Fur & Fashion

Name: Dong Wang
Country of Residence: China
University: China Northeast Normal University
Inspiration: The naturally dyed blue fur I have used in my design represents the worlds irresponsible use and dependence on plastic. This synthetic material, which is everywhere and often ends up washed up on our beach, not only causes serious pollution to our environment, but it also harms the marine life who encounter it. The hope of my designs is to awaken consumers to return to nature and sustainable fashion materials, such as fur.
 
Through the use of natural fur, we can promote the sustainability and continuation of Inuit communities whose means of survival is hunting and farming. In my designs, in addition to natural fur, there are a host of other recycled and natural fabrics. For example, my use of recycled and upcycled old jeans and leftover materials like pure wool are all responsible choices which protect the environment.
 
Here my designs represent the biggest debate within the fashion industry today: slow vs fast fashion, natural vs synthetic materials, irresponsible vs responsible fashion. Many people think that fake fur is an advanced product of our times, but they don’t know that artificial fur is a petrochemical product. It not only damages the environment in the production process, but it also takes centuries to degrade and even if it degrades over decades, its chemical residues will continue to be released for centuries. Natural fur comes from nature, it has the characteristics of green environmental protection and degrades naturally over time. This is something oil based man-made fur can not achieve. Natural fur is the only sustainable and responsible choice.