Welcome to Winter 2019 everyone.
It’s freezing in London, and following a blissful Balearic weekend, I realise I’m in the wrong place.
In this instalment, as well as some gossip from the National Television Awards Red Carpet, I explore the warm side of fashion as (according to the Met Office) the UK prepares itself for The Beat from The East part deux.
Watching the first snow flurry of the new year, the mind wanders to my faux fur coats upstairs, which need dry cleaning. And on the subject of fur, this week there has been some bad news to come out of one of the most popular online shopping emporiums.
Boohoo has been criticized by UK watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority, for flouting some regulations, upsetting many in the process. The ASA indicted the online retailer for marketing a pompom jumper as ‘faux’ when it was, in fact, real – most likely rabbit – fur. That’s not just misleading, it’s also deeply upsetting.
Animal welfare charity, Human Society International, purchased the product and sent samples to an independent laboratory for testing and the HSI confirmed the Boohoo jumper contained animal hair.
In response, Boohoo said, ‘We have a strong commitment against the sale of real fur in any of our products. We have robust policies and procedures in place to ensure that we are able to adhere to this. Following the inquiry by HSI the item has been removed from sale. We continue to investigate the matter internally and with the supplier in question, as a matter of priority.’
Last year, the HIS investigated a high street wide problem of customers unwittingly being sold animal fur despite the products being advertised as synthetic. Amazon, Groupon and TK Maxx were all caught selling real fur, plus House of Fraser and Missguided were also guilty of the same mistake.
So, however bloody freezing it might be, please check (and use your common sense) before you purchase anything fur related.
