Renunciation of real fur: product ranges successfully transformed
Stuttgart, 26/01/2021 At the end of 2020, fashion and lifestyle company Breuninger discontinued the sale of real fur in all department stores throughout Germany as well as in its online shop breuninger.com. With this move, Breuninger joins the international Fur Free Retailer programme, making an important contribution to responsible and sustainable consumer behaviour.
As we enter the new year, Breuninger has successfully transformed all ranges across approximately 1000 brands and no longer sells any goods made entirely of, or containing, real fur throughout the entire business. The company had already stopped purchasing real fur products since the 2020 spring/summer collection, and it completed the final clearance sale of items from previous collections by the end of 2020. In future, Breuninger will no longer sell products made of Angora wool or leather from exotic animals either. This change affects the entire product range.
As part of this clear move in a new direction, Breuninger is joining the international Fur Free Retailer programme. This is the world’s leading initiative to identify retailers as real-fur-free, helping customers to find fashion items that are guaranteed to be free of fur. “We are very pleased to be a member of the international Fur Free Retailer programme. As a leading fashion and lifestyle company, we take our responsibilities seriously and view it as our duty to make an active contribution to a sustainable future,” says Breuninger CEO Holger Blecker. “For our customers and brands, we are a reliable and transparent partner, so joining the renowned Fur Free Retailer programme is a logical step for us.”
Breuninger has been gradually scaling down the sale of real fur products for some time now – for example, Breuninger’s own brands have not contained any real fur since 2017. This multi-stage transformation process was carried out in close coordination with the animal welfare organisation VIER PFOTEN [FOUR PAWS] Germany, which heads the Fur Free Retailer programme in the country, and the respective brand partners.
“We are very pleased that Breuninger has finally taken this step and is making a positive contribution to animal welfare and environmental protection by dispensing with all real fur and joining the Fur Free Retailer programme,” says Denise Schmidt, campaign manager at VIER PFOTEN.
Social and ecological issues have played a central role in all decisions at Breuninger since the company was founded. Breuninger has a proud tradition of treating its customers, staff and partners with respect, consistency and transparency, which is a cornerstone of the company’s success. Last year, Breuninger presented its holistic corporate responsibility strategy. The primary aims of this new alignment programme are ambitious but realistic and achievable goals. These goals will affect every part of the company, shaping how decisions are made and how processes are implemented. Four areas cover every aspect of the company’s new focus on sustainability: materials, people, the environment and the town or city. In addition to focussing on the product selection process, this strategy also addresses the issues involved in property management, catering, logistics and social responsibility. In the Breuninger online shop breuninger.com, customers can filter for sustainable items and find out about a product’s sustainable credentials then and there.
All information relating to sustainability at Breuninger is available (in German) at: www.e-breuninger.de/nachhaltigkeit
Fur Free Retailer programme
The FFR programme is the world’s leading initiative to connect fur-free businesses with customers looking for ethically made products. The programme is an initiative of the Fur Free Alliance (FFA), which is active in over 40 countries around the world. The Alliance is an international coalition of over 50 environmental and animal welfare organisations working together to end the breeding and killing of animals for their fur.
VIER PFOTEN [FOUR PAWS]
VIER PFOTEN is committed to a fur-free Europe and is the official representative of the FFR programme in Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, South Africa and Australia. This international foundation for animal welfare offers support and advice to companies seeking to make a demonstrably fur-free fresh start. To this end, VIER PFOTEN is available as a contact and mediator to businesses taking the high-profile step of joining the international FFR programme.
E. Breuninger GmbH & Co.
The fashion and lifestyle retailer Breuninger was founded by Eduard Breuninger in 1881 and is today one of Europe’s leading multi-channel department stores. For 140 years Breuninger has set high standards in fashion, beauty and lifestyle with its exclusive ranges of international designer brands and sought-after newcomer brands. The www.breuninger.com online shop, established in 2008, is one of the most successful online stores in the premium segment and recently also became available to customers in Austria and Switzerland. Besides its sense of style and flair for trends, Breuninger represents outstanding customer focus, with service options including its Special Service, an in-house tailoring department, Click&Collect and online reservations, an in-store ordering service and a shuttle service providing a unique shopping experience both in-store and online. Across Germany, the award-winning retailer has eleven Breuninger outlets with over 5500 employees.
Source: RealWire