The battle to ban the sale of fur in the United Kingdom continues. Leading the charge this time is a group of British designers, headed by Stella McCartney and Vivienne Westwood, who have launched the #FurFreeBritain campaign and written a letter addressed directly to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The aim is to persuade the government to make the United Kingdom the first country in the world to ban the sale of fur.

Initiatives against animal fur

This is not the first initiative England has taken in defence of animals: back in 2000 it was decided to close all fur farms. Since 2018, furthermore, the British Fashion Council has committed to making London Fashion Week entirely fur-free. This new campaign, backed by Humane Society International, therefore adds another piece to the path the United Kingdom has embarked upon, promoting a conscious and lasting change in the fashion sector.

And if Boris Johnson were to respond to the British designers' appeal in short order, the country would become the first in the world to ban the sale of animal fur. A record it is contesting with California: in October 2019 the American state passed a law banning the production and sale of fur throughout the state, with effect from 2023.

"It is a widely held view that fashion is evolving to render animal fur obsolete – reads the letter sent to Downing Street – as more and more designers and retailers remove it from their collections, while the majority of British consumers reject it on ethical grounds."

Stella McCartney's words

A long-standing, committed opponent of a trade she calls "barbaric, cruel and immoral", to use the words in the letter, is Stella McCartney, who considers the use of fur "unnecessary and unforgivable". "I don't believe animals should die for the sake of fashion," the designer states. "Fur has no place in any compassionate society and today its use is unnecessary and unforgivable. Clearly, fur is immoral, cruel and barbaric. I hugely admire Humane Society International's #FurFreeBritain campaign and I support its goal of banning the sale of fur in the United Kingdom." All that remains is to hope that common sense prevails.