What is luxury in fashion? In recent years and with the world in its current state, this is a question we've had to revisit. No longer is fur and exotic leather considered the crème de la crème of sartorial choices. In fact, it's flipped. More of us are willing to empty our purses on designers with animal welfare and sustainability as its bottom line. While many designer's have phased out the use of fur, it gives us great pleasure to announce that Kering, the parent company of Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, has just adopted a company-wide fur ban.
As Milan Fashion Week kicked off, Kering CEO François-Henri Pinault broke the news in a statement. "The time has now come to take a further step forward by ending the use of fur in all our collections," he said. "The world has changed, along with our clients, and luxury naturally needs to adapt to that.” We can expect the ban to commence in time for AW '22, with the first showcase of these garments anticipated for the beginning of 2022.
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Prior to the announcement, a fair few of Kering's brands had already started down the path of phasing out fur in its collections. Pinault touched on this in his statement. “When it comes to animal welfare, our group has always demonstrated its willingness to improve practices within its own supply chain and the luxury sector in general," he explained. After all, many of you will remember Alessandro Michele's monumental decision in 2017 to implement a no-fur policy for Gucci. While Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen quietly mirrored Michele's lead in the wake of his 2017 decision.
As far as fur bans go, this decision is one of many we've been privy to this year. Earlier this month, Billie Eilish wore Oscar de la Renta to the Met Gala on the condition that the designer would formally end its use of fur. While in March this year, Vivienne Westwood, Stella McCartney and Shrimps banded together to urge British PM Boris Johnson to ban fur sales across the UK.
Consider our Monday officially made.
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