With sales expecting to reach $30 million by the end of the
year, the Canada Goose jacket has earned its respected reputation in the winter
attire industry. Celebrities worldwide have been seen sporting the high-priced
coat, including Meg Ryan, Kate Upton, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. Even
Canadian politician Justin Trudeau and his family were photographed wearing the
jacket in a family Christmas picture last year.
But all of the popularity surrounding the coat comes with a
bone-chilling price, one that many animal activist groups are working
diligently to expose.
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| Meg Ryan wearing a Canada Goose jacket. |
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| Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone photographed wearing a Canada Goose jacket in New York. |
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| Super model Kate Upton posing in front of her Sports Illustrated cover, sporting a Canada Goose jacket. |
Last year, a disheartening video gained popularity around
the web which exposed the heinous truth behind the production of the Canada
Goose jacket. For those who don’t know, the hood of the jacket is bordered with
a thick ring of coyote fur, known to avert the freezing cold temperatures of
the northern climate.
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.
Lindsay Rajt, Director of Campaigns for People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) told the DailyMail: ‘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.’
The company has publicly stated that coyote trapping has
been ‘a way of life for hundreds of years.’ 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.”
Yet PETA believes the company is avoiding an apparent truth.
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.”
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| Coyotes do not wait quietly for the trappers to come by. They struggle to get out of their traps, sometimes even biting through their leg to get back to their young. |
PETA has appealed that the company stop using real coyote
fur in favour of faux fur, as well as dump their use of real down feathers.
“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” said
Rajt.
PETA has stated that they’ve tried multiple times to reach
out to the Canadian company, but to no avail. In response to this statement, a
Canada Goose spokesperson told the DailyMail “We’ve corresponded with PETA on numerous occasions and it quickly
became evident that they were not interested in a constructive conversation.”
Canada Goose President Danni Reiss is a strong believer in
their product, speaking for a corporate video he explains, “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.”
In response to PETA’s accusations, Reiss sated, “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 Rajt doesn’t accept Reiss’s stance, “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.”
Final
Thoughts
Perhaps part of the problem is that many people simply are
not seeing the real connection between the fur on their jackets and the animal
that underwent severe pain and suffering for it to get there. If more people
fully understood the process, would it change their decision to buy these
jackets?
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| Inside a Canada Goose factory; by the year’s end, the revenue is expected to hit $30 million. How will the continued growth of this company impact animal conservation? |
Like Rajt mentioned, there are alternatives which could be
used instead of the coyote fur and the down feathers. We just need more people
to be aware of this and to raise their concerns to the company.
With the company going international, the expected growth in
the next few years is exponential. But along with this revenue growth comes the
increase in the death of more and more helpless animals. Voting with your
dollar couldn’t be anymore powerful in situations like these.
Please help us spread this awareness to protect these
beautiful animals. Much love.