What are some of the bad practices related to animal-based fur that have drawn criticism?
There are two main bad practices that have been criticised and are turning people away from animal-based fur. The first one is that many firms, especially in large-scale quantity production across the world, resort to torturing animals before killing them. There are many terrible ways that have been described, and indeed, many farms that grow thousands or hundreds of thousands of animals might follow them.
The second problem is that there are still fur products that come through hunting procedures. Hunting, apart from being a cruel procedure itself, also has far-reaching ramifications for biodiversity if not done within a specific framework. This is very much seen in Africa, where, in many cases, hunters do not follow regulations, and many animals are already under extinction. Illegal hunting fuels an industry of more than $10 billion. This is insane.
These issues are bringing a “bad name” for animal-based fur. The response is mainly through policy advocacy from the industry through institutions such as Sustainable Fur and the WelFur project, in which farmers provide a transparent framework on how they treat animals, how they ensure they live a good life, and that there are no cruelty practices in place. This is the main way the industry is responding to these concerns. If you are like-minded and produce animal-based fur, you should follow these standards.
What sustainable practices are currently being implemented in the fur industry?
As mentioned, sustainable fashion initiatives help ensure these sustainable practices are taking place. They ensure transparency and a good life. There are several criteria that help ensure this, and this includes four key pillars that they are taking into consideration, namely:
- Good feeding: absence of hunger and thirst
- Good housing: thermal comfort and ease of movement
- Good health: absence of injury, disease, or pain by management
- Appropriate behavior: good human-animal relationship
Taking these practices into consideration, fur farms that follow these protocols currently operate, as well as modern animal farms for food. Hence, the fur industry, in this sense, should be treated exactly like the meat industry. If someone is vegan, then I understand their concerns, but if they are just against natural fur but eat meat, these practices show that many should reconsider.
Also, ethically speaking, it is very important to fight fast fashion and try to advocate for slow fashion. By purchasing an animal-based fur coat that complies with good living standards for animals, you can have a clothing product for a lifetime. This means that you will not need to change plastic-produced clothes every two years, which might seem simple, but it’s far from simple. Only 1% of clothes are actually being recycled into new clothing, and most of them consist of plastic. Even those made of cotton or other natural fibres have plastic fibres or microplastics in them.
I was recently at the Arctic Plastics Symposium - it might seem like a simple thing to use plastics, but it is one of the cruelest things to do to animals. The way birds and fish around the Arctic, as well as bears, die by eating or entangling themselves in plastic is beyond cruel and torturing. Before we think about not using animal-based or biodegradable products, we must think about all the damage we are doing to animals by wearing plastic.
And from the biodegradability point of view, animal-based ones are the most mainstream and inexpensive and, if we can ensure you that we totally avoid cruel practices and it is the same as farming cows or pigs, then you should be 100% certain that our products are more sustainable, circular, ethic and with respect to the environment.
Apart from that, environmental concerns are being addressed by circularity practices. For example, meat from farming is used as animal feed, and other parts are also being recycled or taken through waste management practices.
How do you balance the demand for high-quality fur products with the need for sustainable and ethical production methods?
I believe there are very specific strategies in that direction. To ensure high-quality standards are being met, it is almost impossible to go at scale. Look at what happens with fast fashion! There are several issues with waste disposal (i.e., 90% ends up in landfills), and many of them have to be thrown away after a year or so.
In my view, we should go towards slow fashion, not changing clothes regularly, and animal fur contributes to exactly that cause. We have to go towards small-scale units and cooperatives where societal value is added to the local communities, human rights are respected, and circularity is taken into account. This is how we balance high quality, sustainability, and ethics.
Our farms are relatively small-scale; we ensure all labour rights of our people are being met, and we even take advantage of the waste fur products left at the end of the farming process. We provide waste from farming as animal feed, as biostimulants, and, in some cases, even as energy for innovative projects. We utilize all parts of the fur. For the tiny pieces, we apply a technique that has been kept in the city of Kastoria for ages and generations, where, from these very small pieces, one can actually create a fully functional fur plate that can then be valorised into all sorts of garments and accessories.
We have full knowledge of all our supply chains, so we know that we are sourcing products from people who have ensured animal welfare and human rights for their workers. It is also a small community, so we all know each other and know that nobody would exploit people or mistreat animals.
Finally, we provide training and advisory services to all fashion-related stakeholders, such as clothing companies or the public sector. We advise them on how to bring slow fashion into the market so that less is needed in the sector. In order to need fewer clothes, your clothes must be enduring, and there is no material that is more enduring than natural fur.
In most cases, it can go for more than 50-100 years, and even after that, it is biodegradable, meaning it can be converted into all sorts of things, such as biostimulants. Most of the other clothes are just plastic and wear out easily. This is how we contribute to sustainability, ethics, circularity, and societal values in the sector. I believe that no other sector can provide that much value in an economically sensible manner.
What advancements have been made in the fur industry to ensure animal welfare?
As mentioned earlier, the key advancements are the recognition of what constitutes animal cruelty and the fact that many of the people operating in the industry, including ourselves, stood up and said we shouldn’t be put in the same basket as the people who are creating a bad image for the fur industry. We said no to illegal hunting and production at scale at the expense of animal welfare. Based on that, there has been research into the biology and health of the farmed-for-fur animals, and it has been converted into meaningful insights that answer the question of “what makes a good living for minks or foxes?”.
We have converted these into clear criteria, such as the absence of hunger, thirst, good health, and good relationships with humans, and we are implementing this. In order to monitor and regulate, there have been organizations at an EU level, and each member of these organizations, such as Sustainable Fur and WelFur, has to comply with these standards; otherwise, they cannot be members.
There are ongoing works on an EU level to create a certification scheme, and it will soon be introduced. In order to regulate and monitor, the most important aspect is to have constant coordination, and in many cases, technology helps. We would very much welcome advancements in data science and Web 3.0 technologies to make sure that everyone is acting based on what should be done.
How does the environmental impact of producing animal-based fur compare to that of synthetic or recycled alternatives currently available on the market?
This is very clear. Artificial fur (or artificial cotton and other clothing materials) usually require organic elements to be produced. Almost all organizations and companies claim that their artificial products are made from bioplastics, but that is just not true. Currently, less than 1% of the plastics out there are biodegradable and made from bio-based products. This means that all of the other synthetic products come from fossil fuel-based plastic. This means that tons of oil have to be extracted to produce these synthetic clothing and garment materials.
Also, the laundering of synthetic clothes accounts for 35% of microplastics thrown into the ocean every year. From a perspective of environment and biodiversity, this has a horrendous impact that needs to be mitigated somehow. In terms of emissions, many proponents claim that synthetic-based materials have four times less CO2 emissions than natural fur ones. However, one has to look at the fact that synthetic materials have a lifetime of 2-3 years, whereas natural fur has one of 50-100 years at least. Finally, one has to think of the disposal of these products, which is much easier with a fully biodegradable product.
Looking towards the future, what role do you see for bio-based materials in the fur industry?
The problem with biodegradable plastics is mostly price-related. Yes, we can grow crops or seaweed or find other materials that we can convert to bioplastics. However, what is the cost of growing them? How much water will be needed? And how can we process it into textiles in a way that is not cost or energy-intensive? Many people do not think about these issues. I would never say that the only way is through animal-based fur.
Nonetheless, to this day, there have yet to be any cases reported where bio-based materials have become financially viable and profitable in the clothing industry. We are very open to engaging in a dialogue with all the right stakeholders to find the right formula to mainstream these products and make them inexpensive without the need for subsidies.
At this point, however, it is not possible. I believe within the next 20-30 years, with a sophisticated financing and subsidizing scheme that focuses solely on the most promising technologies and ways of making bio-based materials, there will be profitable businesses around bio-based clothing materials. I believe the focus should be on crops that are not water-intensive ( a cotton t-shirt needs more than 2,000 litres of water to be produced) and might also not require land like seaweed, and there should be constant coordination with material science departments in prominent universities to find and fund the right ideas. This can be done by engaging the scientists in innovation-related projects like hackathons and helping them turn their scientific ideas into profitable business models with the right financing vehicles, converting them from ideas to fully-fledged businesses.
