Norway Bans Fur From Oslo Fashion Week

Kjell Nordström and Fam Irvoll of Mote Mot Pels

2011 is going to be the year that the fur industry is undone, once and for all. Already, Norway has made history by banning fur from the runways at Oslo Fashion Week. Just check out the size of the list of fashion industry professionals in Oslo who are openly and vehemently against fur. This is huge considering the climate, the culture, and the proximity to so much of the neighboring fur-farming countries. Once again, we Americans are shamefully lagging behind much of the developed world when it comes to ethics. New York Fashion Week could learn a thing or two from Norway. Ecouterre reports:

Any fur that flies at Oslo Fashion Week in February will be strictly metaphorical. Norway has become the first country to ban animal pelts from its biannual runway event. The ban is a response to the efforts Mote Mot Pels (Fashion Against Fur), an anti-fur initiative that has received the support of more than 220 Norwegian fashion industry insiders who refuse to work with fur, including designers Leila Hafzi, Thomas Ryen of Undorn, and John Erling Vinnem of JohnnyLove, as well as Norwegian Elle, Norwegian Cosmopolitan, KK, and Det Nye.

Founded by designer Fam Irvoll, designer and stylist Kjell Nordström, and fashion editor Hilde Marstrander, in collaboration with the animal-rights group NOAH, Mote Mot Pels has been instrumental to shaping Oslo Fashion Week’s fur-free stance. “It has been a very natural choice for us,” says Paul Vasbotten, general manager of the Oslo Fashion Week. “We are doing this in order to increase ethical values in fashion.”