Giving it to Goodwill is a copout. Someone else will wear it. All you are doing is avoiding a personal guilt trip, but you’re not taking the coat out of circulation, which is what you would do if you really wanted to make a statement against fur.

My advice: keep it and wear it proudly.. If people ask, tell them it is a family heirloom and it was made long before you were born. It makes you feel good about your grandmother.

And don’t let people guilt trip you with their private agendas,

I would wear it if you like it. It’s a family item.

If you aren’t a vegan, you get a lot of animals killed anyway.

I’d wear it. Anyone could see it is vintage, therefore you have not committed any wrongs.

I’d never wear it, but that’s because I think it’s wrong. Animals were killed just for their fur and it disgusts me. It might be different if they used to use as much of the animal as they could, but that wasn’t the case.

That said, I’m not sure what you’re looking for here. You’re either going to get people with opinions like mine answering, or you’re going to get people who tell you to wear it regardless of anything. Either way, it boils down to what you want to do with it.

I wouldn’t wear it. I’d put it in the wardrobe and forget about it. I agree with @DrasticDreamer, I’m opposed to the killing of animals for our vanity so I could never justify wearing it. Even though I do understand attitudes have changed since your grandmother bought it or was bought it.

Someone bought me an ivory necklace when I was quite young. I put it in a drawer and never wore it and avoided anyone else wearing it (until someone broke in and stole it). I could never have brought myself to wear it.

what’s your grandma’s position on selling the coat? If you did wear it, what are the chances that anyone seeing it will believe that it’s the genuine article?

@DrasticDreamer My musher friend gets mink and beaver carcasses for free to feed her dogs. I’d guess that other fur-meat also goes to feed the area pigs and chickens. The bigger issue for me is how fur animals are dispatched by electric anal prod. And if we’re talking about wasted animal meat, allow me to point out that the biggest waste by far is of euthanized cat and dog bodies. Can’t feed them to pigs and chickens because of the drugs.

I have two mink coats from my grandma. They sit in my closet and remind me of her, so I’m kind of glad I have them even though I don’t wear them.

I can’t remember the last time I saw someone in a fur coat, real or not. I didn’t know they were still in style.

That being said, wear whatever the hell you want. You not wearing it won’t bring the animal back.

It’s already made. You did not buy a new one and have not supported the fur trade. Fur not too much different than a leather belt imo anyway

keep it and wear it for a formal occasion or something special. most people today would just assume it is fake fur and not the real thing anyway. if you give away your grandmothers coat the day will come that you regret what you did.

Wear it. It’s a lovely gift, and very warm. You didn’t promote the industry by creating a demand for new coats to be produced.

@jaytkay: Vegans, unless they grow all of their own food, and tend it and harvest it by hand, get a lot of animals killed anyway.

Take it and lock it away. Or throw it away in secret. Or give it a proper burial and a memorial to all the animals that were murdered to make this coat.

My mother was VERY much into animal rights and was a vegetarian. However when a close friend of hers died she left her a long fur coat. She wore it only to special occasions. Even tho half my family, including me, are against the fur trade, we encouraged her to keep it and wear it. It had special mean to her. And like others have said SHE didn’t buy the coat and not wearing it won’t bring the animals back.

Analogy time.
If you are against the holocaust, would you accept a lampshade made from human skin?

@wildpotato “And if we’re talking about wasted animal meat, allow me to point out that the biggest waste by far is of euthanized cat and dog bodies.”

I’m sure there are places that use the animal carcass for other purposes, but even if that’s the case, it’s a very small percentage of the overall fur industry. What you said about cat and dog bodies might be true, but in Western countries where most people have cats and dogs as pets, even if people could put their bodies to use, most people wouldn’t. I don’t know many people who would feel okay walking around wearing a loved one.

All in all, however, that’s why I told her to do what she wants. It’s not going to make a difference what anyone says on here.

Who’s talking about wearing a loved one? I mentioned feeding cat and dog bodies to pigs and chickens, not skinning them and turning their pelts into clothing. People would probably object, with reason, to recycling the meat of animals they love in this way – I admit that I have no plans to feed my cat’s body, when she passes (she is in hospice care), to my chickens (I couldn’t in any event because she’s taking lots of meds, but I’m pretty sure I probably wouldn’t do this even if she was clean). But most euthanized pets are not loved, but have been given up by their owners to shelters. I can’t think of a single reason to not make use of this meat – seems to me it’s less disrespectful to the animal than to just toss its body on the dump heap. I feel stongly that it’s wrong to kill an animal without intending to eat it and make use of every possible part of its body.

This is already done with pets that aren’t cats or dogs, btw. syz once mentioned that some people donate their horses’ bodies to her large cat conservatory. And when one of my pet goats died suddenly a few months ago we didn’t just bury him – we took his pelt off, then sectioned up his body and fed it to catfish my friend keeps.

And I don’t exempt my own body from this preference, either – I consider myself extremely lucky that Jewish burial practices include not embalming, burial in a plain cotton shroud, and caskets made entirely of wood so that my body can be eaten when I die instead of laying uselessly in the ground. Tibetan sky burial would be awesome, but I don’t think my family would go for that.

Ah, okay, I misunderstood what you meant. I thought you meant it would be best, in the cases of cats and dogs, (pets or not), to also be used for meat, and not potentially just fur. My fault, sorry.

I would have mixed feelings about wearing the real mink coat too. It really is going to be your decision. My take on it would be, even though animals sacrificed their lives for the making of the coat, nothing will bring the animals back. Your grandma could have taken the coat to Goodwill herself had she wanted to, so obviously she wanted you to have it. She gave it as a gift to you, I would wear it because I bet it is pretty and probably very warm. So.. yeah rock it.

thanks for all the answers :)

I think I’m going to keep it as a special occasion type thing. I guess my purpose in asking was that I wasn’t sure if people would assume it’s real or not. Don’t want to randomly have the stank eye and shade thrown my way over a coat lol.

@prairierose this is the main reason I wanna keep it. She thought of me first over just giving it away so I don’t want her to feel hurt or anything if I tell her “eh, don’t want it”.