Elle fashion magazine bans animal skins in all editions around the world

To “encourage a more humane fashion industry”, animal skins will disappear from the pages and digital media of all editions of Elle magazine, announced the vehicle on Thursday (2), adding to a growing trend in the sector. Lux.

Elle is the first major magazine in the industry to announce this measure worldwide, banning natural fur not only in its editorial content, but also in its advertising space.

“We cannot maintain a speech on one side and make money on the other, in completely opposite directions,” explained its international director, Valeria Bessolo Llopiz, to AFP, after making the announcement during a conference organized by the digital magazine The Business of Fashion in Chipping Norton , in central England.

From Mexico to Australia, via Japan and the United States, the 45 editions of this magazine with 75 years of history, which claims to have 33 million readers and 100 million visitors a month on its 55 digital platforms, signed a document committing to delete the skins of animals.

In 13 of them the measure is already effective, 20 will apply it from January 1st and the rest in early 2023.

And while some versions of the magazine have hesitated more than others to accept the advertising ban, this sector does not represent a large amount of income, according to Bessolo Llopiz.

“There are fewer and fewer offers,” he says, noting that “many brands have abandoned fur years ago.”

“We are in a new era and Generation Z, which represents the golden goal of fashion and luxury, has high expectations in terms of sustainability and ethics,” he adds.

Celebrating the decision, PJ Smith, head of fashion at the NGO Human Society International, said he hopes “that other fashion magazines will follow suit”.

“This announcement will bring about positive change throughout the fashion industry and has the potential to save many animals from a life of suffering and a cruel death,” Smith said at the Chipping Norton event.

PETA UK director Elisa Allen told AFP that she is confident that other magazines, such as Vogue, InStyle or Cosmopolitan, “will soon join this policy for their advertising.”

In recent years, under pressure from animalists, the fashion world has begun to move away from animal skins.

Use is prohibited on smaller catwalks like Amsterdam, Oslo, Melbourne and Helsinki, which also discarded the leather.

But the big ones, like Paris, Milan and New York, leave the decision to each brand.