We are celebrating another nail in the coffin of the miserable, cruel fur industry. Retailer Saks Fifth Avenue and luxury designers Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga recently joined a growing list of retailers and brands including Macy’s, Versace and Prada that will stop using animal fur.

Saks Fifth Avenue announced that it will phase out using fur by the end of fiscal 2022. That includes both brand partner and store-label merchandise sold online and in stores. As part of the decision, Saks will eliminate the sale of products made from animals that were raised for the use of their fur or those made with fur from wild animals.

Saks Fifth Avenue also plans to close all its fur salons by the end of fiscal 2021.

“Across the Saks Fifth Avenue experience, we evaluate a number of factors when making decisions about our assortment, including customer preferences and societal shifts,” said Tracy Margolies, chief merchandising officer at Saks, in a statement. “We recognize that trends constantly evolve, and that the sale of fur remains a significant social issue.”

Friends of Animals has been flipping off fur for decades and raising consumer awareness about why they should reject this cruel industry. And we are still fighting for a fur sales ban in NYC. Please contact NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson and tell him to call the fur ban bill—Intro 1476—for a Committee vote. He can be reached at SpeakerJohnson@council.nyc.gov or at 212-788-7210.

We are bolstered by the cities, states and even entire countries rejecting fur. In 2019, California became the first U.S. state to ban furs sales, after several of its cities—including Los Angeles and San Francisco— passed similar legislation. Lawmakers in several other US states have already introduced fur sales bans in 2021, and in the United Kingdom, which banned fur production in 2003, the government is now considering calls for the UK to become the first country to ban fur sales.