Way to go, J.Crew, welcome to the rest of the world. It's not really fair that we think dogs and cats should be treated better than other animals, but I guess if it helps promote more compassionate treatment of animals, what the hell. Anyway, watch out for any fur product that comes from China, that's for sure--if you insist on buying and wearing fur.



J. Crew to stop selling products that contain fur

CLOTHING CHAIN MAKES MOVE IN WAKE OF COLORFUL PROTESTS
By Paul Rogers

Mercury News

In the wake of a series of colorful anti-fur protests outside shopping malls and stores in San Jose and other cities around the nation, clothing chain J. Crew has announced it will stop selling fur.

``It was for business reasons,'' said Owen Blicksilver, a J. Crew spokesman. ``Fur was a very small part of the product line. Less than 1 percent of all products that J. Crew sells have any fur.''

The announcement was hailed as a victory by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the group that led the campaign.

On Oct. 12, three women wearing flesh-colored leotards and tights lay in a pile on the sidewalk at the entrance to Westfield Shoppingtown Valley Fair in San Jose for an hour. They were covered with red paint to depict blood and surrounded by placards featuring anti-J. Crew messages and depicting skinned animals. Motorists honked and shoppers snapped photos.

PETA staged similar protests in New York, Santa Monica and other cities after J. Crew included jackets and hats with coyote, rabbit and mink fur in its fall line. Many of J. Crew's competitors, including the Gap and Banana Republic, don't sell fur.

PETA officials noted that some of J. Crew's fur-bearing garb is made in China. Their Web site features a graphic video shot by a German filmmaker in a south China market where cats and dogs are crammed in cages, thrown off trucks and subjected to broken limbs. Chinese fur sellers bludgeon and strangle dogs, cats and other animals with wire nooses, PETA says, then mislabel their products and sell it to American and European clothing companies as coyote, rabbit or fox.

``There's a world of suffering in every bit of fur trim,'' said Heather Mills McCartney, a PETA celebrity spokeswoman, in a statement.

``But J. Crew has finally adopted a `no fur' policy that will save countless animals and send a strong message of compassion throughout the retail clothing community and beyond.''