Faux fur has increasingly become more popular for fashion designers to incorporate throughout their collections. 

Today’s technology gives faux fur the qualities and techniques as real fur. 

Hannah Weiland, founder of Shrimps, a London-based faux fur company, says, “I love working with faux fur because it doesn't molt and it feels just as soft. If the faux kind feels as good, why use the real kind?” 

Weiland is not the only designer taking advantage of faux fur qualities. Additionally, Stella McCartney, a designer with a reputation for ethical and sustainable fashion, incorporates faux fur throughout her collections with tagged patches reading “Fur Free Fur.” 

In 2014, Hugo Boss pledged to become fur-free publicly in their 2014 Sustainability Report, relaying the message that animal cruelty is never fashionable. They look forward to moving on through the use of faux fur in their future collections. 

However, the notion of sustainability and ethics aren’t always the reasoning behind designers decision for faux instead of real fur. The ability to control more aspects of manufacturing such as color and volume is one reason designers choose faux. 

De Libran, the artistic director for Sonia Rykiel, incorporates both real and faux fur in her collections. Her incorporation of faux is based on the playfulness it portrays in her garments through the color and volume she is able to create. 

In other brands, Prada embraced synthetics in their Fall/Winter 2007 collection. Miuccia Prada, the brand’s owner and designer, commented she was bored with real fur, and as a result, she included all faux in her collection that year. However, today, Prada has been using both real and faux fur throughout their garments. 

In addition, Dries Van Noten, Hussein Chalayan, Julien David, Julie de Libran for Sonia Rykiel, Kate Spade, and many others all featured faux fur in their fall collections.