«Kering goes fur free“. The luxury giant has decided: starting with the Fall-Winter 2022 collections no maison of the group will use animal furs anymore. Therefore, not only fashion but an ethical choice that sees the protection of animal welfare as one of the key values of the brands that belong to Kering, namely Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen e Brioni.
Actually, it was the forerunner Gucci in 2017 when during the event Kering Talk al London College of Fashion the president and CEO of the brand Marco Bizzarri announced that it was time to say enough to furs defining them, moreover, “out of fashion”. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) e LOW they supported the change of the brand, thus starting a dialogue with the whole group. Gucci also chose to join the international program Fur Free Retailer from Fur Free Alliance to be followed in this path that also gave customers the opportunity to buy in an informed way.
From then on it was only a matter of time. Gucci has undoubtedly represented a virtuous example that has accelerated the process in other fashion houses such as, to name a few, Chanel, Versace and Prada while Giorgio Armani in all its forms had already announced the abandonment of furs in 2016. Returning to the brands under the aegis of the French giant, if Bottega Veneta had pioneered fur coats twenty years ago, last April they adjusted to the new standards of sustainable luxury Balenciaga e Alexander McQueen. They were in fact missing from the appeal Brioni and Saint Laurent.
MAP openly attacked just Saint Laurent last March. A group of activists met in front of the Parisian boutique shouting “Who wears it best?” they presented themselves with signs with rather eloquent images: on one side there was Kate Moss wrapped in a fox fur in an advertising campaign and on the other a poor caged animal. About six months after those protests, here is the long-awaited news.
“The time has come to take another step forward by putting an end to the use of fur in all our collections,” he said Francois-Henri Pinault, president and CEO of Kering. “For many years Kering has tried to take a leading role in sustainability, guided by a vision of luxury that is inseparable from the highest environmental and social values and standards” he added “when it comes to animal welfare, our group has always demonstrated the will to improve practices within their supply chain. The world has changed, together with our customers, and luxury must naturally adapt to this state of affairs ».
In short, an era ends. Fur is definitely KO and luxury, thanks also to a modernization of the clientele, is on the hunt for new status symbols. For Kering, and for fashion in general, there are new frontiers of desire yet to be explored. As always happens with blank pages yet to be written, the challenge inspires fear but is also the most stimulating one.
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