3/3 - Last part of our interview with Anissa Putois, representative of the association PETA France (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) on fashion materials based on animal exploitation. After wool (see here) and leather (see there), focus on fur.

By Ludmilla Intravaia

Le Boudoir Numérique: The year 2021 ended with major announcements for the fight against animal exploitation in fashion, such as on September 24, the decision of the French luxury group Kering to stop the use of animal fur, in all the collections of its houses, beginning with the Fall 2022 season. On December 2, Elle International ended the promotion of animal fur in its 45 print magazines, their websites and social networks. How did you receive this news?

Anissa Putois, senior communication officer at PETA France: For Peta, this is the culmination of a long-term fight. We are delighted with the progress made in the second half of 2021. We had been campaigning for a very long time to push Kering to stop fur. Shareholder of this group, PETA United States participated in the shareholders' meeting to question its leaders on the use of animal based-materials. The British actress Gillian Anderson wrote a letter to Kering CEO, François-Henri Pinault, urging him to adopt a no-fur policy within his group. This announcement from Kering sent a powerful symbolic message: society and consumers are moving towards more ethics and fashion brands that persist in using fur are really a handful of laggards. Elle announcement was also a resounding one because, even though Vogue UK, Cosmopolitan UK and InStyle USA had already banned fur, here, it is a major fashion and luxury press group that engage in this direction. Elle realized that its readers no longer wanted to see fur in its pages and, for ethical and ecological reasons, decided to no longer promote it. At Peta, this is what we have been fighting for and working for for a very long time.

November 30, 2021 saw the promulgation of the law aimed at combating animal abuse which put an end, in France, to the breeding of American minks for their fur, with the effect of the immediate closure of the last mink farm existing in the territory and also prohibits the establishment, in the future, of any new breeding of wild animals, such as foxes or raccoon dogs. But what about rabbits? We owe in particular to the French association for the defense of animals L214 an investigation highlighting, in 2017, the cruelty of the breeding and slaughter of Orylag rabbits. Rabbits depending from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and not the Ministry of Ecological Transition, nothing has changed for them with this new law, is that so?

Unfortunately, the law does not extend to domesticated species used for their flesh. This is the case with rabbits, such as orylag rabbits exploited for their flesh and fur. They are genetically modified rabbits, a breed created to obtain edible flesh and very soft fur, used by luxury brands. Orylag rabbits are raised in cramped and unsanitary cages, in deplorable conditions and slaughtered in a violent manner, sometimes without being sufficiently or properly stunned, as L214 investigators have shown. All this to make fur, when it is no longer popular and is being abandoned by more and more brands. Putting an end to the cruelty of breeding orylag rabbits but also angora rabbits is one of our campaigns objectives.

In November 2021, in collaboration with PETA United Kingdom, the French brand Ecopel proposed to the British Ministry of Defense to provide it, free of charge, until 2030, with a fake bear fur it developed, in order to replace that used to make fur caps for the Queen of England's Guard. Do we still kill bears these days for these kind of hats?

Yes. Canadian black bears are hunted for these caps. These animals are not bred, as it is the case with 80% of the fur used in fashion, they are killed in the wild, without rules or restrictions on their slaughter. It can be mother with cubs that will starve without them. This hunt destroys entire families. It's totally barbaric.

Are you waiting for the response from the British Ministry of Defence?

Yes. Since this faux fur has passed all the internal tests of the ministry and meets all the technical criteria that the material of these hats must meet, there is no reason not to use this synthetic material. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also supported our campaign by saying that this fake fur was a good idea, if it could help save bears. In a society that increasingly opposes fur and cruelty to animals, we are hopeful of a victory soon.

Faux fur is criticized by animal fur advocates as harmful to the environment, because this synthetic material is the product of a polluting petrochemical industry. What do you think about that?

This is an argument that often comes up to make people believe that animal fur is the most ecological option. But this is not true. Firstly, because many faux fur producers work with recycled materials and others, such as Ecopel, are developing innovative, more sustainable faux fur, from corn waste, for example. And then, even if PETA is in no way promoting the petrochemical industry, if we compare animal fur to basic plastic faux fur, animal fur remains much more polluting. In addition to being unethical, as it causes animal sufferings, fur is not ecological. It is treated with a cocktail of chemical substances, so that it does not rot, just like all animal skins which, linked to breeding, involve a lot of pollution. This argument is part of somewhat desperate marketing campaigns intended to restore the image of these materials which, in fact, have nothing noble about them, when we can clearly see that more and more people are turning away from them to chose ethical, more ecological alternatives.

Precisely, last November, the fashion designer Stella McCartney inaugurated, in Glasgow, for COP 26, an exhibition on innovation as an adjuvant for a more sustainable and respectful of sentient beings fashion, in order to raise awareness among political decision-makers of the United Nations Climate Change Conference to the potential of new materials such as mycelium, mushroom roots, for example (more info in this Boudoir Numérique article). PETA also participated in the march for climate justice at COP 26. Why?

To fight against climate change, we have to change our habits, we have to eat vegan and we have to distance ourselves from everything related to animal husbandry, because we know it's extremely polluting. For fashion too, we have to opt for truly ecological materials that are not linked to animal breeding and exploitation. We joined this protest, because leaders weren't talking enough about it during COP 26.

“The future of fashion and of our planet is cruelty-free”, said Stella McCartney, on the occasion of COP 26. I have the impression that, thanks to positions like hers in events of such media coverage, public opinion begins to make the link between the destruction of the environment and the animal suffering generated by fashion. Is this positive for the fight against animal exploitation?

This is very positive because we live in a time when climate change and respect for the environment have become very important topics, especially in the eyes of the younger generations. We would like the animal cause to be as important in itself but whatever the reason ultimately, we are happy if it means that people understand the need to switch to alternative materials that do not exploit animals. At PETA, our focus is animals but everything goes hand in hand, animals, the environment, workers too. By protecting animals, we protect the planet and often also the rights of workers.

In view of 2021, rich in good news for the animal cause, how do you envisage the future?

We must be realistic, animals continue to suffer. This is why we must continue to raise awareness, inform and fight to push governments and brands to change because every day means terrible sufferings for animals. But the big victories of 2021, even though it was a difficult year due to the pandemic, give me hope that we will win many more in 2022.

* Read the first part of Anissa Putois’ interview : "With wool, we are very far from the idyllic image of a sheep gently shorn in a meadow". 

* Read the second part of Anissa Putois’ interview: "In the current state of fashion traceability, you never know where a skin comes from".

* Find the Boudoir Numérique's special file on vegan fashion and beauty here.