pstrongQVC’s Star Faux-Fur Designer Dennis Basso Profits from Massive Animal Exploitation through His Multinational Fur Empire /strong/p
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img src=”http://images.nymag.com/images/2/daily/2010/02/20100216_basso3up_560x375.jpgbr /#10; ” alt=”fur” width=”280″ height=”187″ /br /div class=”caption”Dennis Basso fur show –photo credit: NY Magazine/div
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pInternational animal advocacy organization Friends of Animals is urging fashion designer Dennis Basso to leave the animals exploited for his fur designs in the skin they were born in, and to transition his multinational fur empire to one using entirely faux-fur garments Dennis Basso is currently the premier seller of faux-fur on home-shopping network QVC, where his affordable and elegant outerwear and accessory designs, and home goods are incredibly popular and some of the highest-selling and top-rated on the network-he’s even launched his own fragrance line on QVC, the glass bottle decorated with faux-leopard fur./p
blockquotep”In spite of his fabulous faux-fur reputation on QVC, Dennis Basso is also known as the “furrier to the stars,” and his Madison Avenue boutique is filled with the pricey skins of mink, foxes, coyotes, rabbits, wolves, chinchillas, lynx, sable, alligator, raccoons, goats, and other animals that are trapped, snared, shot, clubbed, gassed and electrocuted, all to produce frivolous garments and trim for which alternatives exist and which Basso already uses for his lucrative faux-fur designs, “says Edita Birnkrant, NY Director of Friends of Animals./p/blockquote
pFriends of Animals calls on its members and supporters worldwide to boycott Dennis Basso’s entire product line on QVC, until he drops the use of animal skins from his company./p
p”While we applaud his decision to sell only faux-fur products on the QVC shopping network, we also believe that Basso is in a unique position to transition to an entirely faux-fur line, in addition to ceasing the use of suede and leather in his designs,” says Valerie Kaye, Communication Director for Friends of Animals./p
pConscientious shoppers purchasing Dennis Basso’s faux-fur designs from QVC are unwittingly funneling money into Basso’s multinational fur empire. This conflict can easily be erased if Basso were to become a fur-free designer. QVC bears responsibility for the designers they profit from and promote on their network: Friends of Animals asks QVC President and CEO Michael George to urge Dennis Basso to make the switch to faux-fur in all his designs/p
pElena Bass, resident of Steelton, PA and a longtime QVC shopper informed us that she was looking to buy a faux-sable coat and in an internet search came across a QVC Dennis Basso coat she liked. But to Elena’s horror, she discovered that Basso is also a major designer of real fur by clicking on a link to an article about NYC’s Fashion Week that showed a photo of a real chinchilla coat designed by Basso. /p
pElena explains, “Before that, I had no idea that Mr. Basso used real fur. When I told my friends, they were shocked; they didn’t know either.” In fact, Elena says she used to buy Dennis Basso pants on QVC and loved the way they fit, but now says, “My QVC card is empty since I found out about this. I won’t buy anything from QVC until Mr. Basso changes. And I had no idea QVC would even consider selling products by someone who uses real fur in his designs. I thought that fight was over.”/p
pElena adds, “I can’t believe that QVC would be so archaic in their thinking. Most reasonable people understand that there is no need to wear real fur anymore.”/p
pWhether trapped in the wild or bred in captivity and skinned, real fur has no place in an enlightened society, and the tremendous popularity of Dennis Basso’s faux-fur designs on QVC shows that the public believes the same.br /
Rack after rack of Basso’s fur skin designs once belonged to animals that were born in that skin. It belongs to them, and so does their freedom. Other animals, like us, deserve to live free of exploitation and harm, and we urge Dennis Basso to join the modern era and become the premiere purveyor of extraordinary faux-fur garments to the stars./p
pPlease contact QVC CEO Michael George and designer Dennis Basso, and tell them you pledge to boycott their products until Dennis Basso ditches real fur./p
pQVC Incorporated, Office of the Presidentbr /
1200 Wilson Drivebr /
West Chester PA 19380br /
Phone: 1-484-701-1000br /
E-mail: a href=”mailto:bj.mitchelle@qvc.com”bj.mitchelle@qvc.com/a/p
pDennis Basso Couture Inc.br /
765 Madison Avenuebr /
New York, NY 10065br /
Phone: 212- 794-4400br /
Fax: 212-288-2947br /
E-mail: a href=”http://info@dennisbasso.com”info@dennisbasso.com/a/p