Amsterdam to follow in the footsteps of San Francisco with fur ban

London - The city of Amsterdam may become the next city to implement a fur ban, following news that the municipality aims to ban all fur sales in its markets.

The city council is set to vote on a initiative for a new law, which would see the sale of real animal furn banned in all Amsterdam markets this autumn. The vote comes the political Party for the Animals submitted a proposal for the fur ban.

The fur ban would sit in line with Amsterdam's municipality's ambition to become a fur-free city. The Hartenstraat shopping street in Amsterdam was previously proclaimed to be the first fur-free shopping street in Europe by Bont voor Dieren, the Dutch animal protection organisation dedicated to campaigning against the use of fur, and Laurens Ivens, animal welfare councillor.

Amsterdam aims to become next city to ban fur sales

At the moment there is still a large amount of fur sold in Amsterdam's markets, such as Albert Cuyp and the Northern market. However, the source and the origin of most of the fur items sold at the markets, which includes coats, bobble hats, key rings and more remains unclear.

In addition, a lot of the fur sold is usually mislabelled, or not labelled at all, which can led to consumers accidently purchasing an item made from real fur thinking it is faux fur. The ban aims to put an end to this.

"We are very happy that Amsterdam has taken this step towards a fur-free city," commented Nicoke van Gemert, Director of Bont voor Dieren in a statement. "After West Hollywood and Berkeley, San Francisco became the third city to go fur-free last month. It would be great if Amsterdam continued this momentum and became the fourth fur-free city in the world."

The fur-ban comes an increasing number of fashion houses and designers, including Gucci, Furla, Versace, Michael Kors, Donna Karan and John Galliano have banned the use of fur in all their collections.

Photo: Bont voor Dieren