An HSUS campaign seeks to inspire lifelong fur-free commitments by the next generation of designer

Macalpine, Andy

English

WBI Studies Repository (WellBeing International)

10 allanimals MAY | JUNE 2010humanesociety.org 11t the end of a semester spent studying garment con-struction, fashion drawing, and patternmaking, students atParsons The New School for Design received a differentkind of education—one that could save millions of lives.With final exams looming late last fall, they filtered into an au-ditorium in the heart of Manhattan to attend a crash course on therealities of animal fur production. Representatives of The HSUS’sFur-Free Campaign outlined some sobering truths: millions of ani-mals are cruelly killed every year for their pelts, and rampant misla-beling and false advertising keep consumers in the dark about whatthey’re really buying.To show students why this matters, campaign manager PierreGrzybowski set out a collection of clunkymetal traps used to capturefur-bearing animals in the wild; his attempt to pry open even thesmallest traps demonstrated how unrelenting the devices can be toanimals caught in their grip. When he stuck a pencil between therecoiling metal jaws, the flying wooden shrapnel rein-forced his point.A short video packed an even bigger punch. Theaudience saw animals such as foxes, minks, and rabbitsconfined in rows of small, filthy cages. The visualsturned more graphic as the video continued: Animalswere electrocuted, crushed in a steel trap, or hungupside down to be drained of their blood. When thefootage showed a raccoon dog being skinned alive,audience members let out a collective gasp and jumpedin their seats.For many of the students, the session was theirfirst behind-the-scenes look at fur production, ex-posing not only the brutality toward animals but alsothe environmental destruction caused by the use of furin fashion.“I think they knowwhere [fur] comes from,”said one of the attendees, fashion design major KatieKim.“I think they know it involves skinning an animal,but I don’t think they know the specifics.” When Kimasks fur-using classmates about their choice, theirresponses reveal a lack of awareness, she says—perhapsa purposeful blindness to horrors they’d rather notthink about. One classmate told her that fur production is merelyone unethical act in an industry riddled with them. Others havesimply responded that they love fur.After the HSUS class, many students can no longer look theother way. Fashion design major Emily Wilson once consideredbuying fur to keep warm during the harsh New York City winters.But having visited with her family’s dog just a few days earlier, shefound that the presentation“definitely hit home.”As she walked outof the auditorium, she said she no longer wants to buy fur—and wasconsidering challenging a friend who planned to incorporate it intohis final projects.ON THE INSIDEIt’s just the type of advocacy TheHSUS aims to inspire in the fashionindustry. Through one leg of its two-pronged effort, the Fur-FreeCampaign has persuaded many designers, brands, and retailers tostop using fur, while convincing others to extend their fur-free com-mitments; the list of fur-free names stands at 300 and continues togrow. The second undertaking involves introducing the next gener-ation of fashion professionals to the growing bounty of fur alterna-tives—while helping them reject the outdated notion that a coat ofdead animals is a status symbol.The insider focus is based on the idea that a designer’s fur-freecommitment drives change in the marketplace. While consumerscan also make a difference through their purchasingpower, they often take their cues from fashion housesthey know and like, and a brand name can lendglamour and credibility to a fur-free wardrobe.By working with design students, The HSUS triesto reach these power brokers before they’ve solidifiedtheir alliances—while also parlaying a new generation’sinfluence into cultural enthusiasm for cruelty-free cou-ture. With their fingers on the pulse of new trends,young designers “are educating everyone else on what’sfashionable,” says campaign deputy manager SarikaReuben. Humane treatment of animals is simply anextension of their concerns about sustainability andthe environment, she notes; if they say it’s importantto consider the ethics of fashion, “then people will payattention.”That attention is even more heightened when theyoung designers attend the nation’s leading designschool. The HSUS presentation at Parsons, which toutsits role in establishing NewYork City’s Seventh Avenueas the crux of American fashion, marked a bold moveinto territory previously staked out by the fur industry;Parsons is home to annual competitions where furriers shower win-ners with raw materials and trips abroad.Last year, the head of Parsons’ fashion school invited HSUSstaff to speak to some of the 1,300 students as a counterpoint tothese relationships. “I feel like the fact that much bigger designersare using fur is getting a little bit more of the headlines,” says deanSimon Collins. “And the fur industry has a lot of money just topromote themselves.… That’s sort of why I’m keen to get HSUS inFASHION CONSCIENCEBehind that fur coat is a world of pain and suffering, but thanks to an HSUS outreach campaign,a new generation of designers is embracing a more humane ethicAby ANDY MACALPINEThe size of ananimal determineshowmanyare killed for afull-length coat:15Coyotes15Otters20Bobcats20Raccoons24Red foxes65Sables90Martensto give the other side of the story.”Since becoming dean in 2008, Collinshas discouraged students from “casually”using fur in accessories. For those who wantto work more fully with the material, heasks them to first consider the ramifica-tions—realities he says were effectively de-picted by the HSUS video. “There weresome graphic images in there, but thenthere should be. That’s part of what goeson,” he says. “But equally, it’s not a sort ofdesk-thumping, anti-fur, ‘Just don’t do it’[message]. It’s a much more reasoned andthoughtful presentation. And I think it’squite provocative. I want the students to beprovoked.”Collins, who envisions establishingsponsorships of students by fur-free com-panies, says he believes fur isn’t the onlyway to impart extra value to a garment, andhe would welcome seeing consumers’ desirefor fur supplanted by a demand for alter-native materials. With the growing sophis-tication of textile science, that goal may notbe far out of reach.Some of the earliest faux furs were poorfacsimiles—thick, matted, and rough to thetouch. But new technologies have improvedthe quality of fibers used in synthetics, saysParsons instructor Donna Avery. “I used todemonstrate to students, if you blow on fauxfur, it would not move,” she says,“whereas ifyou blow on real fur it would sort of part inthe middle.” Today’s artificial pelts, she says,are much more realistic.The materials have become so ad-vanced that, despite her 30 years in the in-dustry, even Avery was fooled when HSUSstaff challenged her at the fall presentationto identify whether several fabric swatcheswere made of real animal fur or synthetic.Barred from using her usual detection tech-niques, she had to make the call based onlook and touch alone. She was shocked byher repeated mistakes—and by those of herfellow faculty members. “It blew my mindbecause all of us were getting everythingwrong,” says Avery, adding that she plans touse some of the samples in her classes.At least one member of the media wassimilarly hoodwinked when attending arecent runway show by famed fashion de-signer Karl Lagerfeld. The head designerand creative director for Chanel has longused fur in his high-end designs, and theclothes unveiled during his March show inParis seemed to be no exception, promptinga Los Angeles Times fashion critic to writethat “Lagerfeld’s compassion for the planetapparently does not extend to its four-legged inhabitants.”Afterward, however, Lagerfeld revealedthat all of the fur was synthetic, telling a re-porter, “It’s the triumph of fake fur … be-cause fake fur changed so much—andbecame so great now—that you can hardlysee the difference. ... You cannot fake chic,but you can be chic and fake fur.”DRAWING BACK THE CURTAINThe textiles tech boom has helped propelthe success of a unique partnership The12 allanimals MAY | JUNE 2010The inhumane trapping of animals for their fur is a subjectof The HSUS’s presentations to fashion design students.Terrified and injured animals may try to escape by bitingthe traps and their own limbs; theymay be left in the trapsfor several days before trappers return to kill them.humanesociety.org 13HSUS launched in 2005 with the Art Insti-tutes’ network of design schools. Fur con-struction and design aren’t part of thecurriculum, and students won’t find a furcompetition on any of the 46 campuses, saysBruce Dempsey, vice president and aca-demic affairs specialist for the EducationManagement Corporation, which operatesthe Art Institutes. The use of animal furisn’t banned—“that’s a difficult line to walkbecause of creativity and the students’choice,” Dempsey says—but many of thefaculty and individual school presidentssupport The HSUS’s fur-free message.The Art Institutes also partner withThe HSUS to organize and promote theannual Cool vs. Cruel contest, where stu-dents in fashion design and fashion retailmanagement create cruelty-free interpreta-tions of select fur garments. Over the years,students have incorporated an array of ma-terials into their designs to achieve what wasdone previously with animal fur.The last contest got a jumpstart overthe summer, when Reuben visited 16 AIcampuses on behalf of The HSUS to givepresentations similar to the one at Parsons.Her talk was a wakeup call for Gilberto Al-varez, a recent graduate of the Art Instituteof Fort Lauderdale. Previously, he believedfur was probably harvested from animalswho died of natural causes in the wild. “Ididn’t think they brutally beat them,” hesays.“I didn’t think it was that horrific.”Theimages affected him powerfully: “I alwaystalk about it now. And I always tell peoplethey should watch the video, and I sendthem to the [HSUS] website and try to openthem up to it.”The video’s impact on Alvarez wasclearly reflected in his Cool vs. Cruel entry.He fashioned a short cocktail dress withlarge swaths of synthetic hair attached to thefront and back, an attempt to “represent usas humans being tortured for our ‘fur,’ ” hesays. His effort landed him the third-place$400 prize—and, Reuben hopes, a fewdouble takes. “People are a little shocked atfirst seeing human hair on an outfit,” shesays.“Animal fur on a garment should elicitthe same kind of response.”Runner-up Jeremy Hunt, a student atthe Art Institute of Indianapolis, aimed tore-create a different aspect of fur, designingan elaborate cocktail dress made of blackpolyester material that resembled silk satin.The skirt incorporated a basket-weave lookthat “creates a texture, makes you want totouch and feel it,” he says.Before the competition, Hunt didn’tfeel strongly one way or the other about fur,he says. Reuben’s fabric samples opened hismind to the possibilities of designingwithout it.“There’s no reason to use fur,”hesays. “We’ve gotten to the point where [the]technology [and] synthetic faux fur we’reable to use are just as good if not better.”With her winning dress design, IngridBergstrom-Kendrick emulated the volumeof fur, using gray polyester felt because “it’smore like building a structure than sewing agarment.”While her previous commitmentnot to use fur was a subconscious one, theCool vs. Cruel competition has cementedher resolve—and prodded her classmates tolook more closely at the issue.“I’m sure that no onewouldwant to seeanimals suffer like they do,” she says, “so Ithink if they’re aware of what they’rechoosing, I don’t think theywould choose it.”A Los Angeles Times fashion critic who chastised KarlLagerfeld for using fur in this collection got a surprise:It was synthetic. Lagerfeld deemed the mistake “thetriumph of fake fur.”Such insights demonstrate that TheHSUS’s message of compassion is reachingstudents who otherwise never would havelearned about the mistreatment and killingof animals for fur. And it’s happening at acrucial juncture in their lives, says AndrewPage, senior director of the Fur-Free Cam-paign. “Convincing young designers to befur-free is critical,” he says. “An early deci-sion to avoid the cruelty of fur can perse-vere for a designer’s entire career andimpact countless animals.”FASHIONING A NEW TREND“Nevermind global warming: Fur is back invogue. … Indeed, designers are experi-menting with fur as a new, natural materialalternative, banishing mothball-scentedstereotypes of old. The fur craze has alreadyfiltered down to the street,” wrote KatyaForeman in a recent issue ofWomen’s WearDaily, describing “strong interest from theyounger generation that has never worn it,including young men.”Building on this thought, MichaelHolm—a design director for the world’slargest fur auction house, KopenhagenFur—told the writer, “Young designersdon’t seem to be afraid of the material. Itseems they’re adopting it as any other nat-ural material.” Nicole Fischelis, vice presi-dent and fashion director of Macy’s, added,“It’s no longer just a pelt. It’s another mate-rial to express your creativity. The big newthing is mixing fur with wovens. It’s in-serted, it’s appliquéd, it’s patch-worked.”Such industry-friendly articles skirtethical concerns about fur, dissociatingthe merchandise from the realities of howit’s made. Many members of the fashionmedia follow this model, serving as ade facto marketing arm for producers andretailers by heaping lavish praise on theircruel wares.Fur trade groups may be responsiblefor engineering some of the flattery. Ac-cording to a March story in The New YorkTimes, cooperatives representing breeders,fur farm operators, and auction houses luredesigners with free samples and junkets.“The quid pro quo is simply that they men-tion our name to the press,” said Steve Gold,marketing director for North American FurAuctions, adding that it’s typical to spendhundreds of thousands of dollars annuallyon such ploys. “We want to make sure furPREVIOUSSPREAD:PHOTOILLUSTRATION,REBECCAHALLENBECK/THEHSUS;COAT,FOTOSEARCH;FOX:ROYALTYFREE;RACCOONDOG:LILIATKACHENKO;CHINCHILLA:ERICISSELÉE/ISTOCK;SEAL:MARSHALLBRUCE/ISTOCK;BOBCAT:DIRKFREDER/ISTOCK;RABBIT:FINESHINE/SHUTTERSTOCK.OPPOSITEPAGE:THEHSUS.THISPAGE:FRANCOISMORI/AP14 allanimals MAY | JUNE 2010is on the pages of magazines around theworld,” he told the paper.The HSUS counters this glamorizationof brutality through events such as theannual party honoring Cool vs. Cruel win-ners in Manhattan, which spreads the mes-sage that compassion is a far classier trend.The 2009 gathering, held in November atthe trendy Bowery Hotel, showcased thestudents’ creative alternatives to animal furas the wave of the future, with garmentssubmitted by the 16 finalists adorningman-nequins set up in the middle of the room.As DJ Samantha Ronson pumped musicthroughout the hall, the fledgling designersvisited with the crowd of celebrities, jour-nalists, and partygoers. Posters showedphotos of fur-bearing animals and de-scribed how minks, rabbits, foxes, andraccoon dogs are killed for their skins, whilethe video from Reuben’s AI presentationsplayed on large TV screens.About 600 people showed up at anevent planned for 400, a turnout that indi-cates the competition’s growth over the pastfive years. “Every year we look for biggervenues,”Page says. Likewise, he adds, HSUScampaigners have progressed from handingout fliers in front of Fashion Week gather-ings to hosting fur-free parties and spon-soring Fashion Week shows for fur-freedesigners. “We went from being outside theindustry—literally, on the sidewalk—tohelping designers send clothes down therunway. I think ourmessage is reaching a lotof people who might not listen to someonewho isn’t part of the business.”Fashion photographer Nigel Barker,one of the contest judges, envisions theCool vs. Cruel event one day being broad-cast to millions of young people in a forumsuch as MTV. For now, the cash awardsgiven to the contest winners show that fur-free design can be “financially exciting,”he notes: “We live in the real world, andin the real world people need to be appre-ciated and applauded when they do theright thing.”Echoing this sentiment, Alvarez sayshis award has given him a sense of profes-sional accomplishment. “Until you actuallyrecognize that people like your stuff, I don’tthink you can really say, ‘OK, I’m a de-signer,’ ” he says. He feels empowered by—and proud of—his newfound fur-free ethic.“People who make a stand make a differ-ence,” he says.“…You don’t have to go withwhat everyone else is doing.”For Bergstrom-Kendrick, who gradu-ated from the Art Institute of Vancouver inDecember, winning the contest has helpedlaunch her career, landing her a weeklonginternship with theVPL clothing line. Com-pany owner Victoria Bartlett has made alivelihood of fur-free fashion—and hastaken her advocacy beyond passive en-dorsement. The HSUS sponsored her 2010runway show during New York FashionWeek last September; Bartlett designed aspecial T-shirt for The HSUS and handedout gift bags containing the Fur-Free Cam-paign’s brochures and pins.Bartlett, who has opposed fur sincechildhood, says events like Cool vs. Cruelhelp counteract fur companies’ courting ofbudding professionals.“They dangle moneyin front of these young designers who needmoney to … produce a show,” she says.“And that’s where the weakness is, and theyknow that.”By serving as a role model, she hopesstudents come to see that fur does notdefine the industry.“That’s what you need isfor them to understand that fur is not cool,”Bartlett says. “… The more designers whocan be involved, I think it makes a strongerarmy of people to help change it.”The influence flows both ways, as theArt Institutes’ Dempsey noted to the crowdgathered at the New York City party. Bytaking themessage to heart, he said, the stu-dents are helping to fashion new standardsfor the industry. They are “shaming some ofthe designers who are still designing [with]fur and they’re saying, ‘Look, there are al-ternatives. You don’t need slaughter. Youdon’t need to kill animals.’ ”Students are learning they can educateothers “that at one point [fur] may havebeen a necessity for warmth, but it no longeris and people need to get beyond that.“It’s not a luxury. It’s someone’s skinand fur.”WATCH The HSUS’s Cool vs. Cruel video,browse our fur-free list, and learn how to tellthe difference between real animal fur andfaux at humanesociety.org/magazine. ERINGLEESONThe HSUS’s Cool vs. Cruel competition showcases the work of a new generation of fur-free designers. Left to right are 2009 runner-up Jeremy Hunt, grand-prize winner IngridBergstrom-Kendrick, and third-place winner Gilberto Alvarez. “People who make a stand make a difference,” says Alvarez. “... You don’t have to go with what everyone else is doing.”

Fashion Conscience

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Fashion Conscience

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