Your Fur Coat — Fake Or Fido?

Group Finds Alarming Number Of Garments Marketed As Faux Fur Really Domestic Dog

(AP)  That fur trim on your jacket that you think is fake? It might be dog hair.

An animal advocacy group says its investigation has turned up coats — some with designer labels, some at higher-end retailers — with fur from man's best friend. Some retailers were set scrambling to pull the coats from shelves, take them off Web sites and even offer refunds to consumers.

The Humane Society of the United States said it purchased coats from reputable outlets, such as upscale Nordstrom, with designer labels — Andrew Marc, Tommy Hilfiger, for example — and found them trimmed with fur from domestic dogs, even though the fur was advertised as fake.

"It's an industry-wide deception," said Kristin Leppert, the head of the Human Society's anti-fur campaign.

The investigation began after the society got a tip from a consumer who bought a coat with trim labeled as faux fur that felt real. Leppert and her team began buying coats from popular retailers and then had the coats tested by mass spectrometry, which measures the mass and sequence of proteins, to determine what species of animal the fur came from.

Of the 25 coats tested, 24 were mislabeled or misadvertised.

Three coats — from Tommy Hilfiger's Web site ShopTommy.com, Nordstrom.com and a coat from Andrew Marc's MARC New York line sold on Bluefly.com — contained fur from domesticated dogs. The others had fur from raccoon dogs — a canine species native to Asia — or, in one case, wolves. The single correctly labeled coat was trimmed with coyote fur, but it was advertised as fake.

Most of the fur came from China.

In response to the Humane Society's investigation, Tommy Hilfiger stopped selling the fur-trimmed garment and said it was looking into the matter. "We were quite concerned to hear of this finding," said spokeswoman Wendi Kopsick.

Nordstrom called the 62 consumers who had purchased vests with dog fur trim to give them the opportunity to return the vests "because we would never want to deceive our customers in any way," Nordstrom spokeswoman Brooke White said. She said Nordstrom no longer buys fur trim products from the vendor, who had marketed the vests as faux fur.

Charles Jayson, chief executive of Andrew Marc, disputed the Humane Society and insisted in a statement that all fur on his coats labeled as raccoon contains "only farm-bred raccoon fur from Finland, and our items labeled 'faux fur' are a 100 percent synthetic fabric."

Importing domestic dog and cat fur was outlawed in 2000. Intentionally importing and selling dog fur is a federal crime punishable by a $10,000 fine for each violation. Michael Markarian, executive vice president of the Humane Society, said his group had contacted all the retailers and designers selling mislabeled coats or coats with dog fur.

[mpetrilak]

It's not the value of the animal as you perceive it, it is the moral value of the human's actions and judgement. If we lack values in dealing with a species lower than ourselves,how can we attach value in judgement to our actions toward our own?

[geecee55]

matvei1107 and all others who DON'T GET IT!! This has nothing to do with the "cute factor" or whether we kill cows for meat, etc - it has to do with the HUMANE killing of animals - i.e. not being skinned alive, and also not being killed for VANITY and PROFIT! Fur is NOT a necessity in this age - not for fur coats, much less for TRIM on any kind of clothing, for decoration, etc. It is one thing to humanely kill animals for their meat - it is entirely another to torture and skin alive a beautiful living, breathing, FEELING creature so that some *** can walk around in fur and make herself feel like she's "somebody" - the more I hear peoples' heartless opinions on this, the less I wonder why I love animals - at least they don't kill us to use OUR skins to make themselves feel more attractive!!!! They kill solely for food - for their survival. If we can't live without adorning ourselves with fur to show off (cuz let's face it, that's the ONLY reason people want it!), who's the more evolved?? If you don't love the planet that God gave you with all of its wondrous creations, then hey, GET OFF!!

[hermit22]

"federal crime" to sell dog fur and the fine is $10,000 for EACH violation, but some fool judge on the east coast gave some pervert who had violated a 4 year old CHILD numerous times a $25 fine, was it?, and freeed that pervert to walk the streets on "probation"....check it out on Oprah.com. the show with bill o'riley and ed smart, father to elizabeth who was kidnapped in utah.

what is crazy about this picture?

[geecee55]

nvhorseman, you sound at first like you're all for taking a stand on behalf of the animals, then you turn around and say we have no moral right to judge what they do in China and Korea - yes, animals are mistreated here, too, but two wrongs don't make a right - we DO have a moral right (and obligation) to be outraged and disgusted when it's brought to our attention, no matter WHERE it's happening! I write letters, sign petitions, boycott products, get other people involved, etc. in EVERY case of animal abuse and neglect that comes to my attention (and yes, I take in stray animals, too!). And as for people in China or wherever having to eat those animals to stay alive, that's not the point - the point is that the animals are being SKINNED ALIVE! Your heart's in the right place, tho, and your advice to people to get involved is great - but your last line about emaciated models? Well, gee, sorry if I don't feel a lot of sympathy for women who CHOOSE to make a living by strutting their skinny bodies down a runway. That's their choice! Not like the animals, huh?

[unowen1-2009]

This is all BS. Dogs and cats may be pets, but so are rabbits and horses. Either all fur is good or all fur is bad. A typical example of "I want to wear fur, but don't want to skin the animal myself".

All or nothing. Animals have rights or not, no animal is better than another. Many animals are domesticated to be docile for meat or fur purposes, why bust another country that bred their dogs for meat or fur? We breed cows, pigs, and sheep for meat, why is it different?

It sounds like what is needed is for clothiers that use fur to monitor how the animals are killed, regardless of species. What happens to the fur of all the dogs killed in shelters in the U.S...

[chicabear1]

Geecee, I agree with you 100%. The animals suffer too much already at the hands of humans. It's a terrible, sad case. I don't think anyone should eat horses, use chimps for experimentation, or use dog fur for clothing. In my opinion, that's just plain stupid. There are so many other alternatives for clothing material than to use fur. I even sent JC Penney an email that I would not shop at their stores until they stop paying people to kill animals for their fur. I don't think they give a da*n, because many retailers are only after the almighty dollar. They don't care how they get their profits, as long as they get it. I will not support retailers that kill innocent animals!

[geecee55]

Palms29Cal and all who think like him/her - you are what's wrong with this world, thinking that animals don't matter or can't feel pain, or should be treated like so much garbage. You are heartless and should be banned from living on this planet. I am disgusted by the attitude of people who think that torturing animals for ANY reason is OK - if you're not saddened and sickened by the way God's defenseless creatures are treated, there is something seriously wrong with you. There is no excuse for wearing fur today - there are plenty of synthetic materials that are just as warm and "fashionable" as real fur. What are we, friggin' cavemen?? Evolve, people, evolve!!

I don't get it. Who cares whether they are trimmed in nylon, dog hair or real mink? It's much a' do about nothing. Animals are not humans, stop the anthropomorphic nonsense. Start throwing ketchup back on the protesters. Or maybe give them a teddy bear to hug.
Posted by Palms29Cal at 11:34 AM : Feb 23, 2007

I care for innocent people, moreso than I do for innocent animals. In your case though, you seem to be of the ideal that anything you can exploit, should be exploited. If that is indeed what you believe, then I surely care more for these animals than I do for your well-being.

The difference being that humans given to self-interested, exploitative choices get less sympathy from me. If these animals were being killed humanely to save humans, I would have no issue. They are instead being killed (skinned alive in some cases) in order to make you look fashionable, which is just disgusting when you think about it. If people cared more for nature and it's creatures, the world would be a much better place.

This is not a part of natural selection...

[palms29cal]

I don't get it. Who cares whether they are trimmed in nylon, dog hair or real mink? It's much a' do about nothing. Animals are not humans, stop the anthropomorphic nonsense. Start throwing ketchup back on the protesters. Or maybe give them a teddy bear to hug.

[mitywhity]

If you don't like it don't buy it. Check the label. If it ain't fox, mink, sable, muskrat, seal, otter, etc. what do you think it is? I don't own fur or buy fur for my lady. I don't like hair growing all over her so why would I buy a coat of it and put her in it?

[karmad-2009]

HBO reported on this years ago, images of tortured dogs have haunted me ever since. For designers and retailers to claim ignorance of this heinous activity is disingenous at best, and is more than just another example of corporate greed, but of the evil of cruelty disguising itself as "fashion".

So it's ok to skin a raccoon alive but not a raccoon dog?

[geecee55]

It's high time retailers here took a moral and ethical stand on this issue - there has been evidence for a long time now that dogs and cats are skinned alive in places like China, and their fur used for trim on clothing and other items. If the market doesn't exist for these items, the practice will stop! Check Heather Mills McCartney's website at http://www.heathermillsmccartney.com/dogcatfur.php - if those photos don't convince you, then nothing will. Thank you, HSUS, for bringing this to the general public's attention!