Following an intense week of secondary targeting, Oscar de la Renta has informed CAFT that they will be fur free by October 31, 2021:
“Oscar de la Renta does not use fur in its fashion collections or sell fur in its stores, and will not in the future. In addition, once the [fur contractor] license ‘sell-off’ period ends [on 10/31/2021], no new products that use fur and bear the Oscar de la Renta trademark will be offered for sale.”
When he was alive, Oscar de la Renta was notable for his ardently pro-fur stance, which remained steadfast despite pies in the face and protests on the runway through the 1990s. However, when CAFT began this campaign, ODLR had a decreasing number of fur pieces on their website. Like many competitors taking note of industry trends, they had not shown fur on the runway for the past couple of years. When protests began, they even removed the remaining fur from their site.
But they still refused to make any commitment regarding their use of fur. They spoke of their recent years with little fur, and their current moment with no fur, but would not even acknowledge firm requests for information regarding their future. Their claims were a bit slippery, and their framing evasive. Different company officials gave differing accounts. We at CAFT began to feel as though we were being stalled.
So what happened in the week between those communications and this communication detailing a clear commitment to a fur-free future, complete with timeline?
What happened is secondary targeting. In this instance, CAFT made a strategic decision to initiate a campaign against ODLR’s lead investor and 20% owner, GF Capital (the CEO of which also sits on ODLR’s board). GF Capital’s Managing Director of Real Estate received two home demonstrations in one day. Jonathan Adler, a furniture chain owned by GF Capital, found its stores invaded and chalked. And the future looked bleak for GF Capital, with imminent plans directed at GF’s sports division in multiple cities. ODLR home demonstrations were forthcoming, as were more protests directed at their third party retailers (like the handful of luxury bridal boutiques that partner with them) across the country, and licensees like Paperless Post.
We stated this when announcing this escalation:
“Secondary targeting works. ODLR will learn that as long as they sell fur, everything they touch will be tainted by that decision. And the longer they hold out, the more creative we will become at turning them into an industry pariah.
We can’t help but wonder how GF Capital and their investments feel about being held to account for animal cruelty, simply because ODLR pridefully refuses to join the rest of the world and go fur free. We may never find out, but we can be sure of one thing: the executives at ODLR will be hearing a lot about it.”
Secondary targeting did work. ODLR did hear about it. And the result is victory for the animals.
Read the news article from WWD here: