Ahead of the 2026 runway calendar, the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) has decided fur is out—for good.
On December 3, the group announced that, beginning in September 2026, animal furs are banned from designer collections showing on the official New York Fashion Week calendar. Prohibited materials are defined as "farmed or trapped fur from animals killed specifically for their pelts—including but not limited to mink, fox, rabbit, karakul lamb, chinchilla, coyote, and raccoon dog[.]" The only exception will be for furs sourced by Indigenous communities through "traditional subsistence hunting practices."
Steven Kolb, president and CEO of the CFDA, noted fur already has a limited presence at New York Fashion Week, with many designers—including Coach and Michael Kors in the United States, as well as international conglomerates such as the Prada Group and Armani Group—phasing it out of their collections starting in the late 2010s, as consumer sentiment soured on animal-derived materials. Some NYFW regulars, like Ralph Lauren, banned fur as early as 2006.
"[B]y taking this position, the CFDA hopes to inspire American designers to think more deeply about the fashion industry’s impact on animals. Consumers are moving away from products associated with animal cruelty, and we want to position American fashion as a leader on those fronts, while also driving material innovation," Kolb said, in a statement.
Fashion weeks from Berlin to Melbourne have tightened their restrictions on furs and other materials in recent years. Copenhagen Fashion Week was first to implement a required sustainability framework for participating designers, including a ban on all furs on the runway and single-use plastics, as well as a baseline for recycled materials. Each season, the Danish capital increases its restrictions, guiding participating brands to overhaul their entire business in the name of sustainability. Earlier this year, London Fashion Week announced it would adopt the Copenhagen framework as well.
Banning fur isn't a catch-all for an eco-friendly fashion week, however: Faux fur alternatives made from synthetics are often environmentally harmful to produce. The CFDA has pledged to provide "educational materials and a material library" for designers to source alternatives—the exact materials included, and how they're sourced, were not stated.
