Another fur-peddler has gone fur-free! After PETA sent women’s specialty retailer Caché video footage exposing the fur industry’s cruel treatment of animals, the company agreed to stop selling fur. Tom Reinckens, the chief executive officer of Caché, specifically informed PETA that “Caché has made the decision it will no longer sell any apparel or merchandise that contains real fur.”

By pledging to go fur-free, Caché is saving countless animals from pain and suffering. The temperatures may be warming up, but animals in fur farms don’t get to take a summer vacation. Minks, foxes, chinchillas, raccoons, and other animals who “wear” heavy fur coats are crammed into tiny, filthy wire mesh cages with little or no water. Many suffer and die from heat exhaustion and dehydration. Others circle constantly and pace back and forth from extreme stress, misery, and boredom.

No federal law protects animals on fur farms, and fur farmers typically poison, gas, suffocate, or anally or genitally electrocute animals to death. Some animals have their necks broken and others are skinned alive—often in front of other terrified animals. (Animals who are trapped for their fur may languish for hours or days before they are killed by trappers, who stomp on their chests or break their necks.)

Some of the fur coats and fur-trimmed gloves, hats, and boots sold in the United States are also made from the coats of dogs and cats who were cruelly killed in China. When investigators from PETA went to an animal market in China in 2005 to investigate the dog and cat fur trade, they saw as many as 8,000 dogs and cats crammed into tiny cages, stacked tier upon tier on huge trucks. One by one, the cages were tossed from the top of the truck to the ground, often injuring the animals inside. The animals were lifted out with long metal tongs and thrown over a 7-foot fence. They were bludgeoned, hanged, boiled, bled to death, or strangled with wire nooses. Some were still conscious while their fur was stripped from their bodies.

Dog and cat fur from China is typically labeled as fur from other species and exported to other countries to be sold to unsuspecting consumers. China supplies more than half of the finished fur garments imported for sale in America. In addition to dogs and cats, countless foxes, rabbits, and other sentient animals are killed for their fur in hideously cruel ways. 

Fortunately, more and more retailers are refusing to sell fur of any sort. Although no company should have been selling fur in the first place, it’s a positive sign that so many retailers are realizing just how cruel and unpopular fur is.  Caché, which operates approximately 295 stores in more than 40 states, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, joins an ever-growing list of major retailers—including J. Crew, JC Penney, Kenneth Cole, Ann Taylor, Express, Gap, Banana Republic, Liz Claiborne, Polo Ralph Lauren, Forever 21, American Eagle Outfitters, Lane Bryant, and Calvin Klein—that officially refuse to sell fur. Compassion is clearly becoming a trend in the fashion industry!

Caring consumers can help animals simply by not buying fur, and encouraging others to do the same. If you have an old fur stuffed in the back of your closet—or you know someone else who does—you can still help animals by digging it out and donating it to PETA for use in demonstrations, giveaways to the homeless, and other events to educate people about the cruelty inherent in the fur industry. And the next time you’re in the mall, stop in the Caché store and thank them for no longer selling fur!