Burberry to stop using real fur in its clothes

LUXURY FASHION house Burberry has confirmed it will no longer use real fur in its clothing products.

The company said there will be no real fur in its latest fashion collection, to be presented later this month, and that it will phase out existing fur products.

The use of real fur by Burberry has been restricted for many years to rabbit, fox, mink and Asiatic racoon. These and angora will be banned from future Burberry collections.

Chief Executive Marco Gobbetti said: “Modern luxury means being socially and environmentally responsible. This belief is core to us at Burberry and key to our longterm success. We are committed to applying the same creativity to all parts of Burberry as we do to our products.”

Wendy Higgins, of Humane Society International UK, said: “HSI first met with Burberry almost a decade ago to urge the brand to drop fur, so we are delighted that this iconic British fashion giant is finally going furfree. Most British consumers don’t want anything to do with the cruelty of fur, and so this is absolutely the right decision by this quintessentially British brand.”

The company, which has factories in Castleford and Keighley and offices in Leeds, also said it will stop destroying “unsaleable products”.

Burberry burnt products totalling £28.6m in value over the past year, according to its annual report. Burberry said it only destroyed items that carried its trademark and only worked with specialist companies which were able to harness energy from the process.

The destruction of cosmetic items was a one-off related to the licence agreed with beauty company Coty last year, Burberry said.