In anticipation of winter coat season, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals demonstrated Wednesday outside of luxury coat-maker Canada Goose’s flagship store on North Michigan Avenue in protest of the brand’s use of down and coyote fur for its coats.
The 63-year-old Toronto-based brand, with parkas priced upward of $1,000, has made the winter coats of choice for many shoppers for several years running, resulting in long lines of people waiting to get into the store as soon as temperatures dip.
Wednesday’s protest, organized by PETA campaigner and Chicagoan Jonathan Horn, included a group of nearly 20 demonstrators clad in fake Canada Goose coats chanting “Canada Goose has blood on their hands” as a slow trickle of shoppers made their way into the shop. The protest soon turned into a performance with PETA members lying on the sidewalk doused in fake blood and crying out as if they were trapped coyotes whose fur is used to trim Canada Goose parkas.
“Consumers today are compassionate individuals and no one likes to see an animal suffering. Many of them are not aware of the cruelty that goes into a Canada Goose jacket. That’s why we’re out here, to show that there is no such thing as humane fur or down,” said Horn.
In just the last few years, a long list of fashion’s biggest brands, including Gucci, Chanel and Burberry, have stopped using fur in their designs; and earlier this year, Canada Goose announced it will end the purchase of new fur in 2022 and use reclaimed fur that is already in the supply chain.
“Canada Goose is attempting to humane wash their image by switching to reclaimed fur,” said Horn. “Whether that coyote was killed recently in a fur trap or killed sometime in the past in a fur trap, it was still ripped off the body of someone who did not want to die. The goal is to put pressure on Canada Goose to switch over to using compassionate vegan alternatives that don’t use animals. We are urging consumers to choose vegan alternatives, and you can go to peta.org to see a list of jackets that are warm and animal friendly for the upcoming winter season.”
In an emailed statement, Canada Goose representatives said, “When we opened our flagship store in Chicago three years ago we received a warm, Midwest welcome and quickly became a necessity for Chicagoans with our function-first, high-performance apparel. At Canada Goose, we are deeply committed to the sustainable sourcing and responsible use of all materials in our products and our standards reflect that commitment. In April, we further strengthened those standards with the release of our Sustainable Impact Strategy, our inaugural Sustainability Report. Outlined in this report is our commitment to being 100 percent Responsible Down Standard-certified by 2021, as well as the introduction of reclaimed fur into our supply chain. We remain steadfast in our transparency about where and how we make our products and the standards that guide us. As another notorious Chicago winters begins, we are proud to continue to serve this beloved, Windy City.”
