Second-hand fur : Okay or No-go?

Hi there!

One of my favourite past-times is going around various towns and take a look at either antique, second-hand and vintage shops. A couple of days ago I went to Lyme Regis (small coastal town in the south of England) and as I was walking through the beach, I noticed an antique shop because they had a violin outside, and although I cannot play the violin, I still decided to check out the shop.

First impression of the shop : IT WAS AMAZING! I continued to think that it was amazing after having gone through the book-section, the jewellery section, the teacup section, you name it... I thought it was amazing right until I discovered their selection of fur coats next to other vintage dresses.

My immediate reaction (as are most people's, I reckon) is that fur coats are an ethic issue that I ought not to attempt writing about. Personally, I would never buy a brand-new fur coat as I would struggle with the moral and ethic issues that a fur coat brings with it. In many cases, we struggle with the thought if the animals had been treated right, and we know, from various articles, that the animals has most likely suffered, and we don't want on our conscience that we contributed to animal suffering.

But what are the ethic issues on a vintage, second-hand fur coat? I decided to ask my friends.

While all of my friends agree that a brand new fur coat is morally wrong, they were more split on the topic of a vintage fur coat. And I understand why, because I felt very split by the issue myself. At one point, I even decided to try out one of the coats, and was somewhat horrified to realise that I didn't feel like I was wearing a dead animal, but rather just a really nice, soft and warm coat. So even with the knowledge that I was wearing real fur, why was I not disgusted?

The answer was, and I'm somewhat ashamed to admit this, that it was because that this fur coat was a vintage second-hand rather than a brand new one, and when I asked my friends, most of them said that they would rather buy a second-hand fur coat rather than a brand new one, because they didn't feel like they were contributing directly to the fur industry if given the option and if faux fur wasn't available.

However, another opinion was that second-hand fur coats was still wrong as you would still wear a dead animal, and that thought was enough for them to claim it as a no-go area.

But are second-hand fur a no-go or is it okay? I'll let you decide.