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Fur disappearing from Danish shops, but main distributor remains unconcerned
Lucie Rychla
October 1st, 2015
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This article is more than 9 years old.
An initiative by animal rights organisation Anima has attracted 200 clothing retailers, but the international catwalks can’t get enough of it
A growing number of Danish fashion stores and clothing companies are choosing not to sell fur products due to increased pressure from customers and animal welfare organisations, reports Metroxpress.
Some 207 fashion brands and stores – including ECCO, Vero Moda and H&M – have decided to join the fur-free initiative promoted by animal rights organisation Anima.
Kopenhagen Fur unruffled
At Kopenhagen Fur, the largest fur auction house in the world, the fur boycott is not causing any alarms.
“There is more fur on international catwalks than ever, so if animal organisations are pushing Danish stores not to sell fur, it does not present a commercial issue for us,” Sander Jacobsen, the head of public affairs at Kopenhagen Fur, told Metroxpress.
In the 2013-2014 financial year, Kopenhagen Fur had a turnover of 8.1 billion kroner.
The mink fur industry represents about one third of the total Danish exports to China and Hong Kong.
Controversial documentary
However, Jacobsen was concerned by a Norwegian documentary called ‘Pelsaktivisten’ (fur activist), in which an incognito psychologist explores the world of the fur industry.
The documentary was broadcast on Wednesday evening on DR2, and Jacobsen joined his Norwegian counterparts in criticising the motivation behind making it.
“Public institutions such as the Danish Film Institute and DR should not use public money to support a subjective production, whose sole intention is to eliminate an entire industry from the Earth’s surface,” he remarked.
The public deserves to know
According to DR, the public deserves to know the facts.
“It is an important documentary that reveals some of the conditions in the Norwegian fur industry, which deserve public attention,” Erling Groth, the head of DR Media, told Metroxpress.
“It focuses on what we as a society can accept when it comes to wearing fur. How far can you go?”
In Denmark, there are 1,665 fur farms that at any given time have approximately 15.9 million animals.
In 2014, Fødevarestyrelsen, the veterinary and food administration, carried out controls on 74 fur farms and found that one in five was in some way violating animal welfare.
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