Stella McCartney uses Kering Talk to call for a stop to leather and fur in fashion

By

Kate Dingwall

Published
Nov 16, 2016

Stella McCartney was the guest of honor at the 2016 Kering Sustainability Talk earlier this week on Monday. The talk is hosted in partnership with the London College of Fashion. As part of a panel discussion, McCartney spoke out against brands using leather and fur, including Kering, the host of the lecture.
 

McCartney urged attendees “Be mindful of your consumption. I think the one thing we’ve forgotten is that we make the choices. I think it’s really important to know what you’re consuming, to ask questions, to reduce your meat intake, to look at how you’re living your life and how that has an impact on the environment. Ask questions, ask big corporations why they are using materials like PVC, and why did that watch cost three pounds, what the hell happened from A to Z there?”
  
McCartney has been vocal about her position on animal rights. Her eponymous label does not use any fur or leather and uses low-impact dying methods on cottons. McCartney herself also stated that although she been recently approached, she would not act as the creative director of a brand or house that used leather and fur in their collections.

McCartney was one of the first designers to ban both fur and leather from her collections. McCartney was one of the leaders of the movement -- she first stopped using animal products fifteen years ago. Other designers have followed suit. In March of this year, Armani announced it would no longer use fur in collections. Calvin Klein stopped the use of fur in 1994, Ralph Lauren in 2006, and Vivienne Westwood and Tommy Hilfiger in 2007.