After over 35 years since founding the Italian fashion house, Dolce & Gabbana, is making a big change to the luxury brand by discontinuing the use of fur and will start using an eco-friendly alternative. This innovative decision is becoming more prevalent in the fashion industry as other luxury brands have committed to discontinuing the use of animal-derived materials like fur and/or leather.
The Italian design team of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana founded the collective namesake brand Dolce & Gabbana in 1985 to create an international fashion empire. The Italian fashion house has only grown in popularity through forming a progressive brand with discontinuing the use of animal fur and offering a sustainable alternative. Dolce & Gabbana made a joint statement with the animal right group, Human Society International, revealing the brand will be phasing out the use of fur in designs for the rest of 2022. The statement also disclosed that the Italian luxury brand will continue working with “master furriers” in the hopes of achieving their goal of creating sustainable faux fur alternatives using recyclable and recycled materials.
The fashion group’s communication and marketing officer, Fedele Usai, disclosed in a press release, “The entire fashion system has a significant social responsibility role that must be promoted and encouraged.” Dolce & Gabbana isn’t the only fashion house to make a change towards ending the use of animal-derived materials.
Luxury brands including Chanel, Prada, and Diane von Furstenberg have committed to no longer using exotic leathers in future collections. Chanel plans to not use fur in upcoming collections with other brands following suit including Gucci, Stella McCartney, Michael Kors, and Versace.
Gucci became one of the first major luxury brands to announce the brand will be discontinuing the use of fur in 2017. In September 2021, the French-based multinational luxury goods corporation Kering would be no longer using fur in any affiliated brands including Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, and Alexander McQueen by fall 2022.
Dolce & Gabbana have yet to reveal the fine detail of their plan but disclosed the new policy will meet the guidelines of a group of animal protection organizations, the Fur Free Alliance. The chairman of the Free Fur Alliance, Joh Vinding, commended the Italian brand for committing to transitioning to using more innovative and humane materials.