Designer Dilemma
It was inevitable. As soon as news was out that Saga Furs of Scandinavia's innovative Designer Initiative program last spring had gotten more than 20 established ready-to-wear designers involved with fur, those designers became targets of animal activists. They initially received letters of protest from People for the ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA), but they were prepared, armed with the real facts about fur.
Now, however, PeTA is now singling out Nicole Miller for

Nicole Miller's fur from the Sage Designer Initiative was used in this year's industry-wide ad campaign, featured in the current (December) issue of Vogue magazine.

designing fur, primarily because, as the New York Post pointed out recently, they spotted "a ripe celebrity tie-in" for their publicity-generating machine. PeTA sent letters to six young actresses who filled in for models at Miller's spring collection show in New York. They asked the actresses to abandon Miller because "her fall collection includes fur."
Miller, who has a fur from the Designer Initiative featured in the industry's pro-fur ad appearing in the current issue of Vogue, didn't exactly respond as the fur industry would have hoped. She told the Post, "Not true. I've never had fur in any of my shows. I don't use it in my collections, and I don't have a fur license."
Technically, that statement is correct, but by default, not design. According to Steve Gold of Saga, North America, who organized and conducted the Designer Initiative, Miller intended to use the couple of furs she designed for the Saga promo in her fall show last April, but a production problem prevented it.
Gold explained Miller's statement: "She was probably trying to avert trouble. She's been very enthusiastic about working with fur; she loves fur, and she whole-heartedly participated in the program. It's just very unfortunate that we have adversaries who use certain tactics of intimidation that you can do very little about. Some designers just don't want any trouble. They don't want their locks glued or their storefronts painted."
Actually, Miller already supported the trade in a recent Forbes magazine article that was extremely pro-fur. There, she spoke out against PeTA, saying, "I think there are a lot more important causes in the world."

Cyber Furs
The fur trade is, slowly but surely, moving into cyber space to tap the millions of potential consumers that are regular visitors to the World Wide Web on the Internet. Once again establishing itself as a trade leader, Flemington Furs of Flemington, NJ, now has a Shopping Website on Fur Online at www.furs.com.
Others currently on the Web include the Frankfurt fur fair, Andriana Furs, Rene Robertson Fourrures, Gunia Furs and a listing of Toronto fur retailers.
Next month Fur Online will add an international chat forum for members of the trade -- trappers, farmers, retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and service companies -- to communicate in real time for just the cost of a local telephone call. Look for runway video up now, from last May's Fur Fashion Week.
Also, Fur Age will add an exciting new feature to its online newspaper in May, 1996. Check out video coverage of the second Fur Fashion Week runway shows then.

Wake Up!
Actor Alec Baldwin was arrested last month when he defended his newborn daughter from an aggressive photographer, and the Americans for Medical Progress Educational Foundation hopes this experience has taught him enough about compassion for humans that he'll rethink his support for People for the ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA).
Americans for Medical Progress Educational Foundation (AMPEF), an organization that helps the public understand animal research in medicine, took a full-page ad in the Nov. 16 issue of Daily Variety, the show business bible, imploring Baldwin to wake up and realize that PeTA's anti-human agenda could conceivably cost him the life of his child one day if PeTA is successful in its campaign against animals used in medical research.
The ad took the form of a heart-wrenching letter from one parent to another, to Baldwin from writer Aquilino, the father of a young boy whose life was saved by medical technology gained from research on animals. He wrote, "As you've discovered, your protective instincts for your daughter will astound you... Before you or your wife do one more public service announcement or raise funds for PeTA, visit and get to know the medical researchers who work with animals. Look at what they do in terms of how it will affect your daughter should she fall ill. You'll find they, too, are caring, compassionate people who revere life and who have chosen a path that gives life to little ones like your children."

Russian Mkt Growth
More than 50 companies from 11 countries participated in Mexa '95, the fur trade fair held in Moscow Nov. 21-23. More than 3,000 visitors came from the Commonwealth of Independent States, Germany, the U.S., Canada, Italy, France, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Spain, prompting fair organizer, Ost-West-Partner GmbH, Germany, and its Russian partners to declare the event "a complete success!" and announce it will be held annually.
The available space of about 2,000 sqm was sold out, and exhibitors already have signed up for the 1996 fair, scheduled for late autumn. An exhibitors' questionnaire judged the Russian fur market "without exception as [a] very important future market with excellent perspectives."

'96 Fashion Dates
Fur Fashion Week 1996, the U.S. industry's second annual collective showing of designer collection premieres, will be held in New York beginning May 20. The Fur Information Council of America, organizers of the event, will announce a location at a later date.
The inaugural Fur Fashion Week, held this past May, signified the first time that 27 designer fur collections were presented in one central venue as an organized event. The shows resulted in unprecedented fashion media coverage for the fur industry, including a 30-minute fur fashion program that aired for seven days recently on the E! Entertainment cable channel as well as an upcoming program on Style with Elsa Klensch on CNN.

Mink Show
The annual International Mink Show will be held Jan. 12-13 at Olympia Village family resort, Oconomowoc, WI. It will feature an international pelt show, commercial booths, National Fur Foods ranch management seminar, Friday night cocktail party and Saturday night banquet.