Monday, October 29, 2018

To Fur or not To Fur


To Fur or not To Fur
What exactly is the question we should be asking?
            “Fur!” What feelings and emotions come to mind when you think of this word? Do you imagine yourself wearing the latest luxury piece that just came off the runway from Chloe, does it fill you with excitement and elation to picture yourself walking down the street wearing such a piece? Or does the word fill you with dread and disgust to envision yourself wearing something that was once on the backs of an innocent animal.
              Fur has played a dominant role in the fashion industry, it is a fabric that helps designers express original and ground-breaking designs, and it is seen as a major essential down the runway for many designers. However, history also shows how fur has been shunned and rejected by many people, those in the fashion industry and even those who are not are opening their eyes and seeing the price they are paying for a new coat, or a designer handbag, and I can assure you it is not the price tag that takes a heavy toll.
            In the past, fur was traditionally seen as a source of warmness and security for many people. For centuries, animals were killed for their meat as a means of survival, they would then use the pelts as a realistic and robust material to protect them from the harsh environment, nothing else provided them with such a degree of warmth that it was seen as invaluable. But, then the 20th century rolled around and people started using the same fabrics that were once used as their only source of survival, are now using the same fur as a luxury item in the fashion industry. It turned into a fabric that envisions wealth, it had a heavy price tag but was also very desirable, and because of this the fur industry started to grow until it had its own major empire to command.
             Animal rights and anti-fur activists remain unbending, which is a cruel and unethical practice that violently slaughters millions of animals per year, and such an act should be banned and considered illegal to commit such a treasury. I have a friend who works for PETA (People for the ethical treatment of animals), I asked her opinion on this issue and she told me she understands why some people may choose to wear fur for its warmth and protection if you live in cold climates, but in this day and age, it is not necessary to invest in something that requires an innocent life to be killed, there are so many faux furs out there that offer the same degree of warmth as a real fur coat. I dove into the vast web and found a lot of information pertaining around the topic of “fur” and “fashion.”
Electrocution
             It doesn’t make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside when you discover that it is a normal practice for slaughter houses to use electrocution as a method of massacring animals, this painful and agonizing process became popular due to its limit of damage to the fur.
Fur Factory Farms
            85 per cent of the fur industries skins come from fur factory farms, disgusting and filthy places where thousands of animals are usually kept in tiny, wired cages for the duration of their entire lives. To cut costs, animals are shunned into unbearably tight and rigid quarters.
It’s raining cats and dogs
            China is widely known as a thriving cat and dog industry, these animals that are seen as everyday pets to us, are seen as just fur to others. These poor creatures are bludgeoned, beaten, hung and even skinned alive for their fur. Individuals may not be aware that it is a common practice to mislabel fur and mislead consumers into believing that what they are buying is not what they are in fact receiving.
Harming the environment
            After the animal has been killed, the skin is treated with toxic chemicals meant to keep the fur from rotting in the buyer’s wardrobe. This hazardous process is such an issue that the fur industry is now ranked as one of the world’s worst industries for toxic-metal pollution.
           
            However, when there is an issue like this there is always another side to the problem. Some people have taken to saying that using fur is a better option then investing in “Faux Fur,” people argue that animals are an important part of a lot of societies' lives, they are linked to essential products such as medication, food, and clothing, you can even find animal products in some of your beauty products. Animals are used for medical testing to find cures for life threatening illnesses, they are also used for testing for the beauty products you wear every day. A large percentage of the population still eats meat, so exactly how is this different from people investing in furs and leather? I found some reasons why people may decide to choose fur over faux.
Sustainable
            Synthetic furs are not bio-degradable, they are made from petroleum by-products, which is not renewable. But animals are renewable and sustainable.
Long-lasting
            Faux furs may spend decades sitting in a land fill, but will not be sitting in your closet for anywhere near that amount of time. Real furs on the other hand are known to last decades, and have been passed down through generations, that just shows how long a real fur coat can survive before it finds its way to the trash.
Environmentally friendly
Real fur does require chemicals for processing, but so does synthetic furs. At least with real furs you can be sure that it is a staple in your closet for decades, it is a better option in the long run where the environment is concerned.
Source of warmth
Fur has been a source of protection from the elements for hundreds of years, people have turned to it because of its ability to protect against the frigid cold, it is even known to be waterproof. People argued that nowadays, there are alternatives that do not involve slaughtering animals, but can synthetic fur truly keep you as warm and dry as real fur?

    Take a moment and go back to the beginning of this article, how does the word “fur” make you feel now?














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