APRIL 20TH – 30TH 

Today at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), LVMH will come together with their investors to count their blood money and divvy their spoils. 

So while they are in Paris toasting to their profits, we will be across the planet, making them pay the costs of killing wildlife for fur. 

You can start taking action from home right now…

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More actions from home will be posted this week!

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GLOBAL ACTIONS ARE VITAL FOR ANIMAL LIBERATION

We are confronting some of the most violent industries on the planet. They have infinite resources with a single priority: maximum profits. If we are going to stand a chance at defeating fur, we need to be united and work together. 

NO ACTION IS TO SMALL 

Some cities have the numbers to have protests flood into the streets and bring traffic to a halt while others wreak havoc without even covering the sidewalk. It does not matter if you have one person or 100, when we are working together every single action taken matters. This is a collective effort: if one person is standing outside of a Louis Vuitton in twenty cities around the world, our adversaries are going to take notice. In a global campaign, one person can make a difference. 

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TACTICS TO BRING DOWN THE FUR INDUSTRY 

DIVERSITY OF TACTICS

Protests aren’t the only way to put pressure on these companies. Public opinion is on our side when it comes to fur, and it is important that LVMH see us focusing that public opinion on them specifically.

Here are other great ways to contribute, on your own or alongside a protest, no matter what tactics suit you best.

INNOVATE

Have an idea that is not listed above? Go for it. We love seeing what people come up with and encourage you to act up for the animals tortured by LVMH.

STAYING ON MESSAGE IS THE WAY TO WIN

Together, we can beat LVMH with one demand: GO FUR-FREE.

We never mention exotic skins. Or leather, or any animal product besides fur. Not at any target, including LVMH targets that do not sell fur. Never.

Extending our demands to exotic skins undermines this campaign, the global movement against fur, and all of the local groups who give their heart and soul. It can ensure that we never win fur, nonetheless exotic skins. In the context of anti-fur pressure campaigns, it hurts animals.

This is a basic principle of pressure campaigns, based on decades of experience. We are glad to discuss it directly.

REPORT

No matter what you do in your city against the fur trade, make sure you document your action with videos and pictures, and send them to action@caftusa.org to include them in the action report.

THE PARIS CONVERGENCE IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW

51 PROTESTS IN 3 DAYS AGAINST THE FUR TRADE! 

Over the Fall of Fur Weekend of Action there were 51 protests in 10 countries in 27 cities!

This is the largest global action against the fur industry since CAFT’s inception in November of 2020. Coordinated actions & campaigns are the backbone of the contemporary anti-fur movement’s success and create a landscape where the animal rights movement can go head to head with the most violent corporations on earth. 

Let’s take a closer look at what happened in just 3 days…

The rise of Europe: 

The rise of Europe changes the landscape of what is possible against the fur industry. We are now confronting LVMH on home soil and we are not giving up until they turn their back on fur. 

North American resistance against LVMH: 

Not all cities had the crowds like NYC, but they made LVMH feel the pressure by leveraging their strengths. Seattle was one of many cities that targeted LVMH for all three days of the action – and they did it in the rain. Dallas, Texas took to the streets against one of LVMH’s acquisitions: Uncle Julio’s. While this may be a restaurant (and therefore does not sell fur) – it does not matter, because they are owned by none other than animal abuser Bernard Arnault. Los Angeles targeted another LVMH acquisition: Leslie’s Pools. The store manager attacked activists and made false allegations of property destruction which prompted a police helicopter to fly overhead. San Francisco rejoined the campaign and did a community outreach in front of Louis Vuitton and Boston, Denver, Las Vegas, Toronto, Salt Lake City, Miami and more all disrupted LVMH subsidiaries. 

LVMH is enemy number one for the anti-fur movement and neither Europe or North America is letting up until you announce a fur-free policy!

Sunrise Brands & Rebecca Minkoff

The launch of the campaign against Sunrise Brands and their subsidiary Rebecca Minkoff to go fur-free was an unexpected one. Rebecca Minkoff was previously fur-free and then suddenly started to sell the furs of baby rabbits on November 21st. This was a betrayal to the animals and a grievance that can not be ignored by animal advocates. Just hours after the launch of the campaign Rebecca Minkoff removed the fur from her website – an underhanded trick used by many animal abusers in the past to discourage advocates from speaking out against her. 

Los Angeles Animal Defense League (LA-ADL) responded to this deceptive move by escalating the campaign against the bunny butchers at Sunrise Brands. On Saturday LA-ADL targeted Sunrise Brands subsidiaries at their storefronts with loud demonstrations inside and out. ADL did not stop at their storefronts, they also paid a visit to the executive team at their homes – after all, corporations are run by people and it is these individuals that need to hear the message the most. They are the ones that have the power to stop the slaughter of baby rabbits for fur. 

CAFT has a message for Sunrise Brands & Rebecca Minkoff. We are done with your tricks. We are done with your dodges and deception. We demand a fur-free policy and will accept nothing less. Until you do so, every single one of your business affiliates is a potential target for this campaign. From insurance companies to mail delivery. If you deal with Rebecca Minkoff in any way, you will be hearing from the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade. 

The Fall of Fur 

Join us for the next global action starting December 15th for 12 days of action against the fur trade. Nearly every major shopping day of the year falls over these 12 days and CAFT will be there letting customers know about the wildlife murdered for fur on each one.

See you in the streets,

Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade 

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The grassroots anti-fur movement has shown that it is a force to be reckoned with, and if the international week of action from July 5th to 11th was any indication, Oscar de la Renta and Saint Laurent are in for quite the reckoning.

Instead of spending the July 4 holiday relaxing with family, dedicated activists in eleven cities across the US (and Canada) used the long weekend to make signs, plot mayhem, and spread the word about the next big anti-fur campaigns.

The result was 21 hard-hitting actions in one week, an average of three per day, and two per city.

From Honolulu to New York, activists simply owned ODLR and YSL. Malls were invaded, stores were taken over, frenzied security guards were made fools of. And where there weren’t in-store disruptions, there were still dedicated activists demonstrating outside.

Most of this onslaught was directed at YSL. The energy was electric, the pressure tremendous, and the footage on our Facebook and Instagram pages speaks for itself.

Activists came out against ODLR and YSL with patriotic spirit to fight for the native wildlife that these fashion houses imprison and murder. In place of George Washington’s Continental Army drum corps, an army of protesters marched into ODLR’s Manhattan flagship pounding snare drums so hard that the walls shook. Instead of the rockets’ red glare, NYC delivered the red glare of fake blood and chalk outside of ODLR’s boutique. After NYC was done making a mockery out of ODLR they paid a visit to YSL – a target that they were the first to protest years ago.

Texas Animal Freedom Fighters activists staged a pioneering disruption of Houston’s Casa de Novia Bridal shop, one of ODLR’s small club of exclusive retail partners. We emphasize their creativity and bravery in going out on a limb, because against Oscar de la Renta, it is secondary targeting that will light the path to victory.

Chicago was the most active city for this week of action. They held four protests, ranging from in-store disruptions to educational events outside highlighting the cruelty of fur farms with impassioned speak-outs.

In Arizona, the Scottsdale Saint Laurent saw two event. One was hosted by Eradicate Speciesism with a focus on engaging public messaging. The other was a disruption where several activists were cited for trespassing – allegedly. CAFT will post updates on this matter as the case unfolds. Animal liberation will not be achieved by asking nicely, and we commend the dedication and sacrifices of the Scottsdale activists.

Let this week of action mark the beginning of a great transition. ODLR represents the end of an era, one of the last American holdouts stubbornly clinging to the bygone glory of fur. And YSL represents our first strike at the global epicenter of high fashion, the European legacy houses.

We at CAFT have immense gratitude to every city that worked so hard last week to set the tone against the new targets. The determination you all exemplified is exactly the kind of determination we need to win these campaigns. With focus and unity, victory is a foregone conclusion.

Cities that took action:

New York City, Toronto, Houston, Honolulu, San Diego, San Francisco, New Jersey, Las Vegas, Chicago, Scottsdale, and Los Angeles.

On April 24, Los Angeles activists added their voices to the campaign against the last American department store selling fur. Neiman Marcus sits less than two blocks from Saks Fifth Avenue, which had seen hard-hitting activism for months before announcing its intention to stop selling fur on April 7. Activists marched through Neiman demanding that they follow the example of their competitors. This event was conducted in coordination with a social media account called Operation Takedown, and involved visits to various designers and retailers in a shopping district. The visit to Neiman Marcus lasted approximately twenty minutes, but we are sure that as the campaign intensifies, Neiman will see the pressure ramp up in Southern California.

On April 24, Texas activists took the fight for animals on fur farms directly to the heart of the opposition – Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Texas, the company’s headquarters. Activists marched into the store to educate customers and employees regarding the plight of the animals whose skin Neiman sells as fabric. Making sure that Neiman feels the opposition in Dallas (also the founding city of the original Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade over two decades ago) is a vital part of the path to victory.

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On April 24, activists from up and down the East Coast converged in New York City for a Fur Season Finale day of action. Neiman Marcus Group was the primary focus of this day of action, and the chosen site was Neiman’s high-end Bergdorf Goodman subsidiary located on 5th Avenue in Manhattan. With a huge turnout, activists took over the store doing speak-outs and chants, before deciding to bring their energy out onto the streets. We suspect this isn’t the last Bergdorf Goodman will be seeing from NYC activists, as long as Neiman Marcus Group continues to sell fur.

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On April 24, Los Angeles activists added their voices to the campaign against the last American department store selling fur. The Neiman Marcus West Coast flagship sits less than two blocks from Saks Fifth Avenue, which had seen hard-hitting activism for months before announcing its intention to stop selling fur on April 7. Activists marched through Neiman demanding that they follow the example of their competitors. This event was conducted in coordination with a social media account called Operation Takedown, and involved visits to various designers and retailers in a shopping district. The visit to Neiman Marcus lasted approximately twenty minutes, but we are sure that as the campaign intensifies, Neiman will see the pressure ramp up in Southern California.

Submitted by Seattle activists:

After seeing so many incredible activists around the country protesting companies that continue to sell fur, we decided to protest Saks Off 5th in Seattle, Washington. 

The morning of the protest, February 11, it started snowing, but luckily that doesn’t stop Seattle shoppers! So we carpooled to Westlake Center to meet up with a few other activists and had a very quick meeting to go over the plan and what chants we wanted to shout. Four activists hid signs and a mega phone in our coats and walked ahead of the group to enter the mall. The other six activists protested outside. We took two escalators up to the third floor and entered Saks. We hit the alarm on the mega phone to get the customers and employees attention, and then began to speak about why we were there. This was followed by chants as we made three laps around the store then we were peacefully escorted out by six security guards.

After we exited the store, we were happy to see three more activists had showed up to protest outside. Thirteen of us held up signs in front of the mall and continued chanting. We also took this opportunity to hand out flyers and cards encouraging Seattle folks to support the fur ban in Washington. Two activists went back inside of Saks off 5th to leave flyers in the store and do outreach to the employees.

We also had about fourteen activists in total calling the Saks store number, and demanding that Paige Thomas cuts her ties with the fur trade. Most calls went to voicemail, a couple activists were hung up on before finishing the script that was provided for them. This was the first protest we’ve every organized, and we were fortunate to have three amazing activists from two different cities to get started and help find collective confidence in doing this. We are very happy with how the protest went and look forward to organizing more.

Submitted by Animal Defense League Southern California:

Sunday, February 7, was the beginning of an international week of action against fur, and we knew the perfect way to kick it off: by returning to our friends at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills.

We’ve been to this Saks location many times before informing the public about the horrors of the fur industry, and yet the employees at this location seem immune to the suffering of animals. In fact, they are so unashamed by the crimes they perpetrate against American wildlife that they hire guards and lock their doors to close themselves off from our message about the reality of their actions.

No worries – we will just have to keep coming back until they understand.

And that is exactly how we started off the week of action against fur here in Los Angeles. As per usual, our protest was a victory before it even started, because Saks locked their doors as we were crossing the street. We still decided not to leave them disappointed, and stayed outside of the store peacefully exercising our First Amendment rights for the better part of two hours.

Every time we visit Saks and they shut down in this manner, the entire building feels like such a lonely ghost town. Don’t worry, Saks – we’ll be back soon to keep you company.