Fake Fur in the Industry

The use of fur has always been an issue in the industry due to the mis-treatment of animals and deception of brands to consumers. Today Sky News reported a story in which real animal hair was being branded and sold as faux fur within high street retailers with four types of real animal hair being used - cat, racoon dog, rabbit and mink. Now it disheartens me to say that a brand I admire a lot is at the forefront of this scandal - Missguided. Now its no secret that Misguided is probably in my top 5 fashion stores, they are affordable and offer a massive range of on-trend styles. However, on-trend fashion items are great but not at the expense of disregarding the regulations and advisory laws in place on animal welfare legislation. Missguided claim to have a fur-free policy putting into question the authenticity and morals of the brand. The major item that was the culprit was these pink pom pom heels that were tested after a customer reported that they felt like real fur not fake.

Back in 2003 there were laws put in place in Britain to stop fur farms and try and reduce the amount of real fur used in/for fashion garments. However, its clearly not enough with the rise of importing goods and materials and the lack of care and attention to the issue. Misguided were getting way with it as it was being labeled as synthetic fibres instead of what it actually was. Personally I find this disgusting and extremely wrong - for a start you are deceiving your customers and selling a product when the customer has false information on the product. How is that meant to maintain a good image and brand loyalty especially when people find out? Secondly, you are putting animals in awful and tortuous conditions all of their fur when you have a perfectly valid option of fake fur. I am not the biggest animal person but I don't agree with putting animals into these horrible conditions all to get their fur to be worn around on someone's foot. Misguided have since commented on this saying an investigation will be launched into their suppliers and refunds will be given. Was that the truth or said to protect their image?

Sky News wrote about the issue as well so here is the link to their article and some more information about the issue:

http://news.sky.com/story/real-animal-fur-sold-as-fake-on-british-high-street-10832370