Promotion of animal fur at New York Fashion Week (NYFW) will no longer be allowed, the event’s owner and organizer has announced.
The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) says it will no longer promote animal fur at official NYFW events or through any of its media channels.
It says the decision follows years of engagement with advocacy organizations Humane World for Animals and Collective Fashion Justice.
Designers will be given support for sourcing alternative products and modifying their show plans before the next NYFW in September 2026.
The only exception to the new ban is for designers that use animal fur obtained by Indigenous communities through traditional subsistence hunting practices.
“There is already little to no fur shown at NYFW, but by taking this position, the CFDA hopes to inspire American designers to think more deeply about the fashion industry’s impact on animals,” said Steven Kolb, CFDA’s CEO and president.
“Consumers are moving away from products associated with animal cruelty, and we want to position American fashion as a leader on those fronts, while also driving material innovation.”
“We applaud the CFDA for using its unique influence on American fashion to help usher in a fur-free future,” said PJ Smith, director of fashion policy at Humane World for Animals.
“It’s policies like this that are paving the way for material innovation that will create a cleaner, more humane fashion industry without sacrificing creativity and beauty.”
The decision brings NYFW in line with numerous other major fashion events and organizations that have stopped promoting fur.
London Fashion Week ended fur promotion in 2023 and other fashion weeks including in Copenhagen, Berlin, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Helsinki and Melbourne have already followed suit.
Condé Nast, the media company that runs numerous influential fashion publications including Vogue and Glamour, also recently announced it was to prohibit new fur from editorial content and advertising across its brands.
Worldwide animal fur production in 2024 was down an estimated 85% compared to 2014, according to Humane World for Animals.
