On 16th October 2025, Boston Fashion Week confirmed it will go completely fur-free starting in 2026, aligning with a growing global movement to exclude animal-derived materials from fashion events. The announcement came after campaigners from the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT USA), Chainsaw Boston, and Boston Animal Advocates urged the organisers to adopt an ethical stance against animal exploitation.
Boston Fashion Week founder Jay Calderin confirmed the move in an email to CAFT, following ongoing discussions with animal rights groups. A statement posted on the event’s official Instagram page reaffirmed the commitment, stating, “Compliance: This policy will be communicated to all brands asking to be listed as participants in Boston Fashion Week. Any show using real animal fur will not be included on the Boston Fashion Week calendar and prohibited from using any Boston Fashion Week branding.”
The decision positions Boston alongside other major fashion weeks, including London, Copenhagen, Chicago, and Australia, which have previously banned animal fur from their catwalks. The announcement follows closely after Condé Nast, parent company of Vogue, also declared its own fur-free policy earlier this month in response to pressure campaigns. Suzie Stork, Executive Director of CAFT USA, praised the decision, saying, “Boston Fashion Week has joined Chicago, Copenhagen, Australia, and London fashion weeks in rejecting fur and promoting a more ethical fashion future… We are thrilled by BFW’s decision, and expect to see it mirrored soon by other fashion weeks around the world. Fur remains one of the cruellest and least sustainable industries in fashion, with animals on fur farms subject to electrocution, gas chambers, or sometimes even live skinning. The carbon footprint of mink fur is 31 times per pound that of cotton. BFW’s decision moves us one step closer to making the cruelty of the fur industry a thing of the past.”
