September 26, 2013 by Johan Dalén
For as long as I can remember, I have been a supporter of the Swedish football team Mjällby AIF. The club has its roots in Listerlandet in the eastern part of Sweden where I was born and raised. Listerlandet – or plainly Lister – is rural Sweden in a nutshell, and all the people who live in Lister are related to agricultural activities in some way or the other. Truth be told, Mjällby AIF is not a team competing for … Continue reading
August 21, 2013 by Mick Madsen
At current prices, the economic value of fur is 533 euro per kg, while the value of cotton is 1,32 euro per kilo. Said in another way, one will need to produce 403 times more cotton than fur in order to gain the same economic value. Now, why is this relevant? It is relevant because export, job creation, investments and tax income are all closely attached to economic value, and if you want to criticise fur for being environmentally more … Continue reading
July 18, 2013 by Christina Rehnberg
”You are going to work for the fur-industry? I can’t respect you in the same way anymore”. This, among others, was a reaction I received, when I told my friends where I was going to work during the summer. I’ve been working as an intern at the European Fur Breeders’ Association for almost three weeks now, and can gladly say that it has been a very informative and enjoyable experience. I’ve learnt a great deal about how the fur industry … Continue reading
July 4, 2013 by Mick Madsen
Last weekend I went to the Couleur Café Festival in Brussels. Saturday’s headliner was Macklemore & Ryan Lewis who flooded the airwaves of Europe with ‘Thrift Shop’ this spring, a song which may be about creating a unique, personal style through second hand shopping – or it might just be a one finger salute to the consumer society. Or simply an excuse to rap a ton of bad words. Whatever the deeper meaning of the song, a silly scene played … Continue reading
July 2, 2013 by Mille Merrild
My first encounter with animal rights activists was last month when I went to the open farm event in Sweden. I had hired a Swedish video photographer in order to create a video of the event, however we were so lucky that a small group of four activists showed up to have a look around the mink farm. Even though I have been involved somehow with the fur industry my entire life, I have never actually had any form for … Continue reading
June 17, 2013 by Mick Madsen
This month is a proud one for the European fur sector. The European Fur Breeders’ Association publishes its animal welfare protocols for mink and fox, and, in my opinion, this may well mark the beginning of a new chapter in European agricultural industries. The WelFur protocols contain more than 30 years of animal welfare science for fur farmed species and as such WelFur is the new scientific reference for animal welfare in fur farmed species. The protocols are also the … Continue reading
June 5, 2013 by Mick Madsen
The only thing you gain more of when you share it, is knowledge. When European fur powerhouses like Saga Furs and Kopenhagen Fur invite designers to their creative workshops at Saga Design Centre and Kopenhagen Studio to learn the delicate fur craft techniques, the designers improve their creative opportunities immensely, and it is a rare designer who opposes further creative opportunities. It is, of course, a business strategy, and it works very well too. 2/3 of the designers on the … Continue reading
May 15, 2013 by Mille Merrild
On Sunday the 12th of May, ten Danish fur breeders opened up their mink farms to the public and I went and visited one of those farms. Even though I have worked with mink before and know about the daily life of the farm pretty well, I still feel that there’s something very special about the first time you are visiting a new farm. The farm I visited in Denmark is placed on the west coast of Jutland and Jens … Continue reading
April 26, 2013 by Mick Madsen
Yesterday the EU General Court handed down its ruling in a legal case where Canadian Inuits and the Fur Institute of Canada tried to annul the 2009 EU ban on seal products. The court rejected the claim saying that the EU law already protects the interests of Inuit communities by authorising the sale of seal products that “result from hunts traditionally conducted by such indigenous communities for the purpose of their existence” – the so-called Inuit exemption. Very generous of … Continue reading