Despite a fur farming ban, and 74% of the public opposed to the use of real fur, the UK imported over £20 million worth of fur skins and clothing in 2017, of which £6.4 million was from China alone where welfare standards are particularly poor. Their fur exported around the world to be used for fur trims on coats, gloves, handbags and toys, animals bred for fur in China may be skinned alive, then either suffocated, hanged, bludgeoned or left to bleed to death.We must stop taking part in these atrocities.

The trade is likely to be even larger as a number of recent investigations have revealed fake fur items sold on the high street, online and at markets in the UK to be real fur even where “fur free” policies are in place.

Given the public opposition, the current UK law banning fur farming does not go far enough; the UK continues to import real fur items produced in a way that would be illegal to do in this country on animal welfare grounds.

Although the EU textile labelling regulation requires garments containing fur to carry the wording “contains non textile parts of animal origin” recent investigations have shown products containing real fur are often not compliant with these regulations, with correct labelling instances incredibly low at 7%. It is clear that current labelling guidelines are not working in the UK, with consumers unable to make an informed choice.

The current legislation is not being enforced in the UK; even companies with a fur-free policy have been unaware of real fur on sale in their stores, the products either mislabelled as containing fake fur or not labelled at all.

o protect consumers, items containing fur, of any amount, must be labelled. If enforceable, which is presently woefully lacking, improved labelling may be beneficial for trade as consumers will be able to trust retailers and have greater confidence in their purchases.

This is, however, unlikely to bring an end to real fur being sold as fake. 

The UK was the first country to ban fur farming on the grounds of public morality in 2000 and since then 16 European and numerous other countries have followed suit. The UK now has the opportunity to be the first country in the world to implement an import and sales ban of fur, bringing an end to this cruel industry in the UK. Only in doing so, can the UK legislation reflect the pledge by Prime Minister Theresa May to “enhance our animal welfare standards when we leave the EU”.