A potential new ordinance in Chicago could be good news for animal welfare but bad news for some local businesses, according to CBS News.
Alderman Ray Lopez is pushing a citywide ban on selling new fur items. "We know that it's a very inhumane process of capturing, raising, and then skinning these animals — oftentimes gassing them in a very horrific manner," he said.
Meanwhile, local furriers are unhappy with the development, even if the law would provide a year for them to adapt to synthetic alternatives.
"To dismantle a 30-year business in a year's time, that makes no sense," said Andriana Furs owner and co-founder Gerard Brown. His coats would go from selling for $18,000 to $700 if he switched to synthetics.
Fur farming is indeed an inhumane industry. One operation in Ohio was recently shut down for its unacceptable operating conditions. A wide number of European countries and a handful of American cities have already enacted fur farming bans. Opposition to the fur trade has sometimes led to manufacturers advertising faux fur but continuing to use real animals in their products. Besides the welfare issues, fur treatment generally requires a regimen of harmful chemicals that ultimately find their way into waterways.
That said, synthetic furs aren't great for the environment either. They're typically made with oil-borne plastics and produce microplastics as they break down. Solutions are on the horizon, however. Some enterprising companies are able to make faux fur with natural, biodegradable materials. The proposed ordinance also doesn't rule out secondhand fur, which provides some market opportunity for thrifting and repairing with recycled materials.
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Councilman Lopez remains hopeful that a compromise can be made to keep these businesses running while enacting the fur ban.
"Times are changing, and we want to help them change with them," Lopez said, per CBS News. "We're not trying to slam the door on their business."
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