Fur Is Falling Apart
But It’s Not Falling Fast Enough
China, the world’s biggest fur factory, is watching its industry collapse. And yet, shops in the UK are still flogging the skins of animals electrocuted and gassed in cages halfway across the world.
Let’s talk about that.
In the 1980s and 90s, fur in China exploded - figuratively. Literally, it just sat on bodies, stitched to coats and collars, while the animals who once wore it were killed off in factory farms. The industry built itself into a global powerhouse: 31% of the world’s mink, 91% of its foxes, and nearly all its raccoon dogs come from Chinese fur farms.
From 2021 to 2023, production in China plummeted. A further 54% drop came last year. Fox fur took the biggest hit - down 64%. Raccoon dog fur was close behind. Even mink, the fur industry’s mascot, dropped by a third. Thousands of businesses went under. The fur bubble burst. Again.
So what happened?
For one, the world got louder. More countries are banning fur farms outright. From Norway to New Zealand, regions are saying no to an industry that cages wild animals for life and kills them for luxury.
Then there’s oversupply. Everyone wanted in on the fur trade until no one wanted to buy. Add to that poor quality, bad stitching, mystery smells, and mislabelled products, and the once-lucrative market turned toxic. Consumer trust collapsed. Turns out nobody wants to smell like formaldehyde or wonder which species they’re wearing.
And still, somehow, the UK is importing it.
Britain banned fur farming in 2003. Not because of pressure, but because it was too cruel. Yet the fur itself? Still welcome. Still sold. Still stitched into trims, pom-poms, parkas. Same cruelty, just outsourced. Same cages. Same gas chambers. Same electrocution kits. But now, with British pounds funding it.
This isn’t a loophole. It’s a betrayal.
If you reject fur farming, you don’t keep buying the result. That’s like banning bear baiting but importing bear rugs. Hypocrisy wrapped in a fur coat.
Meanwhile, ACTAsia has been documenting the decline. They’ve shown how animals used in the Chinese fur trade are classified as livestock - a neat legal trick that strips them of any real protection. Certifications exist, but they’re a joke. Written by the industry. Scored by the industry. Funded by the industry. The animals? Still caged. Still killed.
The health risks aren’t subtle either. The pandemic made it clear: fur farms are breeding grounds for disease. Minks have already passed infections back to humans in countries like Denmark and the Netherlands. When you cram wild animals into tiny spaces and ignore biosecurity, you get viral time bombs. We’ve seen it happen. We’re choosing to ignore it.
Then there’s the environmental toll. Fur isn’t “natural.” It’s chemically treated with formaldehyde, chromium, and other nasties just to stop it rotting off the catwalk. The water use? Higher than most fabrics. The carbon footprint? A climate joke. All to prop up an industry that is killing itself already.
So why delay the inevitable?
Even inside China, things are shifting. ACTAsia’s Compassion in Fashion course has seen rising enrolment - 71% of students in 2023 were Chinese. These are young designers being shown, maybe for the first time, what fur actually costs. Not just financially, but morally, ecologically, biologically. And they’re opting out.
Yet while China’s fur factories close, and students abandon the trade, the UK keeps buying the results.
It’s not enough to pat ourselves on the back for banning local farms. If we don’t ban imports too, we’re just paying others to do what we deemed unacceptable.
The UK Government has the power to end this. A petition is demanding a ban on fur imports. It’s not radical. It’s not complicated. It’s aligning policy with ethics. Public sentiment is already there. The industry is already dying. All that’s left is the final cut.
Because fur isn't fashion. It's failure. A failure of compassion. A failure of logic. A failure to evolve.
And we can do better.