Florida student wins animal-friendly design competition
November 15th, 2008 by admin
Congratulations to Gohar Rajabzadeh, a student at Miami International University of Art & Design, for being named the winner of this year’s Cool vs Cruel fashion design competition. The annual competition, sponsored by The Humane Society of the United States and The Art Institutes, celebrates fur-free, animal-friendly fashions. Click here to see Gohar’s winning entry, a faux fur coat.
This year, online retailers Overstock.com and Zappos.com announced that they would no longer sell fur on their websites. The designer Max Azria (BCBG) also adopted a fur-free philosophy in 2008, joining a growing list of fur-free designers and labels such as Betsey Johnson, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Stella McCartney, and Nicole Miller.
Despite this positive trend toward cruelty-free design, there are still a number of clothing companies (such as Burberry, and Escada) and retailers (Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus) that continue to work with the bloody fur industry.
Each year on the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year, activists gather to protest the fur trade. Join ARFF this year on “Fur Free Friday.” We will gather in Miami at The Bal Harbour Shops, and in Orlando outside the Mall at Millenia. Visit our website calendar for details.