Although historic legislation to ban the sale of fur in NYC—which Friends of Animals helped draft and get introduced—has yet to cross the finish line, there is much to be thankful for in terms of the demise of the fur industry.

While it can be a Herculean task to motivate legislatures, public backlash matters, and these days consumers want no part of the violence toward animals and the harm to the environment that is at the core of the fur industry thanks to our decades-long public awareness campaigns.

Since consumers keep designers and retailers in business, the biggest names in fashion have fallen like dominoes, one after the other, banning fur from their designs and shelves. Who can forget Donatella Versace’s quote heard round the world in 2018? “Fur? I am out of that. I don’t want to kill animals to make fashion. It doesn’t feel right,” the Italian designer said in an interview for The Economist’s 1843 magazine. Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga are the most recent to join the growing list of retailers and brands flipping off fur.

Even Canada Goose, whose parkas trimmed with coyote skins have become ubiquitous, announced in 2021 it will stop buying fur by the end of the year and cease manufacturing all fur products by the end of 2022. Macy’s became the biggest U.S. retailer to phase out the sale of animal fur in 2021.

Israel made history this summer by becoming first country to ban the fur trade and in 2019, California became the first U.S. state to enact a law banning the sale of fur products, which takes effect in 2023.

Stay tuned for our continued efforts to push NYC to flip off fur. In the meantime, you can support our anti-fur efforts by wearing our Flip off Fur t-shirt, our anti-fur buttons, sharing our brochure and making a donation using the button below.