Los Angeles has become the biggest city in the U.S. to turn its back on animal fur.
The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to ban the sale of fur within the city limits. The move comes six months after San Francisco passed a similar ban earlier this year.
"We are excited to bring to end a cruel and inhumane practice," City Council member Paul Koretz told WWD. "LA has been a leader on humane issues and this is a great next step in that arena."
The council has yet to put a deadline on the sale of fur products within its remit, but the news was welcomed by the animal welfare organization Humane Society International, which hopes the concept of an outright ban will spread to other places, such as the UK.
"A cruel product like fur has no place in the City of Angels, and we applaud the Los Angeles City council for taking a moral stand," said HSI UK's Executive Director Claire Bass in a statement. "Now it is time for the UK government to show equal compassion and listen to the vast majority of British people who want the UK to become the first country in the world to fully ban the sale of animal fur."
PJ Smith, Senior Manager of Fashion Policy for the Humane Society International's U.S. affiliate, added: "Los Angeles's decision to ban fur sales, along with recent fur-free announcements from well-known fashion brands and retailers -- including Burberry, Gucci, Versace and Net-a-Porter -- should make it clear that the future of fashion is fur-free."
LA's new approach sees it joins a tidal wave of support for the growing anti-fur movement -- West Hollywood passed a similar ban in 2011, and Berkeley followed last year. Multiple fashion houses have recently made public their plans to discontinue the use of fur, including. Gucci, Burberry, Michael Kors, Jimmy Choo and Versace, while this week's London Fashion Week was an entirely fur-free event.
