Fur Industry Sees Rosy Future as Fashion Faux Pas Turns Must-Have

For years considered a fashion no-no, fur is making a hearty comeback to the runway, turning up in haute-couture designs and on the backs of top-name celebrities, much to the chagrin of animal rights activists.

In Denmark, the world's leading mink producer, furriers say they are expecting the coming year to be a good one for business. "We're optimistic for 2005 ... as long as there's cold weather, because fur is back in fashion again, catapulted by the big designers," said Sander Jacobsen of leading fur dealer Kopenhagen Fur, which produces about half of the world's mink pelts.

Vilified in the late 1980s and early 1990s as environmentalists bemoaned the violence used in the killing of fur-bearing animals, the slinky material has for years been off designers' drawing boards. But now, top couture houses such as Dior, Armani, Yves St Laurent, Gucci, Karl Lagerfeld and Versace have all featured fur in their recent collections, with models strutting the soft stuff on runways in Paris, Milan, New York and Tokyo.

Hollywood starlets like Jennifer Lopez have been seen wearing luxurious pelts, as has supermodel Cindy Crawford, who 10 years ago spearheaded the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)'s anti-fur protest entitled "I'd rather go naked than wear fur". "Fur is fashionable and is being