Prada Is Going Fur-Free Later This Year

Prada is officially going fur-free! The luxury fashion house has responded to animal welfare groups by taking action, and beginning with the company's Spring/Summer 2020 (SS2020) women's collections, Prada will no longer use any fur. Most designers debut their Spring/Summer collections during the previous fall, meaning Prada will be fur-free in just a few months, come fall 2019.

According to the Prada Group's press website, Prada will follow Fur Free Retailer's definition of fur, which is defined as "the pelt of any animal — including, but not limited to, mink, fox, rabbit, karakul lamb, and raccoon dog — killed mainly for its fur."  By the time the SS2020 collections debut, Prada will no longer use fur in any of its garments — and neither will Prada's subsidiaries Miu Miu, Church's, or Car Shoe, according to the BBC.

Prada will continue selling garments made with fur that have already been produced beyond this fall, until inventories are depleted. Prada will also continue using other fabrics that require animal slaughter, including leather and sheepskin.

Prada made the decision to eliminate fur from its collections in collaboration with the Fur Free Alliance (FFA), a coalition of more than 50 animal rights organizations from around the globe, namely the Humane Society of the United States and Italian organization LAV.

“The Prada Group is committed to innovation and social responsibility, and our fur-free policy — reached following a positive dialogue with the Fur Free Alliance, in particular with LAV and the Humane Society of the United States — is an extension of that engagement,” said Miuccia Prada, head designer of Prada, in a statement. “Focusing on innovative materials will allow the company to explore new boundaries of creative design while meeting the demand for ethical products.” 

In September 2018, the Fur Free Alliance launched a global campaign to encourage Prada to go fur-free. As part of the campaign, thousands of people emailed Prada, demanding that the house stop using fur. In response, Prada said that fur products made up less than 0.1 percent of Prada's inventory, and that the brand was headed toward a "gradual and concrete reduction in the marketing" of fur products, WWD reported at the time.

That claim was still not enough for people concerned with the welfare of animals. Shortly after, actress and animal advocate Pamela Anderson sent a letter to Miuccia Prada on PETA's behalf, asking her to commit to eliminating fur from future products. It's pretty amazing that less than a year after that campaign launched, Prada has taken the leap and will be omitting fur from all collections.

In addition to being cruel to animals, fur production has endless negative environmental side effects. According to Fur Free Retailer, the material is often marketed as "natural," but it's actually filled with chemicals, including the potential carcinogen formaldehyde. Plus, fur farms have negative impacts on their local communities, due to the pollution that fur-farming causes. Fur Free Retailer also notes that fur's environmental impact is 28 times higher than polyester, even though polyester is made from plastic. And when the European Fur Breeders' Association published an ad claiming that wearing fur was eco-friendly, the U.K. organization Advertising Standards Authority decided to ban the ad for being misleading, according to The Guardian.

Not to mention, Prada is far from the first major fashion house to stop manufacturing clothing with fur. Other luxury designers part of the Fur Free Retailer group include Versace, Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Gucci, and Armani. With so many fabulous trendsetting designers moving away from fur, it's clear that the future of fashion is cruelty-free.