November is a big month for the anti-fur movement and fur-bearing animals. For the animals on fur farms in the United States, late November is when fur farmers begin pelting season. Minks and foxes are removed from their cages for the first time to be gassed or electrocuted to death so that they can be skinned and turned into products for the fashion industry. For anti-fur activists, it marks the annual 38th Fur-Free Friday (FFF) protests on the largest retail shopping day of the year: Black Friday.


FUR-FREE FRIDAY AND THE FALL OF FUR

With the fur industry struggling due to the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the animal rights movement has a unique opportunity to put the fur industry to an end before it rebounds from the financial loss they took from mink populations that were wiped out from infection.

Because the clock is ticking on the recovery of the fur industry, CAFT USA has extended the annual Fur-Free Friday to include protests on Saturday and Sunday. One day is simply not enough to put this industry to an end.

Activists heeded the call and showed up for a legendary FFF weekend! Here is the breakdown of this action-packed weekend:

54 actions in 13 different countries.

Most active cities: Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Melbourne, and London.

Top targets were: Berluti (14 actions), Loro Piana (10 actions), and Conde Nast (8 actions).

Most active countries: USA (25 actions), Spain (5 actions), Italy, Germany, and Australia tied with 4 actions each!

HIGHLIGHTS:

ARCXChicago’s badass disruption at American Girl Doll calling on the company to cut ties with Roger Lynch (CEO of Conde Nast) was one for the books! Complete with fake “blood money” and irate customers, they sent a message to Mattel and Conde Nast that the grassroots don’t play around. If you associate with Roger Lynch, you WILL be disrupted.

Halfway across the world, our friends in Japan joined in on the Berluti and LVMH pressure by disrupting the store on Black Friday in solidarity with the USA! We were left inspired and grateful for the dedication and tenacity of activists in Japan (where protesting is difficult). Thank you for joining the fight and we look forward to the growth of the anti-fur movement in Japan!

Boston saw a larger than normal turnout for the weekend of protests, with activists from further up north visiting to take part in the action! We love to see collaboration and community in the grassroots to make impactful events like FFF even more effective. Keep it up!

UARC, in Salt Lake City, also sported a large turnout and held a series of protests including Sally Beauty Supply and Louis Vuitton. We love to see the anti-fur movement growing in Utah!

ARMNYC had the largest protest on Fur Free Friday, with over 60 activists in attendance alongside a giant blow up fox.

Every group and individual that participated deserves recognition for braving the cold, the snow, and the societal apathy and indifference to come together on FFF to disrupt the mindless consumerism pervasive to this day and raise awareness about the horrors of the fur industry. To all who took actions to advance the current anti-fur campaigns, thank you for not giving up this fight and keeping the focus on ending fur. If we stay laser focused and determined, the fur industry stands no chance…


THE DENVER FUR BAN LOSES BY A WIDE MARGIN


The amazing folks at Pro-Animal Future (PAF) have been working hard on the legislation battle against the fur and meat industry.
PAF organized a group of activists to be in Denver for the month of September to get the public’s attention on the issues at hand.

Unfortunately, both the slaughter and the fur ban lost by large margins. Nearly 58% of voters opposed the fur ban and 64.6% opposed the slaughterhouse ban according to the Denver Post.

This is a huge blow to the anti-fur movement and fur-bearing animals. We need legislation banning fur to make it more difficult for the fur industry to make a comeback– something we are already seeing. We would urge not only PAF, but others, to keep legislation battles focused singularly on fur rather then running slaughter house bans at the same time. Why? Because the slaughterhouse ban had significantly more lobbying money from the meat industry, drastically decreasing the odds of a legislative win against the fur ban running simultaneously.


FUR IS ON THE DECLINE, BUT ITS POPULARITY IS GROWING

According to NSS magazine wearing fur is growing in popularity. Searches for “fur coat” have grown to a 7 year high, with an 85% increase from last fall, which was already up by 42% compared to 2022. Despite this trend, the fur market is in constant decline, dropping from a value of $14.7 billion in 2013 to $3.4 billion today, according to Euromonitor International. NSS is not the first to make this commentary, both Business of Fashion and Vogue touched on this last winter when we saw an increase of fur on the runways at New York Fashion Week.

The fur industry is struggling, but it is far from dead. Here at CAFT USA we are concerned at the state of the fur industry because so many activists have moved their focus to other industries. We see this from corporate animal rights groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). PETA started a “Free the animals Friday” annual event to replace the annual Fur-Free Friday event because they believe the anti-fur movement has already won. We even see this in the grassroots activist scenes that have favored working on campaigns against foie gras because they tend to yield quick victories.

The organizations and families that make a livelihood on raising and killing animals for fur are not giving up without a fight. The fur industry just beat us in Denver on a legislative battle. They have managed to get more fur on the runways than in previous years and they are currently working with the world’s largest fashion conglomerate, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) on a trace program called Furmark that’s intended goal is to put ethical consumers’ concerns at ease around the welfare and environmental impact of the fur industry.

CAFT is committed to keeping the focus on fur until we have completely wiped out industrial fur farming. Once that has been done, we will transition to working on the next most vulnerable industry and repeat until we live in a world free of animal exploitation. However, we can only do so with your support. This can come in many forms, from boots on the ground to financial support. We have a unique opportunity to abolish an entire industry and if we do not seize this moment we will only have our lack of focus and action to blame. The day we beat the fur industry will be historical, don’t miss out on being a part of history and let’s get it done for the animals!

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COMRADES THAT NEED OUR SUPPORT

The NU2:

Fundraiser for Cara and Celeste, two activists accused of liberating mink. Help them by sending funds to cover their legal fees. They have a long and difficult road ahead and any financial support is greatly appreciated!

South Florida activists:

Please donate to the gofundme for South Florida activists that were wrongfully arrested during the Anne Fontaine campaign over the summer.

The campaign against fur profiteers, Anne Fontaine, was eventually won and would not have been possible without the participation of activists from around the country, like the ones that were arrested. It is our duty to support them when they face unjust repression from police, so give some $$$ if you have any to spare!

Only together, can we put an end to the fur industry. Though education, legislation and agitation. We all have a significant role to play in this fight. See you in the streets!

CAFT USA