Saks Fifth Avenue says it will stop selling wool in 2023
Designer clothing retailer Saks Fifth Avenue will stop selling animal fur at the end of the 2022 financial year, the company announced on Wednesday.
The elimination applies to both Saks fur coats and to partners selling online and in stores, the company said in a statement.
“Beyond the experience of Saks Fifth Avenue, we look at many factors when making decisions about our commitment, including customer preferences and social change,” Tracy Margolies, Saks’ chief Merchandising Officer, said in a statement. “We see that styles are constantly changing, and that the sale of wool remains a major social problem. Therefore, removing it from our species is the right thing to do at this time.”
Animal rights activists gather in front of Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City on March 6, 2021. Lev Radin / Pacific Press / LightRocket by Getty Images
Saks plans to close all its wool salons by the end of the 2021 financial year, which expires on January 29, 2022. It will end the sale of wool products to retailers by the end of the 2022 financial year, which expires on January 28, 2023.
Saks Fifth Avenue, owned by Hudson’s Bay Company and owns 45 properties, plans to close all its fur salons by the end of the 2021 financial year.
The luxury retailer will also work closely with retailer partners to end the sale of wool products online and in stores by the end of the 2022 financial year.
Saks will continue to sell counterfeit wool products, as well as sheepskin, sheepskin, goat skin, cowhide, floor and leather.
The retailer follows Nordstrom, which has said it will halt the sale of wool and the sale of rare animal skins by the end of 2021, as well as Macy and Bloomingdale, who had committed to stopping fur sales by the end of the 2020 financial year.
The people of Ethical Treatment of Animals have hailed Saks’ decision, in a statement that the animal rights group has been protesting the store’s business for years.
“May its ‘furry sites’ rest in pieces, as they will not be missed by today’s consumers, who no longer find it acceptable to pull them off from the skin of an agitated animal,” PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement.