Is Your Faux Fur Clothing as Faux as You Think?

by Stephanie Feldstein · 2010-07-29 05:00:00 UTC
Topics:

Not long ago, the Humane Society of the United States went on a shopping spree for faux fur-trimmed jackets. When they tested the trim, they found that it wasn't as fake as they were led to believe — 96 percent of the garments they tested were actually made out of fur from raccoon dogs, domestic dogs or wolves. It wasn't a matter of reading the fine print on the labels either. Thanks to a loophole in federal law, the fur industry and retailers have been allowed to mislabel — or not label at all — any products sold for under $150, such as fur-trimmed jackets, vests, hats and gloves.

Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA) took a stand against the deceit and wrote a bill that would close the loophole.  "Most people would be outraged to learn their favorite hat or pair of gloves was lined, not with faux fur, but with the fur of their favorite companion animal."

On July 28, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously voted in favor of the Truth in Fur Labeling Act, which requires honest labeling of fur and fur-trimmed products, regardless of the retail price. Now it's the Senate's turn.

There are a number of reasons why consumers buy faux fur ... and not one of them is because they want to support the cruel fur industry. Back when the Fur Product Labeling Act of 1951 was passed, there wasn't much of a market for fur apparel under that $150 benchmark. But these days, with changes in the fashion industry and cheap labor, that price segment accounts for as much as 13 percent of the market. That's a lot of consumers who are inadvertently paying for the suffering of animals.

In 2008, the HSUS filed a lawsuit against several major retailers for falsely advertising real fur as faux. As of this March, Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and designer Andrew Marc all agreed to reform their fur labeling practices and advertising policies, and to help close the loophole in federal law. But as long as it's still legal across the country to lie about the content of fur garments, compassionate consumers are vulnerable.

People have a right to know the truth about what they're buying. Tell your senators to support the Truth in Fur Labeling Act.

Photo credit: lanuiop

Stephanie Feldstein is a Change.org Editor who has been part of the animal welfare and rescue community for over a decade, and most recently worked for an environmental organization.

RELATED PETITION

Stop the Lies: Pass the Truth in Fur Labeling Act
VICTORY!
1,565 People
PREVIOUS STORY:
Congress Should Donate Oil Company Campaign Contributions to Save Gulf Wildlife
NEXT STORY:
Petitions Delivered Around the World for Release of Indonesian Circus Dolphins

COMMENTS (2)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.