New York Fashion Week joins a growing list of fashion entities banning fur

Last week, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, which organizes New York Fashion Week, announced that it will ban fur from its runways as of September, 2026. The CFDA also said it would cease to promote the material in its any of its marketing as of February.

It’s the second of the “big four” fashion weeks to make the move. In 2023 the British Fashion Council decided to ban fur from London Fashion Week (it further banned exotic skins in 2024). Paris and Milan have yet to implement a similar policy.

“There is already little to no fur shown at NYFW, but by taking this position, the CFDA hopes to inspire American designers to think more deeply about the fashion industry’s impact on animals,” said Steven Kolb, chief executive officer and president of the council.

The CFDA is the latest in a long list of entities that have been distancing themselves from fur in the past decade, including the State of California, all international Elle magazine editions and Kering, the French conglomerate that owns Gucci, Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and other top luxury brands.

“For people inside the industry, it may feel like old news, but for consumers, it’s an important cultural marker because it signals that what was once controversial is now mainstream,” said Marissa Freed, founder of the Canadian faux-fur brand Freed. To her, eliminating fur is part of a more modern and “compassionate” approach to luxury.

Faux fur has become the default alternative, but it has come under scrutiny for its shedding of microplastics and often unethical production process. For Freed, however, it’s still better than wearing real fur.

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“There is no such thing as a perfect material choice,” she said. To address faux fur’s environmental impact, her brand runs a zero-waste production line at a fourth-generation facility in Winnipeg. Freed also uses offcuts in accessories, trims and bags instead of sending them to the landfill, and continually researches alternatives, including bio-based materials designed to reduce dependence on virgin synthetics and microplastics.

While most of the fur produced for NYFW will likely be faux, the CFDA listed a caveat in its announcement, stating that it would make an exception for fur “obtained by Indigenous communities through traditional subsistence hunting practices.” It’s a bid toward inclusion of communities that consider hunting and trapping animals and producing pelts a cornerstone of their culture. (Using vintage fur, considered by many to be an ethical alternative to producing new pelts, has been curiously left out of the new policy.)

Janelle Wawia, an Indigenous furrier, designer and artist from the Red Rock Indian Band in Northwestern Ontario, said she appreciates the change but is weary of its terms, which she feels have been left vague. For her, trapping – a family tradition – is about educating others on humane approaches to harvesting fur, as well as on her culture and lifestyle, which she said many don’t understand.

“The animal is a gift,” Wawia said. “I’ve been taught to use all the parts it’s giving to you.” For example, beaver tails are given to elders and teeth are made into jewellery.

Faux fur still has a long way to go but, according to Freed, the movement has pushed the industry in a healthier, more progressive direction.