Almost months after months, if not weeks after weeks, telling signs show that a wind of change is blowing on the fashion universe… and in the right direction.

How many top luxury maisons have recently adopted a no-fur Policy ? From Armani to Gucci, Michael Kors, John Galliano, Donatella Versace, Diane Von Furtsenberg, Furla, Givenchy or Burberry it’s not easy to cope with the pace.

In addition to that, major players like on-line retailer Yoox Net-a-porter have banned real furs from their e-platform while cities like Los Angeles have just prohibited the sales of real furs.

Most importantly, this change would not be possible without the incredible quality of today’s faux furs.

Several factors explain this major shift. For these prestigious brands, image is extremely important. They understand that millenials will choose to support brands that match their values. Hence they don’t want their name, image and aura to be linked to controversial practices like intensive farming. It no longer fits the story they want to tell to their customers.

Most importantly, this change would not be possible without the incredible quality of today’s faux furs. The fiber has been positively improved so it can be sold as a luxury product. The latest advances in technologies surely encourage the brands to choose faux fur. They like its softness, durability and versatility.

A brighter future is at hand for the faux fur sector

The lesson to be learned is that all lights are green. According to the Business Of Fashion :

" The faux fur market has grown 2% from 2012 to 2016 and is now Worth $ 114,6 million in the US only. "

In the same time Christopher Sarfati, CEO of ECOPEL, declared in Le Journal du Textile a double digit earnings growth comparated to the previous year. It is probably time for ECOPEL to show the way forward not only in term of innovation and creativity but also from an ecological perspective.

While it is documented that a mink fur coat will always have a higher impact on climate change than faux fur, we can not just content ourselves about this. We need to bring answers to the growing environmental issues we are all facing today. The great article Waste collection : a new frontier for the fashion industry  posted on Forbes’s website provides us with precious insights.

" For the european brand C&A, polyester accounts for 21% of the material it uses in its clothing, so the company aims to replace Virgin polyester made from oil with polyester from certified recycled sources reads the article. "

ECOPEL just launched its first range of faux fur from PET, a fabric made from recycled bottles.

This initiative has been warmly welcomed by all brands rep’ who visited us during the last Première Vision’s show held in Paris in september. Even though this new type of faux fur is still at an early stage of development, we believe that our magic equation « less factory farming – more recycling » can encourage the fashion world in its globality to move towards more responsible practices.