-An employee removing dead mink from a chamber after they

were gassed on a farm near Naestved, Denmark on Nov. 6, 2020.

- Mads Claus Rasmussen / AFP - Getty Images file

Image from SkyNews

Real vs. Faux:

We Think the Choice is Easy...

We are living in a crazy world. Aside from the fact that we’ve entered into our peak season (as you can tell from the lack of recent blog posts), it seems that we as a society are becoming aware of the impact we can have on the world and what others could be doing better. A long quarantine can give you time to reflect. Even though today’s fashion industry offers an enormous variety of winter clothing luxury faux fur (countless colors, prints, and embossing), a lot of people still feel the necessity of putting on the real fur.

I would like to dedicate today’s blog to one of the saddest news of this last month: a major Covid-19 outbreak occurred in over 200 mink farms across Denmark. The Netherlands, Denmark, and the US have killed over 17 million poor minks (and growing) because of the virus transmission and the possibility of allowing the virus to mutate. There were no exceptions. All of the minks were culled… every last one. And after all of these mass killings to ensure public safety, they buried said minks into such shallow graves that their decomposing bodies emitted enough gas to push back up through the soil…Eww. Where are these people’s heads? Do they care about the minks? Society at large? Or themselves and the almighty dollar? These are some of the most developed countries in the world that one would expect a higher level of moral values and integrity. Evidently while judging other countries for eating exotic animals, western counties are just as guilty being the largest mink fur manufacturers.

Minks are considered more “desirable” in our time because of their amazingly soft fur. Aside from coats and such, their fur can be turned into fake eyelashes. Those are the ones that look so artificial on ladies these days (everything for the ‘Gram). I did my research on the subject and only found few articles about few people protesting mink farms. The claim is that these products could be made ethically from simply brushing live minks. I think we know that odds are, this is not the case. We should know better! We should be better!

We don’t live in 18^th century Russia and we don’t deal with the circumstances and conditions that Vikings did during their cold northern winters. For most people, the need for warm clothes and accessories for winter is more for comfort than survival. We are contemporary people living in the era of technology, of mass production, and an era of endless possibilities. In our time artificial fur can even be more beautiful than the real furs. I know that the arguments about faux fur production are valid; the fashion industry does its fair share of planet pollution with chemical and nonchemical waste, however, what industry doesn’t? The mass production of essential products can certainly be enough for us to feel guilty about our existence. But it turns out, there are still many people that will continue to feel good about themselves because nothing shames them, not even ripping off the coat from a beautiful animal, wearing it, and throwing away the ‘leftovers’.

I certainly hope that many states including Utah (the world’s largest mink fur manufacturer), will follow California’s lead by banning the production and sale of new fur winter apparel. New York followed suit and, considering its rough winters and the need for warm clothes for winter, it must have had more of an impact on its residents than it would for California. Yet still, it was agreed that this was the appropriate, ethical move to make. Oregon is currently undergoing a mink outbreak that they are keeping hush. As one European Fur Farm owner stated, “When it’s cold, people need fur”. What they failed to mention is that there’s no reason for it do die.

Any coat looks way more beautiful on its original owner than it could ever look on a human being. And there is one thing that’s the most attractive about every human being, and that’s integrity!

- Natia Makatsaria & Jennifer Oberg