Ahead of the 2026 runway calendar, the Council of Fashion Designers of America has announced that it will no longer promote animal fur at any Official New York Fashion Week Schedule events including its Fashion Calendar, social media channel and website. This position aligns with London Fashion Week, which ended its promotion of fur in 2023, as well as fashion weeks in Copenhagen, Berlin, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Helsinki and Melbourne.
The announcement follows years of engagement with Humane World for Animals and Collective Fashion Justice. Beginning with September 2026 New York Fashion Week, the Council of Fashion Designers of America will no longer permit animal fur in collections on the Official NYFW Schedule. This timeline gives fashion designers space to adjust their materials and show plans. Farmed or trapped fur from animals killed specifically for their pelts — including but not limited to mink, fox, rabbit, karakul lamb, chinchilla, coyote, and raccoon dog — is not allowed. An exemption applies only to animal fur obtained by Indigenous communities through traditional subsistence hunting practices.
“There is already little to no fur shown at NYFW, but by taking this position, the Council of Fashion Designers of America hopes to inspire American designers to think more deeply about the fashion industry’s impact on animals. Consumers are moving away from products associated with animal cruelty, and we want to position American fashion as a leader on those fronts, while also driving material innovation,” said Steven Kolb, CEO and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
The CFDA will support fashion designers through this transition and continue to provide resources on alternatives. While the Council of Fashion Designers of America encourages each fashion designer to make decisions for their business requirements, to help align NYFW designers with this position, it is committed to offering educational materials and a material library so they can explore more innovative and sustainable materials.
Copenhagen Fashion Week was first to implement a sustainability framework for participating designers, including a ban on all furs on the runway and single-use plastics, as well as a baseline for recycled materials. Each season, the Danish capital increases its restrictions, guiding participating brands to overhaul their business and embrace sustainability. Earlier this year, London Fashion Week announced it would adopt the Copenhagen framework as well. Conde Nast has also banned animal fur in editorial content or advertising, following similar policies from ELLE and InStyle.
“The CFDA has further cemented its position as a leading, innovative fashion council on the global stage by formally moving beyond unethical and unsustainable animal fur. At Collective Fashion Justice, we hope Milan and Paris fashion weeks will follow the CFDA and British Fashion Council’s lead, with our support” said Emma Håkansson, founding director of Collective Fashion Justice.
“We applaud the CFDA for using its unique influence on American fashion to help usher in a fur-free future. It’s policies like this that are paving the way for material innovation that will create a cleaner, more humane fashion industry without sacrificing creativity and beauty” said PJ Smith, director of fashion policy at Humane World for Animals.
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Jasmeen Dugal is Associate Editor at FashionABC, contributing her insights on fashion, technology, and sustainability. She brings with herself more than two decades of editorial experience, working for national newspapers and luxury magazines in India.
Jasmeen Dugal has worked with exchange4media as a senior writer contributing articles on the country’s advertising and marketing movements, and then with Condenast India as Net Editor where she helmed Vogue India’s official website in terms of design, layout and daily content. Besides this, she is also an entrepreneur running her own luxury portal, Explosivefashion, which highlights the latest in luxury fashion and hospitality.
