ACTAsia
February 2014
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The ‘Voices of China’ say NO to the growing fur industry and YES to fashion that shows compassion for animals.
On January 11, we held the first ever cruelty-free fashion show in Beijing. With the latest looks from American and Chinese designers, we are showing the Chinese public that a fur-free lifestyle is beautiful, feasible and compassionate. With live performances of singers from the highly popular singing contest ’The Voice of China’, we reached out to the younger audience.
Many of the catwalk models at the show were winners of national model
competitions and participated voluntarily, just as the competitors from ‘The
Voice of China’ who sang live during the show. Liu Ya Ting, last year’s
runner-up of ‘The Voice’ stated that she is proud to be part of this
fur-free life movement and urges all her fans to join.
The food served at the show was all vegan fare (sponsored by
VegFund), and
the cosmetics used by the models (sponsored by
LUSH) were not tested on
animals.
US designer John Bartlett, who also collaborates with the Humane Society of
the United States on their fur free campaign, stated “I hope that through
this fashion show, more individuals and fashion designers understand the
animal welfare and eco-friendly concept”.
The fashion show was attended by more than a hundred guests from the arts
and entertainment fields, as well as from non-profit organisations in the
UK, the US, Korea, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Major media reporters in
Beijing covered this first-of-its kind event.
'Asia Fur Free Awards' were given to organisations, companies or individuals
who have made a special contribution to promote a fur-free lifestyle.
These are our friends and directors of Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth
(CARE) from Korea. They have held similar fur-free fashion shows in Korea
and were very supportive of our event.
Globally there are more than two hundred retailers who have signed up to the
Fur Free Retailer programme, such as Marks & Spencer, H&M, ZARA and Jack
Wolfskin.
The Cruelty-Free Fashion Show is also supported by the
International Fur
Free Alliance. Their chairman Joh Vinding wrote a congratulatory message:
Fashion can be a perfect playground for human creativity and expression.
But keeping wild animals in cages and killing them for their fur seems the
exact opposite. It's fantastic to see the great interest in kind fur free
fashion. I wish to congratulate everyone participating in China's first fur
free fashion show. I hope this trend will lead more people to be aware that
fur fashion costs animals their lives and that companies can help by
becoming fur free retailers. Events such as this give us real hope that we
can achieve a more harmonious society which respects the welfare of animals.
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