BREAKING: Canada Goose to go fur-free by 2022
Canada Goose has declared it is to go fur-free by next year in what to many people is a surprise announcement and victory for animal activists. “Our future is fur free,” said the brand whose past is synonymous with the abhorrent use of coyote skin trims on its trendy parka jackets.
“As a brand driven by our purpose, we are committing to a future without fur. In 2021, we will end the purchase of all fur and cease manufacturing with fur in 2022,” said Canada Goose on social media earlier today.
The news has been greeted positively with many social media commentators congratulating the brand on finally setting out a plan to move away from fur for good.
FUR FREE. As a brand driven by our purpose, we are committing to a future without fur. In 2021, we will end the purchase of all fur and cease manufacturing with fur in 2022. pic.twitter.com/K0WzJOVIow
— Canada Goose (@canadagoose) June 24, 2021
Among those to welcome the announcement are the many activists and campaigners who have worked for years to draw attention to the role Canada Goose has played in fuelling the resurgence of the use of fur in fashion, including PETA and grassroots groups across the world.
“PETA and its affiliates are suspending their international campaigns against Canada Goose today, after years of eye-catching protests, hard-hitting exposés, celebrity actions, and legal battles, as the company has finally conceded and will stop using fur – sparing sensitive, intelligent, coyotes from being caught and killed in barbaric steel traps,” said PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA will now re-engage the company to push for an end to its use of feathers, which geese and ducks continue to suffer for.”
Canada Goose and its flagship stores have long been the target of often highly-charged protests featuring grizzly images of the animals who have fallen victim to the fur industry at the hands of trappers. In 2017, when Canada Goose launched its flagship store on London’s Regent Street, Surge helped to organise the first protest outside its doors, which went on to become regular Saturday afternoon mainstays of the London animal rights calendar.
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In the past, the company has maintained that fur was key to creating clothing suited to the arctic climate, hiding behind a “function first” ethos that implied it was a practical choice rather than admitting that they were pandering to trends.
Whether Canada Goose has woken up to the horrors of fur trapping or has just picked up on changing attitudes to fur, or whether the desire for its signature fur trims no longer outweighs the negative attention and activist pressure, whatever the motivation it is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. But as many campaigners point out, the company still has a way to go while it continues to use down (feathers) obtained from terrified ducks and geese crammed into cages before being shackled by their legs and killed, according to this PETA video.
In 2020, Canada Goose announced it would stop buying new fur from trappers by 2022 and instead use reclaimed fur bought back from owners of its parka jackets. The scheme was labelled an “unnecessarily long-goodbye for this company’s outdated relationship with fur” by PJ Smith, director of fashion policy at the Humane Society of the United States.
“We urge Canada Goose to make a cleaner and clearer commitment to sustainability by switching to bio-fake-furs, and closed-loop recycling of faux fur materials,” said Smith at the time. “We hope in the near future to see Canada Goose following the vast majority of top designers in cutting all ties with cruel and outdated fur.”
It would seem that future is now, but only partially as it can never be fully realised until Canada Goose also ditches feathers. Animal-derived materials are cruel and unsustainable in their use - if Canada Goose really does have a “commitment and leadership position in the industry” as it claims then it is uniquely positioned to make ethical clothing more fashionable than fur ever was.
Andrew Gough is Media and Investigations Manager for Surge.
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