Luxury parka brand Canada Goose is ditching virgin fur.
The brand included the new policy in its sustainability impact strategy report. The report, published Wednesday, highlights the company’s pledge to use only “reclaimed” fur by the year 2022.
Canada Goose plans to buy back fur from its customers’ coats for recycling rather than continue to support coyote trapping in Europe and North America. The brand has received pressure from animal rights campaigners over its use of fur, down, and treatment of animals.
Dani Reiss, the chief executive of Canada Goose, said that sustainability alone motivated the switch from virgin to reclaimed fur.
Reiss told the Financial Times: “We’re absolutely not switching for any other reason than we believe switching from new fur to reclaimed fur makes something sustainable more sustainable.”
Founded in 1957, Canada Goose is now synonymous with its fur-lined and down-insulated parkas. The brand is consistently unapologetic in its endorsement of fur and will not give up fur—or virgin animal products—entirely. Reiss told the Financial Times that the company has no plans to insulate its jackets with recycled down.
The company’s new sustainability report follows a US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation. The investigation aimed to ascertain if Canada Goose “made false or misleading representations about the treatment of geese whose down is used in Canada Goose’s apparel.”
However, the FTC dropped the investigation in June last year, partly due to “prompt corrective action from the company.”
Fashion Brands Ditch Fur
A number of major fashion brands have moved away from fur completely. Earlier this year, Global Brands Group—an apparel management company that owns Aquatalia and licenses brands including Calvin Klein and AllSaints—banned fur entirely.
Global Brands Group joined a growing list of major clothing brands distancing themselves from fur. Gucci, Burberry, Karl Lagerfeld, Prada, and Chanel have all banned fur. In 2018, Gucci president and CEO Marco Bizzarri explained why the company is moving away from fur. “Do you think using furs today is still modern?” he asked Business of Fashion.
Canada Goose also announced it aims to be fully certified in the Responsible Down Standard by 2021. This commitment prohibits down from farms that force-feed or pluck live birds. Critics suggest that the standard does not do enough to protect animals.
