Global fur sales were on a steady decline even before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, a few brands had renounced real fur. Barely a year later, on November 4, 2020, Denmark, the world’s biggest producer of mink fur, culled up to 17 million mink in over 1,000 farms. The culling began soon after a mutated form of the COVID-19 virus that could spread to humans was found in mink farms.

Shortly after that, Kopenhagen Fur—the largest auction house for furs globally—announced it was ending its 90-year-old business for good by 2023. The mass mink-culling fiasco has yet again raised accusations of animal cruelty and questions about whether the fashion industry could ever be environmentally sustainable.

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