Max Mara in the crosshairs of the anti-fur association Four Paws

Fashion and luxury goods giant Max Mara, based in Reggio Emilia, Italy, has made no clear commitment to eliminating fur items from its production, but has instead “hidden” them in the intricacies of its website, as stated by the global animal protection organisation Four Paws. The association is the official representative in Austria, Australia, Bulgaria, Germany, the United States and South Africa of the Fur Free Retailer programme. The programme is an initiative of the Fur Free Alliance (FFA), an international coalition active in over 35 countries and bringing together more than 40 organisations working together to put an end to the farming and slaughter of animals for their fur. Currently 1,500 brands and retailers have signed up to the programme.

After weeks of intense campaigning against fashion brand Max Mara to phase out fur, Four Paws now claims that the Italian group “has removed all fur items from its international website, while refusing to discuss the issue and neither publicly distancing itself from the practice nor committing to clear plans to phase out fur from its catalogues.”
 
“Over 274,000 protest emails, 5,000 phone calls and countless social media posts cannot be hidden away as easily as fur items on an online shop. Nor can Max Mara’s responsibility for the millions of mink, foxes and raccoons killed, who must die cruelly every year for the sake of fashion, simply be swept under the carpet”, Thomas Pietsch, Head of Animals in Textiles at Four Paws, thundered in the note. “At a time when animal-free alternatives are so readily available and awareness of the cruelty of the industry and its negative impact on animals and the climate is so evident, fur is simply out of date. We will relentlessly continue all our efforts to move Max Mara towards a caring, fur-free future.”

At this time, Max Mara has not responded to FashionNetwork.com’s requests for comment. A quick search on the search engines will show fur products listed on the Max Mara website, but the links are indeed no longer active.
 
Founded in 1988 in Vienna by Heli Dungler, Four Paws advocates a world in which humans treat animals with respect, empathy and understanding, including pets, farmed and wild animals, as well as stray dogs and cats. The organisation has offices in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Kosovo, the Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa, Thailand, Ukraine, the UK, the USA and Vietnam, as well as ‘sanctuaries’ for rescued animals in 11 countries. The organisation points out that 20 European countries have already banned fur production because of the cruelty to animals and the risks to the environment and public health. Israel, the US state of California and 14 US cities have also recently banned the sale of fur.
 
Four Paws stresses that this first step by the Italian brand comes after the ongoing protests in the streets of European capitals and the online activities of all the partners in the Fur Free Alliance (FFA), and it will continue to call on the company to follow the example of many other major Italian fashion brands, such as Armani, Gucci and Versace, which have already abandoned fur, the statement concludes.