Recycling Fur
Is it ever OK to wear fur - even if it's vintage?
I have never been a fan of real fur. Then, as I got older, the extremely cold winters started really getting to me, and it seemed no coat could keep me warm enough.
And one chilly day, I was talking to my friend Julie, a die-hard vegetarian and lover of animals, when she pulled out a fur coat. "Is that real fur?" I asked her, in shock. "Yes, it's vintage. It was my grandmother's," she said. "But still, it's fur," I insisted.
To that, Julie explained that she was not buying a new fur coat, but rather recycling something that had been around for years (who knows maybe it would have ended up in some landfill).
That was definitely a light bulb moment for me.
At that point, I started considering vintage fur in a different way. I did some research online, and I see there are other people out there who, like Julie, would never fathom buying a brand new fur, but would gladly wear their grandmother's fur or another vintage fur.
And I have to say, there is something to be said with how warm they are.
Tell me, what do you think about wearing vintage furs?
I am not a Peta advocate. Some of the things they stand for are just, other things are simply cruel and arrestable.
Regarding recycled furs. remember that those animals gave their lives to keep the wearer warm. By wearing it, you honor them. I wore my mother's Russian Pony coat and my mother in law's Seal Skin coat for years. Stranded in Truckee in a snow storm in a broken down car overnight, those two coats protected the lives of my daughters. I still have some 1930's fox collars of my mother's that I will eventually design a coat with for my granddaughter who wants it. If the fur is in good shape, I feel the animal deserves to be immortalized by wearing the fur. It is more injustice to discard it.
Something done (killing for the pelt) cannot be undone. They should be used and honored for what they have been made into. If you do not wear it, then it should be donated to a shelter, some homeless person would be glad for the warmth.
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