Helsinki Fashion Week pledges to ban leather

Labels taking part in the Helsinki Fashion Week will no longer be allowed to use leather in their collections, as the event’s organizers have pledged to ban the material from 2019. “We at Helsinki Fashion Week, with the support of the Nordic Fashion Week Association, are taking an active stand against cruelty to animals and the damaging environmental impacts that the use of animal leather brings with it”, said Evelyn Mora, founder of Helsinki Fashion Week, in a statement shared with the press by animal rights organization PETA.

“By banning leather, Helsinki Fashion Week will become a groundbreaking, cutting-edge presence on the fashion scene”, commented PETA’s director Elisa Allen, adding that the organization “looks forward to seeing animal and eco-friendly vegan fabrica take over Helsinki catwalks in 2019 and beyond”.