A new frontier has emerged in fashion’s fur wars, as protesters targeted the homes of more than a dozen Marc Jacobs employees in recent months, using signs, noisemakers and fake blood in an attempt to coerce the designer officially renounce the use of fur in the fashion industry. his collections.
Last weekend, Mr Jacobs accused the demonstrators of ‘bullying’ in a statement Instagram, but claimed: its brand “does not work in, use or sell fur, and we will not do so in the future.” He also emphasized that he has not used fur in any of his own brand collections since 2018.
“This organization has made it clear that they will not stop their violence against Marc Jacobs unless they get the explanation they want,” Mr. Jacobs wrote. “While I do not condone the behavior of this organization, I will always do what I can to protect, honor and respect the lives and well-being of the people I work with.”
The organization Mr. Jacobs is referring to is the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade, or CAFT, a group that selects targets and distributes information and resources to anti-fur activists on the ground.
“We were ecstatic,” Matthew Klein, executive director of CAFT USA, said of Mr. Jacobs’ statement, although he disputed the description of the protests as violent: “Home protest is protected by the First Amendment and has a long and proud history . history of use by the labor and civil rights movements.”
According to Mr Klein, CAFT has been protesting Marc Jacobs since June 2023 – a few months after the company collaborated on a catwalk show with Italian brand Fendi.
That collection included large fox fur hats that Mr. Jacobs described as “upcycled.” Kim Jones, creative director of Fendi womenswear, confirmed that the fur came from a vintage garment. The hats were used as a catwalk accessory and were never produced for public sale.
“It was the cultural relevance that Marc Jacobs had in fashion that made him a priority for our campaign,” said Mr. Klein, who called the designer “extremely influential” for emerging brands.
The protests started outside shops and offices. But until this weekend, the only public response seemed to be from the brand an Instagram post from Mr. Jacobs’ husband, who personally criticized a certain activist. “It didn’t have the outcome we wanted – a fur-free policy – but it was rather ridiculous,” Mr Klein said.
The campaign escalated in February, when protesters gathered outside the homes of Marc Jacobs employees. At least 18 employees were targeted, some multiple times, in New York City, Las Vegas and Austin, Mr. Klein said. (More than 100 protests have been held since February, he added, including Mr. Jacobs to be confronted in a car on the way to the Met Gala.)
Michael Ariano, Marc Jacobs’ global head of public relations, said he was followed down the street a shouting group protesters harassed his neighbors and slogans such as “Michael Ariano is a murderer” were written in chalk on the ground in front of his apartment.
Six arrests have been made in the past week in connection with the protests, Mr. Klein said, including an incident involving a broken window at the company’s headquarters in SoHo. In another incident, the husband of a Marc Jacobs executive was also arrested after taking a protester’s cellphone outside their Brooklyn home, Mr. Ariano confirmed.
“It’s very frustrating because the same principles and laws that we respect can be abused and turn into radical intimidation,” Mr. Ariano said, referring to the First Amendment.
The protests have not only affected Marc Jacobs employees, but also their neighbors. Laura Neilson, a writer who lives in the same East Village building as senior director at Marc Jacobs, said that on Memorial Day she helped clean up fake blood splattered on the facade and chalk etched on the sidewalk the length of her 60-unit building.
About twenty demonstrators demonstrated for about 30 minutes. They were buzzing on apartment doors in an attempt to enter the building, Ms Neilson said. The target of the protest was not home at the time, but an elderly neighbor and several pets were upset by the commotion.
“It got really scary,” said Ms. Neilson, who has contributed freelance articles to The New York Times. “It looked like a zombie apocalypse, the way they were all standing at the front peering through the windows.”
LVMH, the French luxury group that owns Marc Jacobs, declined to comment.
These protests represent an escalation in the tactics of anti-fur groups such as PETA, which previously focused on disrupting runway shows and retail operations.
The anti-fur movement has been largely successful in its attempts to force fashion houses to stop using skins brand job adopting faux fur as fabric and eschewing the use of former luxury staples such as mink and sable. Glossy magazines incl Elle have also stopped photographing real fur, and department stores such as Neiman Marcus, Saks And Northstream They no longer sell real fur.
As a result, the fur-free business has turned to leather as well as exotic skins such as python and ostrich. In a statement, PETA executive vice president Tracy Reiman applauded Mr. Jacobs’ official rejection of fur, saying “we look to Jacobs to save more animal skins by also banning leather.”
Mr Klein said CAFT will soon announce plans to target fashion brand Max Mara over its use of fur.
“It’s easy to ignore us when we’re outside one of their stores,” said Mr. Klein, who pointed out that as many as 40 Marc Jacobs employees were on the list for future housing protests. “It is impossible to ignore us when we are outside their homes.”
