Celebrities urged to boycott Milan Fashion Week after spike in global fur sales – Daily Express

A British charity is calling for A-list celebrities and influencers to boycott Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks after a spike in the global sales of mink fur. Both have come under fire for refusing to follow the example of London and New York and ban real fur on their catwalks. As celebrities descend on Milan for the start of its shows today, a report from education-based charity ACTAsia reveals that the demand for mink has soared by 25% in two years, the first increase for the industry in more than a decade.
The finding, part of the charity’s new biannual investigation into the worldwide fur trade, suggests social media trends and certain big brands are making real fur feel more “socially acceptable” amongst Gen Z and young millennials. Both Milan, starting today, and Paris next Tuesday, still allow brands such as Fendi, Dior and Louis Vuitton to show fur, despite London banning animal pelts in 2023, and New York having its first fur-free week earlier this month.
Sponsors, including DHL and Wella, have pulled their support of Milan in protest – and now ACTAsia is calling on the celebs and influencers to follow suit, by refusing to sit in its famous front rows. CEO Pei Su says: “London Fashion Week is streets ahead in making style cruelty free, but the Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks will once again see fur as a staple of the runway – as they remain against a full ban.
“We would love to ask any animal-loving celeb to avoid these two fashion weeks, to send the message: ‘If London can do it and be successful – so can they’.”
Previous years have seen the likes of Kim Kardashian, Naomi Campbell and Paris Hilton attend Milan’s shows. The week’s organisers have softened their stance slightly following several protests, and are now “inviting” designers not to show fur. However animal charity PETA criticised the move as “not good enough” as there is no ban or suggested repercussions for not taking up their “invitation”.
Pei adds: “London and New York are fabulous, glamorous and, ultimately, proof we don’t need to harm defenceless animals for the sake of fashion.”
Since the 1990s, fur has been seen as socially unacceptable with younger generations, thanks to the famous “I’d rather go naked than wear fur” ad campaigns, featuring the likes of Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford. But in the past few years several Tik Tok and other social media hashtags have emerged, inspired by the trend for the “mob-wife aesthetic”. Most are concerned with faux fur, but there’s also been millions of views for #RealFur and #NaturalFur – with influencers arguing that vintage pelts are more environmentally friendly and therefore more ethical. ACTAsia is one of the only charities with investigators on the ground in China. Every two years it produces a report into the worldwide fur industry and Chinese fur farms.
Its latest report, released this week, shows a positive picture overall: China, the world’s biggest fur manufacturer, has cut its output by 90% – going from producing 87 million pelts a year in 2014 to 8.53 million a year in 2025; Poland, which had been the second largest manufacturer, banned fur farms last December – saving an estimated three million animals annually; 19 other EU countries, as well as several US States and cities, have done the same; and it now costs more to produce fur pelts in some parts of the EU than their retail value – meaning the trade is “no longer economically viable”.
But the report also records the first rise in mink production in China for more than a decade – bucking the industry’s downward trend – with 4.87 million pelts produced in 2025, 25.1% more than in 2023, when the social media trend was emerging.
For more information, visit actasia.org
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