In a remarkable interfaith gesture; a group of Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish leaders is urging luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton to stop using animal fur in its clothing and other products; showing its commitment to ethical choices, animal welfare and compassionate fashion.
Staying true to the “Value” of its parent Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH)—”Be creative and innovative”, Louis Vuitton should explore new boundaries of fur-free creative design and discontinue selling all products made from animal fur; well-respected Orthodox Christian priest Stephen R. Karcher, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, eminent Jewish rabbi ElizaBeth Webb Beyer and esteemed Buddhist priest Matthew T. Fisher stated in Nevada (USA).
Louis Vuitton should move away from fur as fur fashion seemed cruel, outdated and unnecessary. Animals should not be made to suffer and killed to make fashion and glamourize bodies when there were other valid fashion alternatives at our disposition. Cruelty should never become fashionable; Karcher, Zed, Fisher and Beyer emphasized.
Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out that it was quite out-of-line for LVMH to continue sticking to fur sales despite its “Code of Conduct” stating “Acting responsibly and with social awareness”. He urged LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, Louis Vuitton CEO Michael Burke and Louis Vuitton Executive Vice President Delphine Arnault to urgently and seriously look into this issue and get rid of the fur segment of the business to prove LVMH claim of being “strongly committed to exemplary integrity and ethics”.
According to reports; many high-end brands, designers and department stores had already decided to ban fur, which is also detrimental to the environment and affects the health of fur-processing workers. Fur sales has been banned in a country, a state, some cities; while many countries have banned fur farming. Few publishers have announced fur-free policies, including lifestyle magazine Elle. Some fashion-weeks have also banned fur.
Zed further said that fur should no longer be acceptable in entire fashion industry; which should become more humane, rejecting animal cruelty and displaying a meaningful and powerful animal rights commitment.
Karcher, Zed, Beyer and Fisher indicated that they were all for the freedom of artistic creativity, entrepreneurship, expression and speech; but compassion was considered the greatest virtue and companies like LVMH, whose Vision included “ethical responsibility”, should not feel shy in embracing it.
Louis Vuitton is one of the 75 “houses” of LVMH headquartered in Paris, “a family-run group” which claims to be “world’s leading luxury products group” with 5,003 stores worldwide whose revenue in 2020 was reportedly €44.7 billion. LVMH, whose history goes back to 1593, also claims to be the only group present in all five major sectors of the luxury market: Wines & Spirits, Fashion & Leather Goods, Perfumes & Cosmetics, Watches & Jewelry and Selective Retailing. Hanging-chair lined with lambskin was priced at $125,000 at Louis Vuitton website.