12 March 2018
The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) and trading standards teams across the country are re-issuing guidance to market traders and businesses after an investigation by London Borough of Bromley Trading Standards found real fur products that were labelled as synthetic by retailers.
Some retailers sold unlabelled textile garments - including hats with pompoms and coats with fur attached to the hoods - as faux fur when in fact the fur was real.
Businesses are reminded of their legal obligation to ensure that the products they sell conform to the legislation. Animal-derived materials in textiles, such as fur and leather, must be clearly labelled for consumers in a non-misleading, unambiguous manner. Products containing such materials must have labels that include the wording 'contains non-textile parts of animal origin'.
See the In-depth Guide 'Labelling of textitles' for more information.
For additional information, the Humane Society International have produced guidance to help people identify whether the fur used is real or faux.