Natural Mink Fur And Faux Fur Products, An Environmental Comparison

This Dutch study compared the impact on global climate change of a mink coat to a synthetic fur coat. All aspects of manufacturing and distributing both coats was considered: growing feed for the minks, raising them, and disposing of their waste, synthesizing the “fur” and backing material for the faux coat, transportation of both coats for sale, and incineration of the coats at the end of their usefulness. The study found that impact of the mink coat on climate change was 3-10 times higher than the impact of the faux fur coat.

“At the request of three NGOs, the Dutch Bont voor Dieren, the Belgian GAIA and the Italian LAV, in 2010 CE Delft carried out a study comparing the environmental impact of 1 kg of mink fur with that of 1 kg of other textiles, including wool, cotton and polyester. However, a need was felt to compare fur goods with a faux fur variant, too, and CE Delft has now conducted a life cycle assessment study comparing natural fur coats and faux fur coats and natural fur collars and faux fur collars. A range of scenarios for product lifetime and maintenance were examined.

From the study it emerges that for all the environmental impacts investigated the natural fur product has a greater impact than the faux fur alternative. The environmental impact of natural fur products is at least a factor 3 higher than the least favourable faux fur variant. For some environmental impacts the impact is more than 10 times greater.”