French luxury group Kering has announced that all of its brands will discontinue the use of animal fur beginning with the fall 2022 collections, which will be unveiled early next year.
The majority of Kering's fashion companies have discontinued the use of fur, starting with Gucci in 2017. Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, and Alexander McQueen have also ceased using fur in recent years without making official statements.
"The time has now come to take a further step forward by ending the use of fur in all our collections," François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO of Kering, said.
"The world has changed, along with our clients, and luxury naturally needs to adapt to that."
It is understood Saint Laurent and Brioni are the only remaining brands to have occasionally used animal fur. However, policy will apply to any fashion or accessory brand Kering might also acquire in the future.
Luxury fashion, like every other sector, is being pushed to do more to support biodiversity.
Fur is being phased out by an increasing number of designers and outerwear manufacturers, including Valentino, Oscar de la Renta, Canada Goose, and Moose Knuckles.
Kering issued thorough animal welfare rules in 2019, laying out standards for cattle, calves, goats, sheep, ostriches, crocodiles and alligators, pythons, farmed fur, and abattoirs - open-sourced, in line with other company sustainability efforts.
Kering has also announced the seven first grantees of its €5 million Regenerative Fund for Nature, which was launched this year in collaboration with Conservation International and is intended to help drive the transition of 1 million hectares of land in luxury supply chains to regenerative approaches.
Among the programs of the Regenerative Fund for Nature is a high-profile collaboration with the non-profit Fundación Global Nature, which Pur Projet (a firm that assists other companies in the integration of social and environmental innovations) assisted in developing.
It involves teaming up with goat shepherds in Spain to restore traditional grazing techniques and rehabilitate the environment, which will cover an estimated 17,000 hectares. The project will provide micro-grants to the most vulnerable farmers and help producers through holistic grazing.
Kering's total emissions for 2020 came in at 2.1 million tons of CO2.
Its aim is to have a net positive impact by 2025.
