Hearst Magazines Takes A Stand For Animals And Officially Goes Fur-Free!

In another major victory for animals, Hearst Magazines International has announced that it will eliminate all promotion of animal fur across its global platforms, effective immediately. The sweeping policy applies to all print editions, websites, social media, editorial content, and advertising across more than 25 U.S. brands, 175 websites, and over 200 international magazines, including Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Town & Country, and Esquire. The move was made in collaboration with Humane World for Animals.

According to Hearst’s sustainability site, “Across our portfolio of wholly owned global brands, Hearst Magazines prohibits the promotion of animal fur in editorial content and advertising. (Our guidelines recognize defined exceptions and apply to all new business and future content).” The newly expanded policy mirrors the one ELLE adopted in 2021, with support from Humane World for Animals, following a similar announcement from InStyle in 2018.

PJ Smith, director of fashion policy at Humane World for Animals applauded the decision. “Bravo to Hearst Magazines for making compassion for animals a lasting fashion trend. Fur’s fast fall from relevancy and status can give us all hope that the fashion world can become more humane without sacrificing creativity.”

This momentum comes at a time when the fashion world is rapidly distancing itself from fur. Earlier this month, the Council of Fashion Designers of America announced that it will end the promotion of animal fur across all official New York Fashion Week events beginning in 2026. The decision follows discussions with Humane World for Animals and adds NYFW to a growing list of fashion leaders rejecting fur. Just weeks earlier, Condé Nast also adopted a fur-free policy across Vogue, Glamour, Vanity Fair, and its other publications.

Public sentiment is undergoing a profound shift. People are no longer willing to accept the cruelty inherent in the fur industry, animals trapped in cramped, barren cages, subjected to extreme suffering, and killed for the sake of fashion. As awareness spreads, consumers, designers, and major brands are taking a stand, committing to fur-free fashion and demanding ethical alternatives that do not cost animals their lives.

This month, Poland, once the world’s second-largest fur-farming nation, became the 24th country to ban fur farming, following Romania’s ban in 2024 and Lithuania’s in 2023. The global fur trade is rapidly collapsing: over the past decade, the number of animals killed for fur has fallen by 85 percent, dropping from 140 million in 2014 to just 20 million in 2024.

WAN and Peace 4 Animals commend Hearst for its decision to go fur-free. As more major media companies end their promotion of fur, fashion weeks reject fur, and countries ban fur farming, the message is clear: compassion is transforming the fashion industry, and the world is moving toward a cruelty-free future.

#MakeCompassionTheFashion