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Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

Fashion’s Animal Welfare Taboo

While most brands have banned fur, animal welfare is rarely discussed when it comes to more mainstream and lucrative fabrics like leather.
Cattle are seen in a corral before being transferred to a slaughterhouse.
Many big brands have yet to publish welfare standards for animals in supply chains for materials like leather. (Pablo Porciuncula Brune/AFP via Getty Images)

In 2017, Gucci famously declared the use of animal fur

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Further Reading

The Truth About ‘Vegan Leather’

Leather alternatives have been boosted as eco-innovation and dismissed as mere plastic, but the truth is more complicated than that and demands clearer marketing to avoid misleading consumers.

About the author
Sarah Kent
Sarah Kent

Sarah Kent is Chief Sustainability Correspondent at The Business of Fashion. She is based in London and drives BoF's coverage of critical environmental and labour issues.

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