fake fur coat.

SoulSearchBeHonest · 31/12/2025 17:50

GingerBeverage · 31/12/2025 17:19

The passage of time does not erase the nature of the abuse.

This.

Not sure clubbed to death baby seals, shot Leopard or other animals is a great look.

SamBecket · 31/12/2025 17:53

It looks like death. Because it is.

maddiemookins16mum · 31/12/2025 17:54

I’d wear it. You can bet those who are aghast at it have leather shoes and think nothing of eating a steak.

CinnamonJellyBeans · 31/12/2025 17:54

I have vintage furs and wear them when i go out, so does vegetarian DD. We would not purchase new fur garments.

I judge people who eat battery chicken at Nandos.

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