The petition was set up on Change.org a fortnight ago – however, with this season’s LFW officially opening in just two days, the number of signatures has more than doubled over the course of the day.
Soon, it will be personally delivered to the British Fashion Council, which stages LFW twice a year.
‘We are delighted with how well the petition has been received,’ Ed told Metro.co.uk.
‘This just shows that fur is no longer wanted or even deemed acceptable by the public, and only exists within the realms of an out-of-touch fashion industry that, instead of being forward-thinking, is reluctant to move beyond its outdated transgressions.’
He said the group also held a two-day protest outside the last LFW in September, and are planning on doing the same this weekend.
‘It’s great to see so many people expressing their outrage at LFW for giving a platform to one of the cruelest, most abhorrent industries on the planet,’ he continued.
‘The issue of fur is something that disturbs a whole range of different people, and isn’t only a concern for animal rights activists.
‘The comments on the petition really show that.’
A number of designers already shun fur – for example Stella McCartney, whose designs are all fully vegan, and Vivienne Westwood, who went completely fur-free in 2007.
But at the same time, fur has seen a resurgence in the fashion world over the last few years. Many, many designers are not only continuing to use fur, but often centre entire collections around it.
Writing on the petition, Ed describes in graphic, yet necessary detail how fur-farmed animals are killed.
He writes:
Every year the fur industry is responsible for the death of one billion rabbits and 50million other animals – including foxes, minks, dogs, cats, raccoons, chinchillas, seals and many more.
Most of these animals are raised in fur farms, intensive facilities where the animals are kept in tiny cages and confined to a life of misery.
These farms can hold thousands of animals and are designed to specifically maximise profits. These animals go insane performing psychotic, repetitive behaviours such as circling endlessly in their cages, as well as cannibalism and self-mutilation.
The most common methods of killing animals in fur farms is anal electrocution, gassing, poisoning or stomping on the animals and breaking their necks.
These are all done to try and preserve the quality of the fur.
Ed told Metro.co.uk that while protesting outside previous LFWs, he’s realised that a lot of people don’t realise the fur they’re wearing is real.
‘It’s horrible for the people who believe they are making an ethical choice but are actually being lied to, and are inadvertently supporting the very industry they believe their purchase is opposing,’ he added.
Resent investigations have found that ‘faux’ fur at major high street shops was actually made from dead dog, cat and raccoon, imported cheaply from outside the EU.
According to Ed, some people have even stopped in front of them and taken the fur collars off their coats after realising they may not really be faux.
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