The aesthetic's return seems to have been driven by microtrends such as TikTok’s "mob wife”, "old money”, "Boom Boom”and 1980s revival.Photo: Pexels
On a frisky December afternoon in New York City 30 years ago, a stylishly dressed woman entered the Four Seasons Grill Room, walked to Anna Wintour’s table, pulled a dead raccoon out of her bag, and dropped it on the Vogue editor-in-chief’s plate.
The protester, a member of the animal rights group People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals (Peta), then shouted, "Anna wears fur hats!” and fled before anyone could catch her.
"Merry Christmas,” Wintour told her lunch partner, Conde Nast chief executive officer Steve Florio.
Restaurant staff removed the carcass, and coffee was served.
For decades, fur has been one of the hottest hot buttons in fashion – the ultimate symbol of wealth and luxury for some and cruelty for others.
High-profile protests made headlines, but in the years since that raccoon’s appearance at the Four Seasons, Peta has found working quietly behind the scenes to be more effective in swaying the fashion business away from fur.
"We have dialogues with the brands, explain how cruel and outdated the practice is, and become shareholders of the companies, so we can ask questions, attend annual general meetings, and talk to chief executives in person,” says Anissa Putois, communications and campaign manager for Peta France.
At least in part because of this less combative approach, she says, "most brands have stopped using fur” in recent years.
Indeed, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Saint Laurent, Versace, Valentino and Peta’s first target in 1991, Oscar De La Renta, have all announced they would no longer use fur in their designs.
"Fashion has moved on,” Putois says.
You might not know it from looking at the runways. During the Autumn/Winter 2025 shows in Paris, Milan, London and New York, fur was all over the place.
Dozens of brands, including Prada, Gucci, Burberry, Gabriela Hearst, Lanvin and Dolce & Gabbana, showed furry looks on their runways.
Trend forecaster Mandy Lee, known online as Old Loser in Brooklyn, believes that up to half of high-fashion collections included fur of some sort for the season.
The aesthetic seems to have been driven by microtrends such as TikTok’s "mob wife”, "old money”, "Boom Boom”and 1980s revival, which are heavy with fox chubbies, mink coats and animal-print everything.
Upon closer inspection, however, it becomes clear that much of that fur is upcycled or faux – and some of the faux is sustainable, at that.
Read more: 'Moving far too slow': Fashion labels lag behind on sustainability pledges
Traditionally, faux fur has been made of petroleum (plastic, in other words), which is environmentally toxic and never biodegrades. But brands are now seeking out alternatives.
The Danish sustainable fashion company Ganni uses recycled polyester to make its fur-like material.
Another eco-minded Scandinavian brand, Hodakova, based in Stockholm, upcycles vintage mink hats, stitching them together into mod patchwork dresses and coats, and New York-based sustainable designer Gabriela Hearst repurposed old mink coats for her Autumn/Winter 2024 designs.
"Gen Z consumers are increasingly drawn to secondhand or vintage fur as a more sustainable and unique alternative to new pieces,” explains Noemie Voyer, who monitors the fashion industry the trend forecasting firm Heuritech.
"And these finds are frequently shared on social media, fueling the trend.”
House Of Fluff, a New York-based fashion brand, has developed Biofur, a plastic-free, compostable alternative made from corn-based polymer and tinted with plant-based dyes.
It comes in two variations-BioSherpa, which is like shearling, and BioBunny, which resembles rabbit fur – and has received the US Department of Agriculture Biopreferred certification, which indicates that something is made from plants or other renewable materials and are an alternative to conventional petroleum-derived products.
BioFluff, a French-American company founded in 2022, produces a very convincing fur alternative called Savian from flax, nettle, and hemp fibres.
Plant-based furs such as BioFluff are believed to produce 50% less emissions than their plastic-based counterparts and zero microplastics.
BioFluff’s first Savian fashion item, a coat designed by Stella McCartney, a lifelong vegetarian who’s always been anti-fur and anti-leather, was unveiled at the COP28, the United Nations climate change conference, in Dubai in 2023.
Its second, a furry version of Ganni’s Bou bag, debuted at Copenhagen Fashion Week in August 2024 It will be available for sale in the coming months.
"Furry pieces and fluffy materials are comforting and warm, but they don’t have to harm animals or the planet,” says Roni Gamzon, BioFluff’s co-founder and chief commercial officer.
"Part of my mission at Stella is to share my platform with sustainable pioneers, helping them to secure the awareness and investment needed for their innovations,” McCartney said in an email.
"The team at BioFluff embodies everything we stand for, using the power of plants to ensure we do not have to harm a single animal. I am loud, proud and transparent about who I work with because I want to show the world what is possible when you support material innovators – and I want other brands to follow in my footsteps.”
McCartney also works with Shanghai-based Ecopel, which has created Koba, a faux fur that’s a combination of recycled polyester and a fibre made from corn waste, and tinted with waterless dyes.
"Koba is very soft, very durable, less cruel and less polluting than real fur,” says Peta’s Putois.
"Gen Z grew up amid climate warnings and social media activism, fostering a ‘do something now’ mindset when it comes to lifestyle choices-this generation is strongly values-driven,” Voyer, the trend analyst, says.
"Anti-fur campaigns and brands banning fur are part of this broader shift in mentality, too. These actions reflect a sense of responsibility and have a direct impact on how the world-and fashion-evolve, as well as on how people consume in line with their beliefs.
"For brands, it’s crucial to stay relevant and desirable.”
As the faux-fur industry innovates and grows, the traditional fur business has collapsed.
With the lower demand from fashion brands, as well as devastating Covid-19 outbreaks on Danish mink farms during the pandemic, the industry’s value has tumbled to just US$3.4bil (approximately RM14.3bil) in 2023 from its US$14.7bil (RM62bil) peak 10 years before.
The number of fur farms in the European Union fell to 1,088 in 2023 from 4,350 in 2018, and fur production has dropped 85% to roughly 20 million pelts last year from 140 million in 2014, according to the Fur Free Alliance.
Read more: Sustainable, conscious and mindful fashion is all about designing with a purpose
Not that all animal-derived fur is out of fashion.
Shearling, which is tanned sheepskin or lambskin with the fur still attached, is still used by many brands, including Armani, Burberry and Prada, the justification being that it’s a byproduct of the meat and wool industry and as such, it is not really fur.
"Brands categorise shearling as wool,” Putois says. "But our stance is that it is just as cruel.”
Since 2013, the British Fashion Council, which organises London Fashion Week, has banned fur from all shows on its official calendar.
But during Paris’ and Milan’s fashion weeks, Peta continues to mount protests, Putois says, "because some brands who show in those cities, like Dior and Fendi, still show real fur”.
In one amusing protest during a recent Paris Fashion Week, participants dressed up like prehistoric cave people "to show how archaic wearing fur is,” she says.
Nevertheless, "it’s really hard to get those companies to stop”.
Indeed it is. For instance, LVMH, the owner of Dior and Fendi and the only major luxury group still using fur, is working with Central Saint Martins University of the Arts and Imperial College Londonto develop a lab-grown fur alternative made from keratin, the main protein in hair, according to Vogue Business.
But an LVMH spokesman has said that the new product would replace the group’s use of plastic-based fake fur, not real fur.
And then there is the most steadfast fur loyalist of all, Anna Wintour.
"Yes, Anna still wears fur,” Putois says with a sigh. "She’s stuck in that image of what luxury should be, which is a shame, because she is so influential. We’d hope she’d change with the times. But she hasn’t yet. We’ll see.” – Bloomberg
