The fur industry has spent a lot of time and money trying to steer the conversation around fur away from the public’s increasing concerns about animal cruelty to feigned concerns over plastic.
In previous posts we’ve shared The Intercept exposing how the fur industry paid people to testify in hearings, we’ve shared The Daily News reporting on the industry instructing people to break the law by lying about their residency and to “annoy” city council members. Yet one of the fur industry’s most prevalent points that seems to go uncontested is the claim that fur is “natural” and “biodegradable”.
So what is the reality of this claim?
First, it’s significant to know that in Paris, the French Board of Advertising Ethics (JDP) ruled the claim of biodegradability (among other greenwashing) was “not supported by data”, “inconsistent”, “baseless”, and “misleading”. Even after the International Fur Federation contested the ruling and asked for a revision, the JDP upheld the ruling.
Here are some helpful facts to know about fur and the claim of biodegradability:
In regard to the biodegradability aspect of “real” fur promoted by the International Fur Federation, the elements used to support this claim, based on a review of a scientific report provided by the federation itself, are not supported by the data.
In their study, only a modest fraction of the “real” furs used for the experiment did biodegrade (from 6.6% to 25.8%) significantly the “real” fur dyed with chemicals almost didn’t biodegrade at all. The claim is inconsistent. (you can read the full fur-industry-funded study here)
Collection systems for composting old fur coats are nonexistent. Meanwhile, there are systems like SMARTFUR in place that make most faux-furs recyclable into new garments or even fuel.
Even if a system existed to compost fur, or you threw an old mink or fox fur into your backyard compost pile, it could negatively impact an otherwise healthy composting ecosystem due to the presence of formaldehyde, hexavalent chrome, alkylphenol ethoxylates, azo dyes, chlorinated phenols (PCPs), and other petrochemical components used to process the pelts.
Lastly, it’s important to note that the fur industry continues to use synthetics in shell fabrics, linings, labels, threads, zipper tape, interlinings and fusible, garment bags, plastic hangers and more. If synthetics and biodegradability were genuine concerns for them, these things they already have control over would be addressed.
The biodegradability claims of the fur industry are good for marketing but are of no use to an actual plan for a sustainable fashion system. Any notion of fur being “natural” or “biodegradable” is pure greenwashing.