Australian Fashion Week bans feathers, exotic skins and fur, becomes wildlife free
Melbourne ,14 May,2025
Australian Fashion Week has just banned all wildlife materials including fur, wild animal skins and feathers. The move comes after years of advocacy by organisations including World Animal Protection and Collective Fashion Justice, with CFJ’s founder writing the new policy alongside Australian Fashion Council’s CEO. The May runways will be completely free from wildlife exploitation, with the policy coming into immediate effect.
AFW follows Melbourne Fashion Week, Melbourne Fashion Festival, Copenhagen and Berlin Fashion Week in enacting such a policy, with all of these policies developed with the support of World Animal Protection and Collective Fashion Justice. London Fashion Week has also banned fur and wild animal skins, though not yet feathers for all designers, following this consultation.
Group of young common ostrich, Struthio camelus walking together on the open plains and all looking in the same direction; Shutterstock ID 781464565; purchase_order: EOYF 24; job: ; client: World Animal Protection;
Emma Hakansson, founding director of Collective Fashion Justice said: “With Australian Fashion Week now led by the Australian Fashion Council, this new policy shows the Council is moving the Australian fashion industry in a more sustainable and ethical direction. Killing wild animals for fashion is unacceptable, particularly given the array of bio-based, sustainable and ethical materials that can be used in place of fur, skins and feathers for a similar visual effect.”
“With all major Australian fashion week events now totally wildlife-free, our country’s fashion industry should be proud to be leading a global shift towards ethical and sustainable fashion. Australian commercial industries caging native crocodiles and shooting indigenous kangaroos for international fashion brands should take note: there is no future for this wildlife exploitation, it is time for a just transition beyond it.”
Suzanne Milthorpe, Head of Campaigns at World Animal Protection Australia said:
“This latest announcement is a reminder that the fashion industry can be a positive force for wildlife, and change the lives of crocodiles, ostriches, minks and more.
“We are seeing a domino effect of fashion events around Australia and the world rejecting exotic skins, feathers and fur. With this new wildlife friendly policy, Australian Fashion Week have joined the growing list of runways that are embracing innovative alternatives to cruelty.”
In 2022, World Animal Protection and Collective Fashion Justice secured a commitment from the City of Sydney that it would not offer grants to events supporting wildlife exploitation through fur, wild animal skins and feathers. The organisations also collaborated on a pop-up activation at AFW asking people their views on wildlife use in fashion. Show attendees said that wildlife cruelty was out of fashion, and on today’s Sydney runways, it finally is.
World Animal Protection and Collective Fashion Justice continue to call on the wider fashion industry to end its reliance on wildlife exploitation as a source of materials by investing in ethical, sustainable and innovative alternatives, in line with consumer expectation.
About World Animal Protection:
World Animal Protection is the global voice for animal welfare, with more than 70 years of experience campaigning for a world where animals live free from cruelty and suffering. Our work to protect animals will play a vital role in solving the climate emergency, the public health crisis, and the devastation of natural habitats.
About Collective Fashion Justice:
Collective Fashion Justice is a charity dedicated to creating a total ethics fashion system; one which values the life and wellbeing of people, our fellow animals and the planet before profit.
Our organisation works primarily across Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, reporting on fashion’s injustices, consulting on legislative change with policymakers, working with brands to improve their ethics and sustainability, and transforming how the next generation of fashion students are taught about these issues. We also release investigative works, and offer free educational resources to the public.
