Photo credit: Kristo Muurimaa

Iceland Fashion Week has taken a bold stand for animals, announcing a fur-free policy for all participating designers, both local and international. This move follows Iceland’s first-ever fur farm investigation, broadcast on national television, which exposed shocking cruelty on the country’s mink farms.

Held annually in Reykjavik each September, the event now joins fashion weeks in Copenhagen, London, and New York City that have already eliminated fur from their runways.

Undercover footage, shared with Humane World for Animals and Animal Welfare Iceland (Samtök um dýravelferð á Íslandi), captured heartbreaking scenes: mink with large wounds and infections, animals covered in blood, dead mink left in cages, and others displaying repetitive, distressed behaviors signaling psychological trauma. Many were confined to small, filthy wire cages.

In response, Humane World for Animals and Animal Welfare Iceland are urging the Icelandic government to ban fur farming nationwide.

“Bravo to Erlendur Fashion Week Iceland for taking fur off its catwalks and event spaces and making compassion for animals an enduring fashion trend. Material innovation such as bio-based animal-free fur alternatives are paving the way for a fur-free future of creativity and beauty without animal suffering,” said PJ Smith of Humane World for Animals.

“From the beginning, fashion, innovation, and sustainability values have been at the core of Iceland Fashion Week. As the fur trade is at odds with all these principles, it’s time for us to take this stand and be proudly fur-free,” said Asta Gudmundsdottir of Iceland Fashion Week.

“Fur farming exploits animals, damages the environment, and is a relic of fashion’s past. We are delighted that Iceland’s fashion week is leaving fur where it belongs, in the past,” said Dr. Rósa Líf Darradóttir of Animal Welfare Iceland.

The announcement comes at a pivotal moment as The European Commission prepares to issue a decision on a potential EU-wide ban on fur farming. While 24 European countries have already outlawed the practice and many others restrict it, more than six million animals remain trapped on nearly 1,200 fur farms across nations including Finland, Denmark, Spain, Greece, and Hungary.

Humane World for Animals is also highlighting the environmental and public health costs of fur. Mink on nearly 500 farms across 13 countries have tested positive for COVID-19, and Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A (H5N1) has been detected on 72 farms in Europe. Fur production is highly carbon-intensive, with 1 kg of mink fur generating more than 300 kg of CO₂-equivalent—far exceeding cotton, acrylic, or polyester.

The organization’s latest campaign, Reality Projected, created with award-winning fashion photographer Fro Rojas of Kreative Kontent, projects real footage from European fur farms onto fur coats, revealing the hidden cruelty behind luxury fashion.

Humane World for Animals, Animal Welfare Iceland, and Iceland Fashion Week work worldwide to end the fur trade, targeting governments, corporations, and the fashion industry through investigations, campaigns, collaborations with designers, and public education. Their efforts have steadily reduced the number of animals affected by this cruel industry, and now Iceland Fashion Week has joined the movement.