Designer Jean Paul Gaultier bans fur from future collections

Bernard Boyé [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

In a live interview with French television channel Canal+, Gaultier expressed that the way animals are killed for their fur was “absolutely deplorable”.

Since 2014, the former Hermès creative director has shifted his focus from ready-to-wear clothes to more premium-priced haute couture designs which sometimes included the use of animal furs.

"The news comes after years of pressure from Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), including a Peta member being tossed out of his Fashion Week show in 2002 after causing a runway ruckus with her anti-fur message, as well as a takeover of his Paris boutique in 2006 led by Peta founder Ingrid Newkirk, and online activism against his furry ways since then," Peta director of International Programmes Mimi Bekhechi told Plant Based News.

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"This decision is a sign of changed times, as most people no longer wish to wear anything from animals who were cruelly caged, electrocuted, bludgeoned to death or caught in steel traps, left to die slowly and painfully – the way coyotes are still being killed for the trim on Canada Goose jackets," Bekhechi said.

Gaultier joins a growing list of luxury fashion brands – including Gucci, Versace, Galliano, Armani, Ralph Lauren, Burberry and Vivienne Westwood – who have banned the future use of fur in their collections.

Well-known brands that continue to include animal fur in their collections include Fendi, Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs.