Is fur a faux pas? If the streets of New York are any indication, not at all.
Attendees at New York Fashion Week (NYFW) — facing sub-freezing temperatures and bitter winds for the majority of it — stepped out in fur coats, hats, and stoles. It’s not just the fashion set: New Yorkers, young and old, are fitted in fur. For some, it’s vintage; others faux. Some are more recent purchases, perhaps sourced from one of New York’s “fur guys”, peddlers of genuine mink and fox pieces found in neighborhoods like the Meatpacking District, or the Lower East Side. More than one person admitted to telling people their fur is vintage when it’s not. One guest outside the Calvin Klein show was wearing a raccoon hat, tail and all. When asked where he got it, he winced: “TikTok Shop. I actually don’t know what it’s really made out of.”
“The animal is already dead. I have no shame,” one person said at a fashion week party with an eyeroll. “It’s just so cold,” an editor said about her penchant for fur. “It’s a lot of young girls buying right now,” says Nick Pologeorgis, co-chair of the American Fur Council and owner of New York-based fur manufacturer Pologeorgis, which sells its own pieces and also licenses to brands. How does he explain this rise in demand, even as the industry has cracked down on fur? “People want it,” he says.
Fur’s moment is incongruous with the direction the industry at large is headed. Last fall, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) announced that fur would be banned from the New York Fashion Week runways (not including shearling) starting next season, Spring/Summer 2027. Fur production globally is on the decline, with 140 million foxes, mink, and raccoon dogs killed on fur farms in 2014 falling to roughly 20 million animals killed in 2024, an 85% decline, according to Humane World for Animals. Brands and retailers like Gucci, Chanel, Prada, Ralph Lauren, Bloomingdale’s, Selfridges, Saks and more have pledged to stop using real animal fur in their collections, or selling it.
These bans were supported by a dwindling social acceptance of furs, alongside pressure campaigns from animal rights groups. But the look has undergone a resurgence in the last few years. The mob wife aesthetic kicked things off in 2024; it has since exploded in popularity, less so tied to a micro-trend and now part of everyday winter wardrobes, particularly in New York (where this winter has been particularly cold, meaning more are reaching for their furs) compared to other fashion cities.
The fur aesthetic is also showing up in more collections. Fforme, Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Lii, Anna Sui, Altuzarra, Khaite, and more put furry pieces down the runway in the form of big, long coats, wraps, hats and trims. A$AP Rocky, showing his label AWGE in New York for the first time, did a victory lap wearing a voluminous fur snood wrapped around his head.
Much of it was shearling, which has become a sort of fur workaround for fashion. Shearling — made from lamb or sheep wool and skin— is fur, but it’s exempt from most fur bans (including the CFDA’s) based on it being a byproduct of the agriculture industry, not from animals killed for the sole purpose of being worn.
Designers have embraced it. Calvin Klein’s Veronica Leoni said post-show on Friday that a fur stole that headed down the runway, draped over an all-denim outfit, was braided shearling, which was dyed and assembled to resemble fur, “to get that feeling of richness and boldness”. Joseph Altuzarra said that the opening look of his Saturday show — a long, black fur coat topped with a belted leather vest — was also shearling. “We have an amazing leather and shearling manufacturer we work with, and we’ve developed with them a shearling that looks like fur,” he said. Michael Kors’s big red fur coat and other fur pieces? Also shearling. Meanwhile, on The RealReal, Shearling searches are up 246% year-on-year.
Off the runway, brands like Nour Hammour and Arma — worn by many NYFW attendees this season — are making a name for themselves with shearling (and leather) jackets that, the brands emphasize, are made from byproducts of the agriculture industry. It’s become a free pass. “Shearling is the only way we can sell to certain designers,” Pologeorgis says, though he’s not sure that anti-fur groups won’t target shearling next. “We’re seeing shearling become more prominent in fashion,” says PJ Smith, the director of fashion policy for the Humane World of Animals. “Shearling could create demand for more fur.”
That there’s demand is undeniable. “We do see a measurable correlation between runway visibility and consumer interest,” says Noelle Sciacca, head of fashion and strategic partnerships at The RealReal. “When a material or a silhouette is prominently featured in key collections, it typically drives a subsequent increase in search activity and engagement on our platform.” The RealReal has seen a surge in interest following an increase in fur use across FW25 collections, reflecting renewed consumer interest, Sciacca adds. Searches for “vintage fur coats” are currently up 191% year-on-year on the site.
Other designers, like Anna Sui, used faux fur, though faux’s popularity has waned, according to The RealReal. “On our platform, interest in vintage real fur is currently outpacing faux fur,” says Sciacca.
From a sales perspective, demand for real vintage fur has grown by nearly 200% year-on-year, outpacing faux fur, which saw a 118% increase over the same period.” The debate between real and faux is split between one side that argues real fur is a natural, biodegradable material unlike faux, which is often made from petroleum-based materials; the other won’t look past the animal cruelty associated with the fur trade. A burgeoning industry of naturally derived faux furs is hoping to offer another option; Collina Strada partnered with Biofluff on her FW26 collection. A hood, a jacket, a scarf and an arm warmer seen on the runway resembling shearling were actually made from 100% plant-based fibers. At Diotima, fur-looking collars that looked like the real thing were made of viscose.
From shearling manipulated to look like fur, to the popularity of vintage pieces and the progress toward natural faux fur options, are we really able to feel better about fur? What does it mean for a shrinking industry that demand is so high? Even when alternatives like vintage and faux are worn, the aesthetic remains the same, furthering the idea that fur is desirable. “When we look at these products, we don’t know the difference. That is a problem, and if someone seeing it thinks it looks cool and goes and buys a new fur, then we have a problem with demand going up,” says Smith.
But, he says, the goal is to not eliminate the fur aesthetic, but rather move the industry in such a direction that all fur will be faux. “I could say the entire aesthetic is wrong, but when we started working with a lot of fashion schools, we started realizing it is an aesthetic that is a creative outlet for designers, that isn’t linked to cruelty,” Smith says. “Ultimately, we could get to a place where we just know it’s faux, because the real thing doesn’t exist in the market anymore. And you still have the luxury feel and price point.”
For that to happen, though, faux fur would need to improve in quality, and shake the stigma that it’s an environmentally worse option than vintage. Bio-based fur remains nascent, and so long as shearling is an acceptable option for designers to use and make it look like mink, we’re going to see more furs on the streets of New York and beyond even as new production declines.
Pologeorgis sums up the shrug-off: “I think people feel like they have other things to worry about.”
With additional reporting by Madeleine Schulz.
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