Would you wear a vintage fur coat bought at auction?

[RobinEllacotStrike]

I went to an auction at the weekend and I ended up buying a fur coat. AI tells me its mink. Its long & glossy & brown. From the look of the lining its very vintage.

I'm not vegan or vegetarian even, and I while am very happy that the UK banned fur farming I don't have any issue with wearing vintage fur - in fact I see it as honouring the poor dead wee mink.

What would happen to these old coats if they aren't worn or enjoyed? they would end up in landfill. Fake fur are a plastic environmental nightmare (though I did buy a 2nd hand vintage fake fur last winter - maybe it was a gateway fur.)

So I don't have a problem with vintage fur.

I don't know if I would wear it out. But I struggle to keep warm while WFH in the winter so I may well wear it as my WFH warming coat.

What's your take on vintage fur? Would you?

The secondhand aspect is a red herring and irrelevant to your choice to wear fur. All that you say about second hand can be achieved without choosing fur, as there are sufficient secondhand clothes in existence for you not to need to buy fur.

The question is whether wearing fur specifically is ethical.

No one else can answer that question for you, as it's about your ethics.

Well I think I look amazing

No because you’ve paid money for it whether it’s vintage or not you are still promoting the fur trade.

It doesn’t matter whether the suffering is aged.

Pretty sure that’s unrelated to the food chain.
No I would wear fur and I find anyone that does repulsive. You’ve asked and argued with people that disagree with your view … why ask? Pointless thread.

I think this thread is rage bait tbh

I'd only wear it if i could be sure nobody would see me in it because i'd be too scared of being on the receiving end of abuse. I bought a vintage fur coat at a jumble sale in the early 1980s before there was a backlash about wearing fur. I wore it in scotland in the depths of winter and not even the fiercest winds could penetrate it. I can honestly say I have never found anything warmer but i'd be very hesitant about wearing one now.

My friend in Scotland wears hers in the winter for letting out and feeding the hens, ducks geese. I've a picture somewhere of her filling a water container wrapped in her old mink coat. 😂

Thank you to those who mentioned merino and possum wool. It looks brilliant. Now to justify spending £100 on a wrap...

Genuinely surprised and saddened at the number of people saying they’d wear fur, or that it’s fine because it’s vintage and the animal died a long time ago. Not sure why that makes it ok? Buying second hand still creates a demand, people may see you wearing it and think ‘oh I’d like one of those’ and then go and buy either real or fake.

Fake is awful too for other reasons.

If I saw someone wearing fur I wouldn’t say anything as I believe in personal choice, but it would make me sad and I’d certainly judge them as a person.

Oh, fabulous! Keep it up, -you’re making the rest of us look absolutely breathtaking by comparison 🤣

Exactly the point I made earlier- why even ask if you are just going to argue with everyone who has a different opinion!

Sure - keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better to compare yourself to randoms on MN <desperate>

Oh dear 😆

I’m not the one seeking validation from randoms online about wearing a smelly dead animal skin, then having a meltdown when some of them say it looks tacky and perpetuates animal cruelty

Well they don't smell. Although I remember the Afghan coat phase in the 70s now they could be whiffy.

Leather, coats, leather clothes, shoes, Ditto suede garments came from recently slaughtered animals. People don't get as aereated about them. Why is that I wonder?

Some people absolutely do get bothered by leather coats -there are plenty of people who avoid leather for exactly the same ethical reasons.

I think the difference is that fur has a much stronger cultural association with using an animal primarily for its pelt, whereas leather is generally a by-product of the meat industry.

Whether that distinction makes it ethically acceptable is a separate debate.

Also, they look kind of hideous - there is a reason why real fur went out of fashion and hasn't ever come back in, unlike other retro fashions that come in and out of popularity. Fashion keeps resurrecting the 70s, 80s and 90s, but somehow real fur remains firmly in the fashion graveyard.

Yes.

Yes, I would wear it.

I live in a place where winters can be brutally cold though.

Plus, to send it to landfill seems to me to be shamefully disrespectful of the lives of the animals involved. I feel something like a fur coat, fur stole, etc. should be respectfully buried or otherwise respectfully disposed of, if you're not going to wear it.

To be frank, the entire clothing industry is a disaster.

If you are wearing clothes of any kind, you can guarantee that their production has been problematic somewhere along the line.

Same goes for the vast majority of the food we consume.

"To be frank, the entire clothing industry is a disaster."

It really is. And while we banned fur farming in the UK (excellent), the way humans,animals and the environment are treated in the pursuit of rapidly revolving fashion trends is very depressing.

Whats more despite decades of raising awareness of the issues around the worldwide clothing industry, and many people professing to care and make more informed choices, on the whole thing seem to have got much worse not better.

If you bought it, might as well wear it.

(Also, wow! Love your username. Hi, Robin! Send my regards to Bluey. XD)

Yes, "Fuckity byeeee” is a wonderfully convincing demonstration of how perfectly fine and completely unbothered you are 😂

I assume you’ve finally realised you’re not going to convince anyone that Pat Butcher was a style icon. Do enjoy wearing your smelly dead carcass! 😘

I’d wear it, I wear leather, I eat meat so I don’t see why not. I had to sell my grandmother’s fur coats when she died because they were so tiny I wouldn’t have fit into them under any circumstances, I think they went to a film costume company.