Would you ever buy anything advertised as being made from animal fur?

One of my cats absolutely refuses to play with anything made of synthetic fur, but loves playing with cat toys made from actual rabbit fur.

That said, I prefer to get such cat toys from local sources. I’m not down with factory farming, but have no qualms against humanely raised animals meeting a sudden, painless death. The same goes for the bacon and ground beef that I make burgers from.

Somehow, I doubt my cat has any such ethical concerns.

My mother has a mink coat that was her mother’s – probably manufactured in around 1940 or so. Very nice, she might wear it one or twice a year.

If someone ever criticized her, I’d tell the person to STFU – the coat was made in a different time with people of a different generation.

Where I live now, any coat made of animal skin would be ridiculously superfluous. No need for it.

If I were ever living in a location where it was cold enough to need a warm coat with fur, I would have no compunction about wearing it. Heck, I wear leather shoes every day and I have a very snazzy leather jacket that I wear in fall and winter. I don’t see a whole of difference between wearing fur and wearing leather. They both come from animals bred for that purpose.

No. It’s different to me when the entire animal is used, but I’m not okay with simply raising and killing animals for their fur.

Since I wear leather shoes, it would be hypocritical of me to not be willing to use other parts of domesticated/harvested animals. But honestly, wool, chicken feathers, cow hide – that’s about it.

An artist I know repurposes old found leather and fur into wearable art.

Yes. When I lived in Sweden, I wore a hat made of Russian red fox and a camel hair overcoat in the winter. They locked in the warmth at fifty below and looked great. I don’t wear fur where I live now. That would be insane. But I have no problem dressing to kill, excuse the pun, in those climes where it is practical. I would never wear the fur of an endangered species, elephant skin boots, for example, or baby seals because of the way they are still slaughtered, but adult seal skin looks great, is tough and very warm. Synthetics don’t lock in the warmth as well and don’t look as nice. I wear cow all the time and have no way of verifying whether or not the former owners were killed humanely. I’m afraid I have better things to do than concerning myself with the rights of farm animals when we can’t even guarantee human rights just seems like gross hypocrisy to me.

Yes, I do have a leather interior in my car but…byproduct of the beef industry, otherwise I would never wear fur, or buy anything made from exotic animals. I also boycott down products because of my love for geese. I just read a great article on how these agents built a fale ivory tusk with GPS and caught a bunch of elephant poachers. Yay!

If the animal was killed only for its fur or there was a question mark over whether it was culled humanely, no. However, I find it hard to say I’d never buy a product that was made of animal fur under any circumstances. For instance, possums are not native to New Zealand and they’re a pest there. There is an industry in producing gloves, hats and the like that include possum fur. Similarly, Australia’s iconic Akubra hats are made from rabbit fur. It takes about 12 pelts to make one hat. Historically, rabbits were a pest in Australia and decimated our farming lands. They had to be culled. So to buy a hat that was produced from the pelts of culled animals would not have bothered me. However, rabbit pelts are now in short supply in Australia and Akubra is acquiring their pelts from overseas. I wouldn’t buy an Akubra under those conditions. When the product is a by-product of a required cull, I feel we’re at least using the animals remains productively. I couldn’t buy a product where the animal was killed only to acquire its pelt.

I have this hat but the outer shell is a solid green and it is glorious. I do hope that that the rabbit was used for meat as well as the fur. It is the only hat that keeps my big-ass Obama-looking ears toasty when it is 10º out and windy.

If it is not on the border of extinct, think mink, or other skins.

nope, I wouldn’t

No. I also don’t buy leather, nor do I eat meat.

One of the thrift stores that I frequent (their charity goes to an animal rescue organization), accepts old fur coats as donations, but will not sell them in their stores. They donate them to animal shelters that use them to make fur lined beds to help foster abandoned newborn animals, because it mimics the fur of the mothers.

I would never buy a mink coat, but I do have one handed down from my grandmother. I seriously thought about buying an Alaskan doll that was made from real animal fur and skins. I kind of wish I had bought it. It was beautiful, but expensive. I wound up buying a little plush toy one instead. I’d like to assume the Alaskan Indians use the whole animal they get the skins from, but it might be a wrong assumption.

In general I would prefer to eat less meat and use less leather and fur. I do think about it, but only execute it in a haphazard way. My sister, who has been vegan for many years, tried really hard for years to not use leather, but gave up eventually regarding purses and shoes. She still buys non-leather if she can, but it is the one area she breaks the rules.

@Kardamom Does it? Does it mimic the fur of the mother? Or, is the animal laying on a the skin of a dead mother? There is something disconcerting about it to me. I guess maybe animals might feel differently than a human would about a human skinned doll or bed for a human baby. Or, maybe it’s just the Nazi thing that freaks me out.

@JLeslie, I can see your point and I really don’t know how the animal perceives the fur it’s sleeping on. I do know my cat loves fake fur blankets to snuggle up on. I’d never buy a real fur blanket or coat so I don’t know how he’d react to genuine fur.

@JLeslie Come over to my house, I’ll help to steer you into the light. Bwah ha ha!

I love purses and shoes, but luckily I have inexpensive taste, so it’s relatively easy to find non-leather shoes and purses (and belts). I have some very cute stuff. I also shop at thrift stores and look for non leather stuff, specifically.

I don’t wear high heels, but I really like the Vegan Mary Janes with the Kitten Heels on this website.

These red shoes in Natalie Portman’s Vegan Shoe Line are really pretty too, but they’re way, way out of my price range at around $250.

I mostly wear non leather sandals year round, even in the dead of winter when it’s about 80 degrees here Lol. Or I wear non leather tennis shoes, mostly canvas. I have 2 pairs of non leather dressy shoes that I wear to weddings and other “fancy” events.

Here’s some info about Donating Old Fur Coats to Help Nurture Orphaned Baby Animals

Here’s some info on How and Where to Donate

@Kardamom My sister is into fashion so it makes it more difficult. She has known about vegan shoes and handbags for many years. I’ll tell her about Natalie Portman’s line, thanks for the link, but my guess is she knows about it already.

No. Not that I would need one.

I live in one of those climates. My seal fur boots are invaluable. I would love to have more NZ possum and merino wool knits. I have a handed down seal fur and fox fur coat. I wear it rarely but on the odd occasions I wore it I really needed it.

I’ll also add that while we do eat some organic, locally raised, free range and grass fed beef and chicken and do use leather products, car interiors, horses saddles, bridles, etc. cowboy boots and other leather belts and shoes, we also care for and have rescued many farm animals and we do not eat, other than eggs, any of our chickens.
We have 5 rescue ducks and geese, two that are special needs and get medications and special care, we have 2 rescue burros, one that is blind and my cats and my friends dog are shelter rescues. I have also spent a number of years in my life volunteering for wildlife rescue, sooo…what leather products we use certainly balance out with all of our rescue efforts and the haven we provide for our animals here at the ranch. I am strongly opposed to fur products and am a major defender of wild life and exotic animal hunting/poaching.

Certain items not made of leather are inferior. They have yet to make a synthetic cowboy boot or saddle that holds up. There are Cordura saddles that are all synthetic but they are lightweight and for convenience and ease of use but they are not sturdy, stock performance saddlery. They are fine for a Sunday trail ride but won’t hold up to heavier, performance riding or ranch work.

There is really no getting around the use of leather in the horse world.

@Coloma Wouldn’t it be wonderful if one of the braniacs in the science world could come up with a compound that would be like, or better than leather, without having to sacrifice the lives of animals to get it? I wonder if any of the super-smart college kids of today, maybe one with an environmental bent, would be interested in pursuing such a product. It seems like they could become rich if they ever figured it out.

@Kardamom Yes, I wish I could figure that out, your idea, we’ll split the revenue 50/50. haha

It’s my guess that synthetics, which are most often oil products, are causing more mass death and illness in animals worldwide than fur production. The runoff and air pollution at plastics factories are poisonous. The islands of plastic products in our oceans are poisonous, block light and disrupt the food chain. The demand of more synthetics create more oil wells on and off shore and with it more un-policed toxic waste. I’ve seen the pollution on the seas—out of sight and out of mind to most of the population—whole pods of sick dolphins, leatherback and ripley turtles smothered in oil sludge and huge fish kills. I can only imagine that far more seals are killed every year by oil industry pollution than by slaughter for their fur.

I advocate for less dependency on synthetics and oil use in general, whenever possible without endangering a species.

@Coloma I agree. I couldn’t do my job without leather.

You’re too late, @Coloma & @Kardamom.
The secret lies in growing leather in a lab.

—and Augie couldn’t have done hers.

@Espiritus_Corvus and Augie couldn’t have done hers.…oh how I miss that whip!