NEW YORK—The Council of Fashion Designers of America, which owns and organizes the Fashion Calendar for New York Fashion Week, announced today that it will no longer promote animal fur at any Official New York Fashion Week Schedule events, including on its Fashion Calendar, social media channel and website. As a continuation of past program collaboration, the announcement follows years of engagement with Humane World for Animals and Collective Fashion Justice.
Beginning with September 2026 New York Fashion Week, the Council of Fashion Designers of America will no longer permit animal fur in collections on the Official New York Fashion Week Schedule. This timeline gives designers space to adjust their materials and show plans.
Farmed or trapped fur from animals killed specifically for their pelts — including but not limited to mink, fox, rabbit, karakul lamb, chinchilla, coyote, and raccoon dog — is not allowed.
An exemption applies only to animal fur obtained by Indigenous communities through traditional subsistence hunting practices.
The Council of Fashion Designers of America will support designers through this transition and continue to provide resources on alternatives.
While the Council of Fashion Designers of America encourages each designer to make decisions for their own business needs, to help align New York Fashion Week designers with this position, the Council of Fashion Designers of America is committed to offering educational materials and a material library so they can explore more innovative and sustainable materials.
This position aligns with London Fashion Week, which ended its promotion of fur in 2023, as well as fashion weeks in Copenhagen, Berlin, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Helsinki and Melbourne. Earlier this year, Conde Nast, owner of Vogue, Vanity Fair and Glamour, banned animal fur in editorial content or advertising, following similar policies from ELLE and InStyle magazines.
"There is already little to no fur shown at New York Fashion Week, but by taking this position, the Council of Fashion Designers of America hopes to inspire American designers to think more deeply about the fashion industry’s impact on animals. 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,” said Steven Kolb, CEO and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
“The Council of Fashion Designers of America has further cemented its position as a leading, innovative fashion council on the global stage by formally moving beyond unethical and unsustainable animal fur. At Collective Fashion Justice, we hope Milan and Paris fashion weeks will follow the Council of Fashion Designers of America and British Fashion Council’s lead, with our support,” said Emma Håkansson, founding director of Collective Fashion Justice.
“We applaud the Council of Fashion Designers of America for using its unique influence on American fashion to help usher in a fur-free future. 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,” said PJ Smith, director of fashion policy at Humane World for Animals.
