Birthday Present for Sophia Loren: PETA and Stella McCartney Send Luxurious Faux Fur
Birthday Present for Sophia Loren: PETA and Stella McCartney Send Luxurious Faux Fur
Italian Icon Urged to Swear Off Fur and Choose Compassionate Fashion as She Turns 86
London – A special birthday gift is on its way from long-time PETA supporter Stella McCartney to screen icon Sophia Loren, who turned 86 on 20 September: a luxurious, cruelty-free coat from McCartney’s new collection, made with KOBA – the world’s first bio-based faux fur, created exclusively by ECOPEL.
PETA and McCartney hope to inspire Loren to follow the lead of Italian tastemakers who no longer wear fur, such as fashion editor Anna Dello Russo. The most influential Italian names in fashion, including Armani, Prada, Versace, Furla, Gucci, and Elisabetta Franchi, have all sworn off fur – an industry which Gucci CEO and President Marco Bizzarri has called outdated.
“The fur trade is far too violent and ugly for someone as beautiful as Sophia,” says PETA Vice President of International Programmes Mimi Bekhechi. “We hope this gorgeous gift will inspire her to join the 90% of Italians who, having seen how foxes and other animals are beaten, electrocuted, gassed, and even skinned alive for their fur, are wholeheartedly rejecting the industry.”
Recent investigations into Italian mink farms have found animals confined to cramped wire cages with no access to grass or water to swim in. Many were severely injured, and some were driven to self-mutilation by the stress of captivity. At the end of their miserable lives, they’re commonly gassed to death.
As well as being inherently cruel, scientists now warn that fur farms could also become reservoirs for future pandemics, as cases of COVID-19 continue to spread rapidly between workers and sick animals on European fur farms. The public health risk has prompted the Dutch parliament to vote to close all remaining mink farms in the country within the year. PETA is appealing to Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to follow suit and close the 13 remaining mink farms in the country.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.
Contact:
Sascha Camilli +44 (0) 20 7923 6244; [email protected]
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