Animal rights activists staged multiple protests in central London last week against the fur and exotic skin trade.
Nine protestors from Fur Free London rallied down Bond Street on Thursday and Saturday, targeting shops including Louis Vitton, Yves Salomon and Max Mara.
The group which places “total end to the use of animals in the fashion industry” at the top of their agenda regularly targets high-end retailers.
Activists regularly use megaphones to label the use of animals in fashion as animal cruelty, unethical, and senseless.
However, the story of whether selling such produce is ethical or not looks entirely different from the point of view of the targeted retailers.
Zainab of Louis Vuitton said: “All the animals which are later used to manufacture our products are born and kept in good conditions until they are killed.
“The protesters loudly oppose exotic skin trade but ignore rights of farm animals at the same time. What is the difference between a crocodile and a cow?”
Dave, the co-founder of Fur Free London claimed luxury retailers like to advertise their products as sustainable and made humanely but argued that so-called good treatment of animals is nothing more than keeping them in conditions that are just good enough to stay alive.
Another retailer, Amne from Yves Salomon voiced her frustration at the protesters.
She said: “They use megaphones to shout at customers, passers-by and even babies.
“One customer told me it made her want to buy a fur even more.”
Dave admitted some animal rights groups do turn to some sort of intimidation but he didn’t attribute any of this behaviour with Fur Free London and their Facebook page contains clear guidelines on what not to do during protests.
While the battle and mutual accusations go on at the end of the day it will be a new generation of customers that will shape the future fashion industry and choose between animal or cruelty free products.
The change already is taking place according to Dave.
He listed stores who have either committed to dropping selling fur such as Harvey Nichols or that have stopped displaying some of their products in their windows, such as N.Peal, Arctic Army and Celine.
