One more luxury fashion brand has joined the mass exodus from fur. St. John, a brand popular among fashion-conscious shoppers, from models and actresses to first ladies, announced today that it will go completely fur-free with its pre-Fall 2019 collection. The company has also prohibited the use of exotic leathers from animals like crocodiles, pythons and lizards from all of its collections.
St. John has had a long-standing relationship with the Humane Society of the United States, and we have been meeting with them since 2011. Tom Jarrold, senior vice president of marketing and communications for St. John’s, said that luxury today is synonymous with innovation and social responsibility.
“We have the means to create beautiful garments for women without using animals for fashion. We’re focusing on the creation of sophisticated knitwear, distinctive textiles and unique prints with consciousness in mind,” he added.
Fur-free luxury brands and retailers Gucci, Versace, Coach, Armani, Burberry, Michael Kors, Jimmy Choo, Diane Von Furstenberg, Donna Karan, Farfetch and Net-a-Porter have already joined the fur-free cause. Last month, French fashion house Chanel announced that it was dropping fur and exotic skins from its collections.
The news from St. John, headquartered in California, is especially welcome because there is now an HSUS-sponsored bill in that state that would ban fur sales and manufacturing. The Fur Products Prohibition Act, AB-44, was introduced last month by California Assemblymember Laura Friedman and is the result of a growing momentum toward fur-free fashion in that state, in part evidenced by citywide fur sales bans in West Hollywood, Berkeley, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Fur is an unnecessary product that results in more than 100 million wild animals every year being crammed into small barren cages on fur factory farms, to be killed by crude gassing or electrocution. The HSUS has long advanced the view that there is no place for such cruelty in fashion, and we are excited that in just the last few years so many major fashion brands have reached the same conclusion.
Please join me today in congratulating St. John and Chanel, responsible firms that are making this fur-free revolution -- and the move away from exotic skins -- happen.