STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

blubirde · Chanel

Vintage Fur

bumblebee · Coach

what are you asking? if you should go ahead and wear them?

gruiz · Kenneth Cole

I'm not sure if it makes a difference whether the fur is new or old (vintage). The animal was still killed for it's fur...

If you love the coat, and you don't have issues with wearing the fur, then do it.

laken1 · Hermes

I wonder this too blubirde. My MIL just gave me my DH's grandmother's fur. It doesn't fit me & I wouldn't wear it if it did - but I still wonder what in the world to do with it. We do have a fur resale shop in Dallas, but I'm not sure if that's just perpertuating the problem....my husband doesn't care. My MIL is an extreme animal rights activist, but she gave it to me because she said she knew I would respect it.....

NCshopper · Hermes

laken1 wrote:

I wonder this too blubirde. My MIL just gave me my DH's grandmother's fur. It doesn't fit me & I wouldn't wear it if it did - but I still wonder what in the world to do with it. We do have a fur resale shop in Dallas, but I'm not sure if that's just perpertuating the problem....my husband doesn't care. My MIL is an extreme animal rights activist, but she gave it to me because she said she knew I would respect it.....

As far as reselling it goes, I think it's probably alieviating some of the problem. Someone will buy it and that someone might have gone and bought a new fur coat, so you could be preventing someone from buying a new one, which is a good thing.

As far as I'm concerned, blubirde, I think if you like it, go ahead and wear it. (I'll probably get reamed for saying that, but oh well.) You didn't buy it new, you didn't cause its death, and not wearing isn't really going to bring the animal back to life, so you might as well wear it if you like it. If you find that wearing it makes you feel uncomfortable, then I'd resell it.

lynnie · Chanel

NCshopper wrote:

laken1 wrote:
I wonder this too blubirde. My MIL just gave me my DH's grandmother's fur. It doesn't fit me & I wouldn't wear it if it did - but I still wonder what in the world to do with it. We do have a fur resale shop in Dallas, but I'm not sure if that's just perpertuating the problem....my husband doesn't care. My MIL is an extreme animal rights activist, but she gave it to me because she said she knew I would respect it.....

As far as reselling it goes, I think it's probably alieviating some of the problem. Someone will buy it and that someone might have gone and bought a new fur coat, so you could be preventing someone from buying a new one, which is a good thing.
As far as I'm concerned, blubirde, I think if you like it, go ahead and wear it. (I'll probably get reamed for saying that, but oh well.) You didn't buy it new, you didn't cause its death, and not wearing isn't really going to bring the animal back to life, so you might as well wear it if you like it. If you find that wearing it makes you feel uncomfortable, then I'd resell it.

i agree- i think that if NO ONE uses it, that would be even worse. maybe a campaign should be started to get fur lovers to buy vintage- so that no more animals would be killed. i'm sure there are a ton of vintage fur jackets that are just sitting there because people feel weird wearing them and more and more animals are being killed. if you love the jacket- wear it.

blubirde · Chanel

I'll probably wear at least the one I like to see how I feel about it but I don't know about the other two. One of the jackets was given to me by an aunt, another my mom bought at a vintage store b/c the coat is cashmere ($35 - what a score!), and the other I bought back before I had any issues with fur. In the past couple years my opinions have changed so therein lies my dilemma.

Maybe I'll try the one I like out this weekend and see how weird I feel...

Starstuff · Kenneth Cole

I wish I could take credit for making this point, but alas I'm just passing along something someone said on this board that I think made total sense...

If you wear fur, you are endorsing wearing fur, regardless of whether it is vintage or not. If you're comfortable with the idea that you wear fur, then wear it. But, consider that the average person on the street will probably not know if it is vintage or not, and as such might think "hmmm, she's got a great fur coat. I think I'll go to Bloomingdales, Macy's, wherever and find one like it". Wearing vintage will not necessarily make people consider looking for vintage fur.

I love the way fur looks -- so glamorous! But, I would never wear fur. I won't even wear faux fur. I won't use my body as an endorsement for wearing any type of fur.

poptart · Coach

Well, my feelings about this are a little different, and I can understand your conflict - I feel similarly. But, FWIW, here's my two cents.

First, let me preface by saying that I have no problem with wearing faux fur. If I did, I would feel differently.

But, my thought is: what's done is done. The coat has been made, it's been purchased, etc. Don't feel too badly about it.

In the case of the mink collared coat, most people will likely think it is faux, b/c these days, very few jackets come with real fur collars. I say wear it if you love it. You didn't intend to kill the creature, and at least by loving the jacket, you're loving a little part of him or her. I know this is probably weird POV, but I think it's b/c I totally anthropomorphize (sp?) animals - even their "parts." If you were to get rid of it, and sell it to someone else, I do think you'd be perpetuating the problem. But that is b/c I define the problem as the "demand" itself, rather than the volume of new manufacturing (and I can certainly understand the other arguments the girls have made). I think of it the way that I think of leather in cars. More and more cars are being made with leather b/c the idea of a leather interior came to symbolize luxury - so even if I buy a used car with leather over one without leather, I'm contributing to the idea that leather is desirable. Ya know?

As far as the two that you don't like and which, presumably, look a lot more "real" -

I think the Humane Society sponsors a donation program in which fur coats are made into "blankets" - sort've like surrogate mothers - for foster animals. That might be an option. If not, I think they would be a good resource to answer 'What do I do with this.'

Personally, if I couldn't donate to the Humane Society, I would probably hand them out to homeless people this winter.

halleybird · Hermes

personally, I wouldn't wear it. Even if I could get past what probably happened to the animal to turn it into a fur, I couldn't handle perpetuating that fur is fashion. I don't feel that it is letting the animal go to waste -- I believe that happened when it was killed. JMO, though; nobody here will judge you for wearing it.

Maddie · Coach

I think you have to decide for yourself on this one. Personally fur just creeps me out (which makes no sense because leather doesn't), so I wouldn't wear it. But I don't have any moral problems with vintage fur as you're not creating a demand for new production. I guess you could say that wearing it promotes fur as fashion, but I don't really see it like that. I mean would you ladies not wear plastic tortoise shell because it perpetuates turtles as fashion? Not have white keys on your piano because it perpetuates killing elephants?

luckylily · Gucci

My personal feeling is that fur is fur and by wearing it you are participating in the fur market. That said, I do appreciate the fact that by wearing vintage there isn't a fur company getting your $$ for the purchase.

My feeling is that you only have to live with yourself, so do whatever you are comfortable with.

Alegria · Kate Spade

A bit of a spin off but... to all you ladies that are anti-wearing fur, do you wear leather? Croc skin? And if so what is the difference? Why is that ok?

Maddie · Coach

The argument for leather is that it's a byproduct of the beef industry. So if you didn't make it into a shoe it would just go to waste. However, the leather is the most profitable part of the cattle business. Think how much a cow's worth of leather costs compared to a cow's worth of beef. So is beef really a byproduct of the leather industry? Arguably if leather consumption decreased, beef prices would then have to increase, causing beef consumption to also decrease and less cows killed. I still buy leather. I have weak morals.

NCshopper · Hermes

I've always wondered--do they really use the leather from the same cows that they used for beef? We live in such a wasteful society that it wouldn't surprise me at all if they didn't.

lynnie · Chanel

i wear leather. i see it kind of how maddie sees it too. also- i try to buy nice leathers and bags/shoes that i am *hopefully* gonna wear and love forever and maybe give to my kids. by doing so- i'm buying less quantity of clothing, which ends up wasting space or becoming trash on this planet anyway. i kinda get disgusted when i think about how much clothing is being made each season, for all the stores in the world aye yie yie. MUCH more than anyone actually needs each season. wheres it all gonna go one day??? we've GOTTA be producing more clothes these days then we did 30 years ago- think of all the targets, wal-marts, chain stores....

blubirde · Chanel

I think I've decided to donate two of the the furs to the Humane Society or to a homeless shelter. However I'm going to keep the one I really like.

When I first got the two coats, I loved them. I thought they were awesome. But, like I said earlier, my feelings about animals and fur have changed in the last couple years so I don't want to wear them anymore. Who knows? Maybe next year I'll feel more strongly than I do this year and I'll donate the last one too.

Thanks for everyone's opinions. They've definitely given me some things to think about.

Cortney1982 · Chanel

I have a rabbit fur purse and two scarves. I feel guillty for having them. So they don't have any use for rabbit meat (not even for making into animal food?)

And the cat killing video from last week will prevent me from buying fur ever again! There is this gift shop in the mall that opened for the holidays. Obviously goods from China. And I see small about 6-10" cat and dog figurines with fur. They looked like real miniature cats and dogs! I wonder if that was fur from cats and dogs like in the video.

halleybird · Hermes

shpgqueenet wrote:

A bit of a spin off but... to all you ladies that are anti-wearing fur, do you wear leather? Croc skin? And if so what is the difference? Why is that ok?

I don't wear animal skin other than leather. As Maddie said, I mostly do this because beef is at least partially a byproduct of the meat industry, and I do eat beef and poultry (though I wish I didn't. If I ever manage to become a vegetarian, I will stop wearing leather too).

Also, the cows are killed more humanely than animals used for fur (mostly. but I wouldn't say they're killed humanely overall). In addition, cows are not wild animals (like foxes) and the skin of one cow can make a number of leather products (while with fur, a number of animals are killed for one product).