The city of Los Angeles is known for its glamorous and glitzy lifestyle but those who live in the city may have to say goodbye to wearing animal fur altogether. Los Angeles along with three other cities in California, including San Francisco, are poised to ban the sale of fur products.
Some of the different products that will be affected include clothing, jewelry, handbags, hats, earmuffs, and keychains. It was a unanimous vote by the City Council and now it is in the city attorney’s hand to draft legislation. That legislation will then be presented to the Council again for final approval.
This isn’t going to happen right away and it will take a couple of years before it is in full effect.
“This is something that is not just a good legislative win, it’s a moral win,” councillor Bob Blumenfield, who was one of the councilmen who submitted the motion, told the Los Angeles Times.
“We feel like we’re evolving as a city, as people to stop this kind of unnecessary cruelty.”
The sale of new fur products will be phased out by 2020. There is an exemption being considered for animal fur when it is used for religious purposes and pelts were taken to someone within the city with a fur trapping license in California.
Los Angeles is home to some of the largest fashion centers in the world. Many of the citizens in Los Angeles and around the globe are applauding their stand.
Although buying animal fur will be a no-no in the city, people can make the purchase elsewhere. It is hoped that Los Angeles will set the stage for other major cities to do the same, including Chicago, Miami, and New York City.
“If consumers weren’t buying it, fashion houses wouldn’t be designing it, and manufacturers wouldn’t be making it,” Keith Kaplan, a spokesman for the Fur Information Council of America, said.
Not everybody agrees with the decision.
Animal fur is a multibillion-dollar industry and more than 1 million people are employed within it. LA is sure to take a large economic hit because they are a major fur retailer.
“There’s a lot of fur sold in LA. It’s in over 500 designer collections, it’s on shoes, it’s on handbags,” Kaplan said. “So yes, it will have an impact on jobs, it will have an impact on tax revenues.”
