‘Chilling cruelty, unspeakable suffering and corporate denial’: the TRUE cost of the season’s must have fur-trimmed Canada Goose coat
By Laura Collins 23 January 2014
They have made America their new frontier, forging into the US clothing market to become one of the season’s most recognisable brands with sales of Canada Goose outerwear expected to top $30million this year alone.
In a high profile year in the States, Kate Upton has appeared on the front of Sports Illustrated in one of their fur trimmed, down jackets and nothing much else.
It isn’t the only firm to market such coats, yet Canada Goose has rapidly established itself as the label of choice for the well-known and the well-heeled braving the frigid weather blown in on the polar vortex.
But today MailOnline can reveal that allegations of chilling cruelty and unspeakable animal suffering have been repeatedly levelled at this family business turned multimillion dollar concern.
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+11The real cost of a $600 coat: Campaigners claim the coyotes that are trapped and skinned for their fur to trim the hoods of Canada Goose coats can be in pain for days. It is unclear whether these images are from Canada Goose trappers but the firm does use the same leg holds
+11Exhausted, alone and all out of fight, this Coyote awaits its inevitable fate having been caught in a trap by its right hind leg
According to animal rights activists, behind every fur trimmed hood and down stuffed coat is a brutal reality of Coyotes trapped and left to suffer in the wilderness.
Many of today’s ethically aware consumers would never dream of buying a full length fur. But in an odd quirk of the current trend for this style of garment those same shoppers pull on a coyote trimmed coat without a moment’s concern for the origins of that little flurry of fur.
Lindsay Rajt, Director of Campaigns for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said: ‘Canada Goose uses exclusively Coyote fur on the trim of their coats and those animals are trapped in a way that is just inherently cruel.’
According to a spokesperson for the firm: ‘The trapping of fur-bearing animals is strictly regulated by the provincial and territorial wildlife departments in Canada.
‘We purchase coyote furs from certified Canadian trappers, never from fur farms or endangered animals.
+11Kate Upton going ‘Polar Bare’ on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s 2013 Swimsuit edition, wearing a smile, a white Canada Goose parka and not much else
But PETA has dismissed the standards as ‘window dressing.’
Mr Rajt said: ‘The company’s reference to AIHTS standards is meaningless and a way of placating and silencing people with valid concerns.
‘Leg hold traps are still legal in Canada. Mother animals will chew off their limbs in order to get back to their young. The trapped animal might be there for days before the trapper comes and finds them, they are frightened and starving and in pain during that time. And then they’re bludgeoned or strangled to death or shot.’
+11A trapped Coyote howls in pain, its right forepaw held tight in the jaws of a leg hold trap – legal under the AIHTS but cruel according to PETA
+11Trapped Coyotes can struggle to get free for days until the hunter returns to check his traps. Mother animals separated from their young attempt to chew off their own limbs in a bid for freedom
Ms Rajt revealed that PETA is this week appealing to Canada Goose to abandon their use of fur in favour of synthetic alternatives and to dump their use of real down stuffing.
She said: ‘PETA is reaching out to Canada Goose to urge the company to switch to innovative, synthetic fur like their top competitor Helly Hansen, which has been fur-free for many years.
‘Additionally, we are asking that Canada Goose dump down and opt for revolutionary synthetic technology like the one recently developed by The North Face – Thermoball, which mimics down but offers superior versality.’
Ms Rajt claimed: ‘We have been trying to meet with this company, we’ve been trying to engage with them since 2006.
‘The CEO originally agreed to meet with us in 2008 to discuss trapping policies and methods but just never confirmed that meeting and then failed to make himself available to any of our follow ups.
‘It is a challenging company for us to work with.’
+11Meg Ryan pictured last month in New York’s West Village. Canada Goose’s concerted effort to win the US market has seen it become a celebrity brand of choice
+11Andrew Garfield and girlfriend Emma Stone in their Canada Goose parkas on a shopping trip in New York
+11Actress Clare Danes wearing her Canada Goose parka with its distinctive Coyote trim while braving the New York chill
But according to a spokesperson for the company: ‘We’ve corresponded with PETA on numerous occasions and it quickly became evident that they were not interested in a constructive conversation.’
Canada Goose was founded in 1957 and has enjoyed remarkable success and rapid growth across the past decade when it started marketing it’s ‘truly Canadian’ ethos to Europe.
PETA Director of Campaigns, Lindsay Rajt, on Canada Goose’s refusal to meet
Today the company employs more than 1000 people and sells its products in more than 50 countries across the world.
It continues to manufacture its coats in Toronto and Winnipeg but recently opened its first US Headquarters in Denver, Colorado. Last year it became the official sponsor of the Sundance Film Festival and US Equity firm, Bain, recently bought a majority stake in the hitherto entirely Canadian enterprise.
+11Real fur real suffering: Canada Goose President Dani Reese flanked by his company’s distinctive outerwear. He says the company uses Coyote fur ‘because it works’
+11The extreme weather outerwear is manufactured in Toronto and Winnipeg though US Equity firm, Bain, now owns a majority stakehold
+11Founded in 1957 the family company Canada Goose now employs more than 1000 people and sells its garments in more than 50 countries
Canada Goose President Danni Reiss is very clear in his assessment of the importance of the US market to his brand. He said, ‘The States is a market with one of the greatest potentials in the world. The US is growing faster than the overall company.’
Speaking in a corporate video Mr Reiss explained: ‘We use Coyote fur for a number of reasons. Number one, Coyote fur works – it’s functional, it provides warmth around the face in a way no synthetic fabric can. It does that in the coldest places on earth and it is important to realise that sometimes urban centres and cities can feel like the coldest places on earth.’
Coyote fur doesn’t freeze, doesn’t hold moisture, retains heat and is biodegradable.
Ms Rajt dismissed the necessity of real fur saying: ‘They actually do have some faux fur trim products and there’s a market for that. There’s no reason why they couldn’t switch completely.’
A spokesperson for Canada Goose said: ‘We understand PETA’s concerns and we respect the right of people to choose not to wear fur, however, we know PETA does not respect our ethical, responsible use of fur so further conversation won’t be productive.’
But Ms Rajt insisted: ‘I just don’t believe that half the people wearing these coats understand what’s really involved in the making of them. And I just don’t believe that they would make that same choice if it was an informed one.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2544075/Revealed-Chilling-cruelty-unspeakable-suffering-corporate-denial-Is-TRUE-cost-seasons-Canada-Goose-coat.html#ixzz2rYL8KOiR Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Exposing the Big Game 
So the spokesperson defends the indefensible by stating that they never use fur from fur farms or endangered animals. Firstly, whether a leghold trap victim or a fur farm victim suffers more is not a matter that is quantifiable. Perhaps a fur farm victims suffers longer and a trap victims suffers more intensely. Perhaps not. Since when is it necessary to choose between two unnecessary evils? As for endangered animals–they get caught in leghold traps all the time. The traps may be set for coyotes, but they are indiscriminate, and will catch and kill anyone interested in the bait. Including endangered species.
Reblogged this on "OUR WORLD".
Not only fur trimmed jackets but the down comes from the extremely cruel foie gras industry:(((((
We are an empty-headed country.
Use faux fur !!! I wear it all the time and nobody was killed … This an industry that needs to be put out of business There is nothing glamorous about a dead fur draped on your body
I was 15 when I realized this as I wore my fox fur hat to the pious church service that someone had actually given up their life, very painfully, for my vanity!
I never wore it again, and it sits in a box of reverence on a shelf silently sad
Never, never again I vowed to my ignorance … No one I know wears fur, if they did I would speak out … ‘That would be much more beautiful on its owner .’ ..
No excuse here, none !
Amen to that.
“Warm about the face” what a crock! It’s purely decorative only.
Yep
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I’d like to skin that bitch and wear her around my neck. WTF Jim! I’m so sick of these sociopaths killing all of our precious animals and stupid fucking Hollywood Ass Fucks wearing fur and down acting like they shit soft-serve in 3 flavors. Someone should call Meg Ryan and tell her Mick Jagger wants his lips back!
Reblogged this on Girl for Animal Liberation.
This is ghastly. It doesn’t sound as though they care too much either. Not that they should be trapping any animals at all, but I have never understood why anyone is allowed to use these traps – why are they even legal? They are designed to cause pain. Isn’t it bad enough they want to kill the poor animals in the first place without adding to their misery.
I agonize with the animals trapped in leg traps as well as the animals in fur farms, which sadly still exist in Sweden. Mink farms are still present here and there are about 170 of them in operation, along with a few farms raising ferrets, chinchillas and also rabbits for their fur. Totally disgusting and animal rights groups are working very hard to put an end to all of them.
Reblogged this on Wolf Is My Soul and commented:
If you by chance wear a fur-trimmed hood on your winter coat – make sure is faux fur and not the real deal!!
My home town had -50 weather this year and I was warm and toasty in a nice technical shell jacket. And I didn’t freeze to death either.
Whatever happened to the wonderfully inventive practice of splashing red paint on fur-wearing bimbos (and quasi-bimbos of the male persuasion)? We don’t hear much about that anymore. I wonder how popular those Canada Goose parkas would remain if would-be customers knew that by wearing them they were openly inviting an assault. A water pistol filled with paint is a stealthy way of sending an indelible message to those who don’t care about the suffering their sartorial preferences cause.