Canada Goose to end the use of all fur on its pricey parkas

Canada Goose has finally surrendered in a long, bloody battle with animal-rights groups.

The Toronto-based company said Thursday it will no longer use fur to manufacture its pricey winter coats, ending years of skirmishes with activists who cited cruel trapping methods and the increased availability of high-performance synthetic materials.

Canada Goose — whose defection from fur follows similar moves by luxury retailers including Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom — said it will phase out fur starting this year and will end the practice entirely by 2022. The company, however, will continue to use goose feathers to insulate its heavy winter jackets.

The company had been a stubborn holdout in its battles over fur with animal rights groups, which have waged public protests outside its stores and at its shareholder meetings using gruesome photos of mangled coyotes to pressure Canada Goose into getting rid of the fur trim on its coat hoods.

In April 2020, the company made a concession announcing that it would stop using the fur of freshly killed coyotes and switch to reclaimed or used fur for the trim of its $1,000 parkas.

“By reusing fur that is reclaimed, we’re just taking a resource that’s already sustainable and making it even more sustainable,” Chief Executive Dani Reiss said at the time. “The fact that we’ve been targeted did not factor into this decision at all.”

Canada Goose has been the target of animal rights activists for years
Michael Dalton for NY Post

He noted that coyote fur is superior to synthetic materials in extreme weather because it blocks wind better, rejects moisture and doesn’t freeze.

Nevertheless, Canada Goose has begun to make more products without fur. This year, the company introduced its “most sustainable parka to date” the Standard Expedition, pointing to its uses of recycled nylon.

“Our focus has always been on making products that deliver exceptional quality, protection from the elements, and perform the way consumers need them to; this decision transforms how we will continue to do just that,” Reiss said in a Thursday statement. “At the same time, we are accelerating the sustainable evolution of our designs.”

The company worked with the animal-rights group Human Canada on its latest fur policy.

animal rights groups protest outside of a Canada Goose store
Animal rights groups have been effective in pressuring retailers to stop using fur.
Michael Dalton for NY Post

In a Thursday statement, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said it will suspend its international campaigns against Canada Goose over its use of fur — but signaled it isn’t through with the company yet.

“After years of eye-catching protests, hard-hitting exposés, celebrity actions, and legal battles, as the company has finally conceded and will stop using fur – sparing sensitive, intelligent, coyotes from being caught and killed in barbaric steel traps,” PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement.

“PETA will now re-engage the company to push for an end to its use of feathers, which geese and ducks continue to suffer for,” she added.

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