J.Crew vs. PETA - Does J.Crew import fur from China?

[AgentSun]

Okay, here's the story. I have to do a corporate defense speech on Wednesday and the company i've picked to defend is J.Crew, because PETA is all up in arms over the fact that J.Crew supposedly imports fur from China and in China, there are a lot of animals being killed in inhumane ways and skinned (while alive) and they are being kept in inhumane ways. So PETA is angry because they think J.Crew imports from China and J.Crew says, no we import from North America. PETA says that J.Crew (because they think the company imports from China) is buying the dogs and cats that are being killed and are passing them as coyote or rabbit fur.

PROBLEM 1: Is J.Crew importing from China? They say no and PETA says yes.

PROBLEM 2: IF J.Crew IS importing dog and cat fur from China and are passing it off as coyote fur or mink, wouldn't people notice?

PROBLEM 3: If PETA says that J.Crew is importing from China, but J.Crew isn't, wouldn't something called the UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT know what is passing into its borders from a massive company such as J.Crew?

I need some opinions on this as well as any documentation or information you guys have about the entire situation. J.Crew corporate won't tell me anything, for obvious reasons.

DOCUMENTATION IS KEY! I need real PROOF that J.Crew is importing from North America only.

[LiLOrion]

PROBLEM 2: IF J.Crew IS importing dog and cat fur from China and are passing it off as coyote fur or mink, wouldn't people notice?

I would think they would have to use only certain dog/car furs cause coyote and mink furs dont come in a variety of colors and textures like dogs and cats do. But I dont wear fur and as such probably wouldnt be able to tell the difference.


Does PETA say where in China they are importing the fur from? Maybe you could contact someone there.
Or, and this might be easier, if you can find out who J.Crew gets their fur from in the US, you could maybe contact them directly.

Or you could druge around for a former high-ranking J.Crew employee who might have dirt on them - if there is any.

[AgentSun]

a lot of people are tight lipped about where exactly it comes from. I know it's North America and Europe.

[LiLOrion]

So one could argue that they are either tight-lipped cause they dont want other clothiers to know where they get their furs, or tight-lipped cause they really get them from China. :lol

What "evidence" does PETA present?

[AgentSun]

none that i can find...if you're not prone to queasiness, go to http://www.jcruel.com. it's PETA's site against the company. Over and over, all they do is say "J.Crew imports from China" but they don't present any documentation or evidence of the fact.

They also (and I think this is hilarious) give dogs and cats human emotions, saying they are in cages, "lethargic" and "terrified"...and yes, while some of these are observable emotions, PETA made me laugh when they started to give dogs and cats "he" and "she" pronouns, to get us to think of them as people.

[LiLOrion]

Hmmm.
Well, I didnt click on the link. I love dogs myself so I dont really want to see that. But you cant deny PETA would elicit a very strong reaction from animal lovers by just showing pics with the slogan "J.Crew imports from China" and nothing else. The fact that they arent presenting any evidence other than pics makes me think they dont have any. Maybe thats cause J.Crew doesnt import from China, maybe its cause they do a hell of a job covering it up, maybe its cause PETA gets a better reaction from people with just graphic pics of animal abuse, or maybe its cause J. Cruel just sounded so damn cool. I mean, Abercrombie & Lynch doesnt have the same ring to it. :D Some high ranking PETA person probably had a bad J.Crew experience and is out to get them.
PETA and Greenpeace (to me anyways) do themselves more harm than good in the way they do things.

A few years ago there was a story on the news somewhere that had Burlington Coat Factory involved in purchasing clothing that contained dog fur and I believe it was imported from China. To this day my sister wont shop at Burlington. And I believe Burlington apologized and claimed they didnt know it was dog fur.

Lots of animal people refer to their pets as "he" or "she" instead of "it". My dog is a female, so she's a she to me. And she gets lethargic with her tranqs and she gets terrified when it thunders. But yeah, I'd say its another tactic to recruit people who would not really consider themselves animal-lovers.


Either way if you cant find evidence to support PETA, it would be best to assume J.Crew doesnt import from China. Although you dont have evidence to support that either. But lack of PETA evidence (aside from pictures) should be a good enough defense. I mean, unless the animals have little "I'm going to J.Crew" tags on them.

[jerseygirl]

If J. Crew is lying about where their fur comes from, they could get in way more trouble with regulatory agencies than they could from PETA, so I would tend to believe them.

[Clarsax]

If PETA had actual evidence, it would be strange for them to hide it and not show it to people. I don't trust PETA myself as they have been caught doing some questionable things regarding animals themselves.

[AgentSun]

A few years ago there was a story on the news somewhere that had Burlington Coat Factory involved in purchasing clothing that contained dog fur and I believe it was imported from China. To this day my sister wont shop at Burlington. And I believe Burlington apologized and claimed they didnt know it was dog fur.


another thing is that Burlington doesn't directly import fur -- they don't manufacture the products themselves, they are from other designers or companies and the final product is sent to Burlington Coat Factory.