The already fur-free LFW proved once again to be the most sustainable and ethical fashion week.
Some are protagonists of change and some simply are not. The British Fashion Council has reached a new historic milestone: after having banned animal furs from the London catwalks - which, moreover, were already banned by brands a few years ago - from 2025 it will no longer be possible to offer fashion products made with exotic skins.
The announcement was made, directly via LinkedIn, by David Leigh-Pemberton, Deputy Director for Policy at the BFC (British Fashion Council), explaining that this is a decision taken by the BFC's Institute of Positive Fashion as part of the BFC's sustainability and social and environmental responsibility choices.
David Leigh-Pemberton has also already anticipated that the next possible target will be ‘feathers' (used for upholstery or as ornamental elements).
London Fashion Week has thus consolidated its position as the most sustainable and ethical fashion week among the big four, while Milan, Paris and New York remain on the sidelines having so far not adopted any kind of restriction towards brands in the use of animal materials.
The ‘exotic skins' supply chain is among the least sustainable of all animal production for the fashion industry, and also the least transparent!"
From the dossier ‘Exotic skins' published by LAV in 2022, it emerges clearly how the few industry standards (the so-called ‘Responsible Certifications') that should reassure brands and consumers about the ethical treatment of animals (crocodiles, alligators, caimans, snakes, ostriches, etc.. ) bred or caught in the wild, theactually totally lack transparency (management protocols are not made public).
Even thoughthe fashion industry proposes these skins as ‘by-product', reptile skin production is the primary commercial purpose of the capturingof 10 out of 25 species, and secondary for another 13 species. This demonstrates that the fashion industry significantly impactson the exploitation of these wild animals.
Alternatives to animal skin, and to any other animal material, are already widely available.
In the LAV portal ‘Fashion Without Animals' we publish a (non-exhaustive) database of the myriad of next-gen materials manufacturers (also Italian) that offer sustainable and better performing alternatives to animal materials.