Between the animal-friendly practices and the fact that they’re just plain cute, opting for a faux fur jacket over real fur makes total sense — from both an ethical and a style standpoint. These trends might make PETA smile, but this unfortunate retail news definitely won’t.
According to a recent Today segment, major retailers have been listing real fur items as “faux.” The pieces in question include jackets, boots, and sweaters, all of which were sent to a lab for testing. The results showed that despite labels claiming otherwise, items were actually made using fur from animals like rabbits, raccoons, and raccoon dogs. Yikes.
To make matters even worse, incidents like these are far more common than you’d think. Kohl’s rolled out a mislabeled real fur jacket earlier this fall, and Neiman Marcus settled a case over misleading real fur merchandise last year.
While it’s easy for the companies involved to point fingers — blaming supplier confusion, pelt varieties, and factory error — the fact that the occurrence happens time and again is downright disturbing. Sure, many of the brands on Today have since altered the description or removed the product from their websites, but that's clearly not enough to prevent such mistakes. In the meantime, double-check that your faux fur really is fake with the Humane Society's standards here. (Quartz)