After working with the Humane Society of the United States and the FurFree Alliance, the German luxury house, Hugo Boss, has announced its decision to adopt a 100 per cent fur-free policy, which will come into effect with its 2016 Fall/Winter collection. Also, the luxury brand will be putting an end to angora and down feathers from force-fed, live-plucked geese. Currently, the brand only prefers wool suppliers that don’t practice ‘mulesing’, a controversial and arguably ineffective surgical operation that involves cutting away flaps of flesh from a sheep’s breech and tail to prevent infection from parasites, but the brand hopes to be 90 per cent mulesing-free by 2020.
“We have decided to adopt a different route and we are therefore giving our sustainable corporate strategy, in this case animal protection precedence over the ‘fast’ and ‘simple’ route to success. We are delighted to embrace innovative challenges in relation to the planning and design of a collection,” informs Bernd Keller, Brand and Creative Director at Hugo Boss. This decision of the brand has been lauded by animal welfare activist, including Humane Society. “Replacing cruelty with sustainable innovations is the future of the fashion industry. Already, quality fauxfur alternatives are almost indistinguishable from the real thing. And the world’s leading fashion brands from Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger to Stella McCartney and Ralph Lauren increasingly want nothing to do with fur,” states Wayne Pacelle, CEO and President, Humane Society.
