WHAT IS THE BEST ARGUMENT AGAINST THE USE OF FUR
I see no valid argument against fur. The only one that I can imagine is the lack of finance to buy fur.

WHAT IS THE BEST ARGUMENT FOR THE USE OF FUR?
It is more than just a material that protects you against the cold. It is simply the nicest and most comfortable natural clothing material that fulfills our natural need to dress warm, when it is chilly or cold. It is an emotion, a passion, an experience, and a pleasure. It gives the bearer a feeling of pleasure and comfort that no other clothing material does.

FUR IS A LUXURY PRODUCT AND CONSIDERED UNNECESSARY BY MANY PEOPLE. WHAT IS YOUR VIEW ON THAT?
Look around you and ask yourself: "Do I really need this product to survive? Do I need a car to survive? Nice garments, Coca-Cola, beer, wine, ice cream, and leather interior?" If we ban all products which are not really necessary, our lives will become dull and sad. What matters is that a product is obtained in a responsible way, and that is a fact for fur today. I am even convinced that luxury products are necessities to make our harsh daily life more bearable.

WHY DO YOU THINK FUR HAS A SOMEWHAT BAD REPUTATION?
Fur has had a bad reputation because animal right activists represented in the previous century a very negative image of the fur trade - images that were not representative for the trade. In the meanwhile, the trade has done a lot of thing to give a more realistic view of the trade to the public. After decades of campaigning against the fur industry, fur is back in fashion, much to the dismay of animal rights advocates. The animal rights movement deliberately hides its ideology behind a thick layer of veneer, i.e. animal protection because the leaders of this movement realize that there is simply no social base for their real agenda. In the meanwhile, the fur trade has proved that fur can be obtained in a humane and responsible way. The fact that people again are confident to wear fur and buy fur nowadays proves that many people have absorbed this message. We care about animals and wear fur too!

DO YOU THINK FUR PRODUCTION EXISTS IN EUROPE IN 50 YEARS?
Of course! Fur will always have its place in fashion due to several reasons. First of all, there is nowadays a lot of attention for animal welfare in the fur trade. Secondly, people want more and more natural products that are obtained in a sustainable way, which fur lives up to. In fact, fur production on the farms is an amplification of the food production. The waste of food production from slaughter houses and fisheries that has no value for human consumption is not simply destroyed but used as food on the fur farm to produce a natural and long lasting clothing material. It can even be restyled and adapted to changing styles and sizes. Lastly, fur nowadays can be processed in so many creative ways that there will always be a manner that it suits in the ever changing fashion world.

ANIMAL RIGHTS ADVOCATES SAY FUR IS CRUEL AND WELFARE CONDITIONS ARE POOR. WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON THAT?
Of course, they will always say that. It is necessary to realize that they are against any use of animals for any human purpose like meat, fur, leather, wool, medicine - even if the animals are kept in a proper way. People who oppose the use of animals on principle will always - without openly admitting it - find a stick to beat the dog. With a few exceptions, everyone believes in treating animals properly. But does everyone want to become a vegetarian or vegan and does everyone want the use of laboratory animals to be stopped when it concerns his welfare, his health and his life? In the long term, good and practical animal welfare legislation which also takes ecology into account, coupled with respect for everyone's choice on whether or not to use animal products, is the only viable proposition if we want to evolve into a tolerable and tolerant society. Only extremists are convinced that one item has an absolute priority on all the other items.

HOW DO YOU SEE FUR DEVELOP WITHIN EUROPEAN FASHION AND DESIGN?
Europe will continue to set the standards, not only on animal welfare legislation but also on fashion.

ON WHAT AREAS CONCERNING FUR DOES EUROPE HAVE A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE?
As labor costs are high in Europe, we have to be competitive in other areas in order to survive. High animal welfare standards lead to high quality furs. It is not a coincidence that Europe is the number one producer of high quality furs worldwide and Europa has a long tradition of creativity in the fashion industry, where fur will always play a role.

Christian Parmentier graduated as a veterinarian in 1983 from the Rijksuniversiteit in Gent and is since 25 years working as a furrier in the fur trade. In 1996 he published his first book "Het dier en zijn mensenrechten" (The animal and its human rights), the first Dutch-language book containing a critical analysis of the phenomenon of animal rights.