Good News! Iconic Swedish Store NK Rejects Fur

As the majority of Swedes – almost 80% – are against the use of fur, it’s no surprise that iconic retailers are dropping fur from their lines. The country’s biggest department store, Nordiska Kompaniet (NK), is the latest to make this compassionate move.

After being contacted by PETA and Djurrättsalliansen, NK made the decision to distance itself from this cruel trade. It will not be ordering any more fur items and will stop selling its existing fur stock by 1 March 2023.

Hell on Earth

Numerous investigations into fur farms – including mink farms in Sweden – have documented atrocities. It’s common to see animals with eye infections, sores on their feet from filthy wire cages, missing legs, and festering, untreated open wounds – some so deep that their brains are visible. Cannibalism and self-mutilation are common. Babies are kept in cages with the rotting corpses of their mothers, and animals routinely exhibit neurotic behaviour as a result of psychological damage. At the end of their miserable lives, animals on fur farms are killed through vaginal or anal electrocution, gassing, or poisoning.

According to a recent poll, 78% of the Swedish public wants to see fur farming banned across the country. Sweden’s largest mink farm closed down in 2021 after going bankrupt – a clear sign that wearing carcasses is going out of style . Sweden’s last chinchilla farm shut down in November 2014, and fox farming has already been phased out – so there’s no excuse or justification for continuing to permit the suffering of minks for their fur.

Big Names Are Going Fur-Free

NK is in good company, as other iconic department stores, including Selfridges, Liberty, Nordstrom, and Saks Fifth Avenue, have also said no to fur.

Thanks to widespread awareness of the cruelty of the fur trade, there’s now a stigma attached to wearing fur. It’s only bought and worn by a tiny minority of people who cling to an archaic notion of glamour or are desperate to draw attention to themselves – for all the wrong reasons.

Regardless of its origin, all fur is the product of torture. Watch Paloma Faith explain fur labels and the truth behind them:

Fur in Your Wardrobe?

Donate any fur coats that may be lingering in your wardrobe to PETA. We’ll put them to good use in eye-catching events or as clothing or bedding for those in need (after marking them to ensure they’ll never end up back on the market, of course).

The Future Is Fur-Free

The department store’s decision to stop selling fur prevents thousands of animals from being given electric shocks, gassed, or clubbed to death. Sweden’s own designers Ann-Sofie Back, Carin Rodebjer, and HOPE Stockholm are already fur-free – it’s time for the whole country to follow!

The Swedish government must accept that the fur industry is dead and close down the country’s remaining mink fur farms for good, as France, Italy, and the Netherlands already have. Send a message to Sweden’s minister for rural affairs and urge her to ban fur farming.