Wearing animal fur has long been a way for humans to keep warm in the winter. But nowadays, when there are so many alternatives at our fingertips and discussions about animal welfare are starting to enter the mainstream, the need for fur might have become outdated.
But what about vintage and secondhand fur? Should that be seen the same way as a brand new mink coat? According to artist Alexandra Yvette, the two are not the same. Below, you’ll find a TikTok that Alexandra recently shared detailing how she was denied entry to a bar because of her coat, as well as some of the responses viewers have shared online.
Wearing fur has become a controversial choice in recent decades
Image credits: Markus Spiske (not the actual photo)
But vegan artist Alexandra Yvette was shocked to find out she couldn’t even enter a popular NYC bar while wearing vintage fur
Image credits: preraphaelitequeen
“I got kicked out of a bar in New York for wearing fur. And I feel like I didn’t get the memo that wearing fur in New York is, I guess, really offensive.”
Image credits: preraphaelitequeen
“It was vintage, it was a mink coat from the 30s. So it was very old. And I do feel okay with wearing vintage fur. I know some people don’t agree with that. But personally, it’s never bothered me. I would never buy a fur coat new.”
Image credits: preraphaelitequeen
“But anyways, I walked up to this bar. It was like a speakeasy. And the man was like, ‘Is your coat real?’ And I was like, ‘Yes, it’s real. It’s really old. It‘s from the 30s.’ And he was like, ‘That doesn’t matter. Fur is not allowed here. You need to leave.’”
Image credits: preraphaelitequeen
“And I thought he was joking. So I kind of just looked at him and I was like, ‘Really?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, please go.’ It was such an intense moment. I almost wanted to cry because it just felt like such a weird rejection. And then I was questioning my morals.”
Image credits: preraphaelitequeen
Image credits: preraphaelitequeen
You can hear Alexandra’s full story right here
@preraphaelitequeen #vintagefur ♬ original sound – Alexandra Yvette
The fur industry is undeniably cruel to animals
While a soft fur coat might be your ideal choice to keep warm in during the winter, it’s important to know where that piece of clothing came from and what sacrifices had to be made to create it. According to PETA, about 100 million animals are killed each year for their fur, and prior to being skinned, these creatures are kept in terrible conditions. They live in cramped, filthy cages before being killed through some of the cheapest and most cruel methods available, such as suffocation, electrocution, gas and poison.
Today, over half of the fur in the United States comes from China, where millions of dogs and cats are skinned alive for their fur, PETA reports. This fur is often intentionally mislabeled as well, meaning that there’s no way of truly knowing what animal you’re wearing in the winter.
Because of how brutal the fur industry is, activists have been taking a stand against fur for decades. You may have seen people get red paint thrown on their real fur coats, particularly during the 1990s, and apparently a handful of NYC establishments have banned patrons from entering if they’re wearing real fur.
Image credits: Clem Onojeghuo (not the actual photo)
Several bars and restaurants in NYC have banned customers from wearing real fur
The Back Room, which viewers have guessed was the bar Alexandra was visiting, states, “The Back Room does not allow real fur” on their site. Vegan restaurant Spicy Moon has a similar message on their door: “We prefer that you not wear fur. If you’re wearing animal’s fur, we still warmly welcome you to our establishment but we hope you’ll open your heart to animals and go fur-free.”
While the fur industry is undeniably cruel, as with anything else in the world, this topic requires nuance. Yes, it is better to avoid buying fur than to purchase a new mink coat. But what about leather, suede and wool? Those industries are cruel to animals as well, yet most people don’t seem to have a problem with them, the same way most people don’t have an issue with eating meat. Cognitive dissonance is prevalent in how many people say that feel about animals versus which industries they choose to support.
And shouldn’t we consider secondhand goods to be in a different category than products bought brand new? Our world is producing 92 million tons of textile waste each year, The Round Up reports. Yet still, between 80-100 billion new clothing items are produced around the globe annually. Shopping secondhand whenever possible is much better for the environment. While some might argue that wearing a fur coat from the 30s is still driving up demand because others might see it and try to purchase a similar look, Alexandra did not contribute to creating clothing waste by purchasing it.
Image credits: Jakayla Toney(not the actual photo)
Secondhand or vintage fur is more sustainable than clothing items purchased brand new
Personally, I’ve been vegan for 7 years, and I will still occasionally buy leather or wool items from a thrift store, as I know they’re high quality and are a better choice than buying something brand new. No, I don’t love the idea of wearing animal products, but I still have pairs of shoes that I bought before going vegan that have leather on them as well. It’s understandable why Alexandra might not have had a problem with vintage fur, while also saying that she would never buy a new fur coat.
Whether or not it’s acceptable to wear secondhand animal products is a gray area for vegans. Some choose to avoid them all, while others would rather choose something that was created decades ago than create more demand in the current fashion industry. But as far as whether or not we can tell others what is acceptable to wear, I’m not sure that’s our business.
We would love to hear your thoughts on this situation in the comments below, pandas. Then, if you’re interested in reading another Bored Panda article discussing a similar topic, look no fur-ther than right here!
Image credits: Adrià Jiménez (not the actual photo)
Some viewers found the bar’s policy unreasonable
Some even had similar stories of their own to share
But others questioned how Alexandra could wear fur while claiming to be vegan
She didn’t get kicked out…she was refused entry. There was a dress code, she ignored it, this is really weird rage-bait on her part.
But it's an old fur coat. If it was a new one, I'd see the problem. However, do you think it would be better to destroy already existing fur coats so that those animals really died for nothing?
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I think wearing vintage fur is fine. The fur industry is really not something we want to continue to exist, but wearing pieces that already existed (i.e. you did not buy them new, which keeps the industry alive), is fine for me. Why throw away a perfectly fine, warm coat? It seems like such a waste.
While I agree that you should use what is already there the issue is, 1. that you "promote" fur by wearing it 2. you can't see if sth is vintage or not at first glance and the uncommented message is " Fur is great, I wear it. I am fine if you do too."
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Please stop with these TikTok posts, and please stop making stupid people famous.
My wife has a very nice, very big, warm coat made from Acrylic. We were in a pub one evening and a young lady we know commented on what a beautiful coat it was. I joked, it was a shame that 1,000 Acrylics died to make it...... she then agreed and said "yes it is sad but worth it for such a nice coat!"🤭 I felt bad.
I make a similar joke with synthetic fleece clothes saying it's made from "Muppet fur"
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So "Vegan" wears fur. Goes to an establishment that she "claims" she didn't know had a dress code against fur and gets denied entry and of course blabs about it. This sounds like someone looking for attention and clicks.
If you’re a true vegan you don’t wear fur or animal products…ever. This is the most hypocritical bs I’ve ever heard.
OH BOO HOO. "A single bar in a city full of them wouldn't let me in because of what I was wearing, made me almost cry because I'm so weak, and then instead of just going somewhere else I whined on the internet where I made a generalization about an entire city, which was proven incorrect since many people responded by saying they wear fur there without any problems. WAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH. Give me support and vaildation for this monstrous situation!!!"
Am I the only one that finds it ironic when a vegan cries about other people questioning their morals?
Nobody's out there breeding and killing cattle, sheep, or pigs just for their skin. While leather's not an optimal fashion choice for a vegan, no part of that animal was tossed aside after slaughter. I don't see a problem with wool, that's nothing but a quick haircut to a sheep. Fur however, ought to be illegal everywhere except areas where temperatures frequently drop below zero or where the animals they came from are consumed also.
Clearly you don't understand the industry if sheep don't get their fleece cut off it can be torture for them. Mink get a metal pipe shoved up their a*s and they get electrocuted from the inside so the fur doesn't get damaged. Then their fur gets ripped off their skin, and a lot of the time the mink is still alive while it's getting torn off their body. Oh, you were trying to validate it. Continue...
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Interesting debate topic, ruined by a giant boring tiktok filter face. Please don't post tiktoks.
I always find it interesting that people will go all out on a small framed woman about her wearing fur but clinch their buttholes when dealing with a large man in a leather jacket..the only issue I have is... she claims to be vegan but is OK wearing fur because it's old? I guess my grandparent's old ivory tusk display should be fine with her? /s
I mean I'd rather you keep it on display than throwing it out.
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You aren't welcome wearing fur in some places here (Berlin), too. Maybe it's vintage, but it propagates the look. I'm not even vegetarian, but I personally would feel like an a"*':hole wearing fur.
I think this has some similarities to the international ban on the ivory trade that also applies to old ivory. Even if the fur is vintage and you played no role in supporting the industry at the time the coat was made, it still indirectly encourages the perpetuation of the industry today.
I was vegan for seven years. I own vintage fur. I would never ever buy it new, but to let something just rot is wasteful. Part of the reason I'm no longer vegan is my family raising really happy chickens. We eat their butt nuggets. We give them to healthcare workers. Sheep need to be sheared. Cows eventually die. Leather and fur last longer, and have less processing than plastics. She ignored the dress code, but she's not wrong morally.
I'm with you. It's disrespectful and hypocritical to just toss aside existing functional animal products in the name of conceptual modern animal welfare and replace them with literal plastic that ultimately won't last as long and won't work as well. Refusing to use a vintage animal product doesn't un-kill the historical animal whose body went into it (and who may have even had a much more pleasant/"ethical" life than modern animals). Buying vintage items does not spur manufacturers to churn out masses of new ones and literally does not pay into the fur/leather industry at all.
Load More Replies... Am I the only one that checks out a venue I have never been to for rules/dress code? (and menu, and prices, and open/close times - yes, I'm that person)
I always check out the menu and such, but I've never had a reason to think anything I wear would be against any dress code.
Load More Replies...
Hate to say it, but the meat free industry is just as bad....and some of the substitutes are really unhealthy. There's no need for fur in this century (unless you live in ot near the arctic circle; I'm not telling the Inuit to stop.)
She says she doesn't wear new clothes made from animal fur, but her blue tam is made from angora/rabbit fur. I am sure her makeup isn't all cruelty free. I think wearing any fur, vintage or not, in a country where we don't have to, and frankly it's barely cold in NYC, is basically saying it's okay to wear a dead animal because it's pretty. She's a hypocrite.
Well it is better than killing defenseless some poly ester! My leather purse has lasted 12 years it will decompose if it ever ends up in the dump!
When are they going to start asking if your clothes are from Shein? "Sorry you can't come in here because your clothes exploit people and contribute to huge amounts of trash in landfills!"
So if you are vegan you can eat meat from old cans? How old should the cans be to be allowed? How about dried milk properly preserved?
I would think they should eat them then letting it rot...
Load More Replies... 
I was in the fur trapping industry for twenty years. We were doing our job as humainly as possible. Mostly for our own sense of right to life. We were making a living killing possums that were eradicating our native trees and some fauna. Then cleverer people decided to tar everyone with the same brush. Our pest eradication/livelihood disappeared overnight. Now New Zealand buys 90% of the worlds production of 1080. AKA monosodium fluoro acetate. We lace carrots and cereal baits with three and a half to four tonnes of 1080 and drop it onto our native and introduced animals every year. Maybe you could learn about the humanity there and consider that what animals have died for in the past might be respected while the clothing lasts.
I would love to ask them what to do with old existing animals products like fur coats or snake leather boots. Is it really better to destroy them and wearing plastic (fake leather and fur) instead?
I wouldn't wear the fur coat but I don't see the point in destroying it. That really would be a waste. (A vegan wearing it though, is hypocritical to say the least. What I do struggle to understand is where 'wool' comes into this conversation. Animals aren't killed fot their wool . There was a sheep in the news recently, it had got trapped beside a river for two years. When it was rescued it was struggling with its overgrown fkeece and was sheered to give it a chance to freely move about again. Are you trying to suggesr that is cruel?
I will not judge her for wearing vintage fur. I wish we could give each other grace because no one gets this perfectly. Peace
I'm not saying she is wrong, but it just isn't the smartest thing to do
If you're a vegan you respect the life of animals. If you don't, don't call yourself a vegan... how disgusting, an old animal fur. Call it vintage and it's ok to wear it? Lol. God knows what was living in it...repulsive
There are many people who are okay with second hand or vintage leather/fur, because that animal is already dead and there is no changing that, and this way they won’t have died for nothing. It is also more sustainable because real leather and fur will last for decades if well cared for, whereas pleather and fake fur will last…a decade? Even if taken good care of. Those are made of essentially plastic and not good for the environment. The lower the demand for new leather and fur goods, the lower the supply. Eliminating it entirely is unlikely to happen, but encouraging people to look for secondhand leather and fur rather than new is a step in a more animal friendly and sustainable direction.
Hmmm. A bit contradictory here. Two quotes from what she said which seem like she's looking for attention, and that she *knew* that wearing fur is problematic. It has been for many, many years: "And I feel like I didn’t get the memo that wearing fur in New York is, I guess, really offensive" followed by "I know some people don’t agree with that."
LMAO! A vegan wearing a fur coat...that is OUTRAGEOUS!!! So that's were the line has been drawn at!?! They want people not to eat them but it's ok to wear them...ok got it! I love how the excuse is "it's vintage" LOL...Well I'm gonna eat this aged steak right now, it's ok it's vintage
I love being warm in the winter, so it's coyote and bear for me. Won't catch me in the northern hemisphere during winter wearing some faux nonsense.
You claim that you are a VEGAN? Huh? You might, oh . . . I don't know, want to look up the definition. So according to your philosophy here, it's okay for you to, say, eat meat if it were frozen or freeze dried for many years? Oh no? STFU! Girl you don't know what you are. If you're vegan you wouldn't be caught dead in real fur. Sit down, figure your s**t out and then move on. I'm glad you were refused entrance. That it caused you to actually stop and think for a damn minute. Personally I think vegans are self- righteous, pretentious AH's all around so yea, YTA glad you asked.
She won't have cows milk but she'll wear the corpses of multiple animals draped across herself? Alrighty then!!
Wearing vintage fur promotes people wnting to wear new fur. Don't wear fur. Also their bar their policy.
So a vegan can wear fur but not eat animals ... sounds as dumb as she looks
She didn’t get kicked out…she was refused entry. There was a dress code, she ignored it, this is really weird rage-bait on her part.
But it's an old fur coat. If it was a new one, I'd see the problem. However, do you think it would be better to destroy already existing fur coats so that those animals really died for nothing?
Load More Replies... I think wearing vintage fur is fine. The fur industry is really not something we want to continue to exist, but wearing pieces that already existed (i.e. you did not buy them new, which keeps the industry alive), is fine for me. Why throw away a perfectly fine, warm coat? It seems like such a waste.
While I agree that you should use what is already there the issue is, 1. that you "promote" fur by wearing it 2. you can't see if sth is vintage or not at first glance and the uncommented message is " Fur is great, I wear it. I am fine if you do too."
Load More Replies... Please stop with these TikTok posts, and please stop making stupid people famous.
My wife has a very nice, very big, warm coat made from Acrylic. We were in a pub one evening and a young lady we know commented on what a beautiful coat it was. I joked, it was a shame that 1,000 Acrylics died to make it...... she then agreed and said "yes it is sad but worth it for such a nice coat!"🤭 I felt bad.
I make a similar joke with synthetic fleece clothes saying it's made from "Muppet fur"
Load More Replies... So "Vegan" wears fur. Goes to an establishment that she "claims" she didn't know had a dress code against fur and gets denied entry and of course blabs about it. This sounds like someone looking for attention and clicks.
If you’re a true vegan you don’t wear fur or animal products…ever. This is the most hypocritical bs I’ve ever heard.
OH BOO HOO. "A single bar in a city full of them wouldn't let me in because of what I was wearing, made me almost cry because I'm so weak, and then instead of just going somewhere else I whined on the internet where I made a generalization about an entire city, which was proven incorrect since many people responded by saying they wear fur there without any problems. WAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH. Give me support and vaildation for this monstrous situation!!!"
Am I the only one that finds it ironic when a vegan cries about other people questioning their morals?
Nobody's out there breeding and killing cattle, sheep, or pigs just for their skin. While leather's not an optimal fashion choice for a vegan, no part of that animal was tossed aside after slaughter. I don't see a problem with wool, that's nothing but a quick haircut to a sheep. Fur however, ought to be illegal everywhere except areas where temperatures frequently drop below zero or where the animals they came from are consumed also.
Clearly you don't understand the industry if sheep don't get their fleece cut off it can be torture for them. Mink get a metal pipe shoved up their a*s and they get electrocuted from the inside so the fur doesn't get damaged. Then their fur gets ripped off their skin, and a lot of the time the mink is still alive while it's getting torn off their body. Oh, you were trying to validate it. Continue...
Load More Replies... Interesting debate topic, ruined by a giant boring tiktok filter face. Please don't post tiktoks.
I always find it interesting that people will go all out on a small framed woman about her wearing fur but clinch their buttholes when dealing with a large man in a leather jacket..the only issue I have is... she claims to be vegan but is OK wearing fur because it's old? I guess my grandparent's old ivory tusk display should be fine with her? /s
I mean I'd rather you keep it on display than throwing it out.
Load More Replies... You aren't welcome wearing fur in some places here (Berlin), too. Maybe it's vintage, but it propagates the look. I'm not even vegetarian, but I personally would feel like an a"*':hole wearing fur.
I think this has some similarities to the international ban on the ivory trade that also applies to old ivory. Even if the fur is vintage and you played no role in supporting the industry at the time the coat was made, it still indirectly encourages the perpetuation of the industry today.
I was vegan for seven years. I own vintage fur. I would never ever buy it new, but to let something just rot is wasteful. Part of the reason I'm no longer vegan is my family raising really happy chickens. We eat their butt nuggets. We give them to healthcare workers. Sheep need to be sheared. Cows eventually die. Leather and fur last longer, and have less processing than plastics. She ignored the dress code, but she's not wrong morally.
I'm with you. It's disrespectful and hypocritical to just toss aside existing functional animal products in the name of conceptual modern animal welfare and replace them with literal plastic that ultimately won't last as long and won't work as well. Refusing to use a vintage animal product doesn't un-kill the historical animal whose body went into it (and who may have even had a much more pleasant/"ethical" life than modern animals). Buying vintage items does not spur manufacturers to churn out masses of new ones and literally does not pay into the fur/leather industry at all.
Load More Replies... Am I the only one that checks out a venue I have never been to for rules/dress code? (and menu, and prices, and open/close times - yes, I'm that person)
I always check out the menu and such, but I've never had a reason to think anything I wear would be against any dress code.
Load More Replies... Hate to say it, but the meat free industry is just as bad....and some of the substitutes are really unhealthy. There's no need for fur in this century (unless you live in ot near the arctic circle; I'm not telling the Inuit to stop.)
She says she doesn't wear new clothes made from animal fur, but her blue tam is made from angora/rabbit fur. I am sure her makeup isn't all cruelty free. I think wearing any fur, vintage or not, in a country where we don't have to, and frankly it's barely cold in NYC, is basically saying it's okay to wear a dead animal because it's pretty. She's a hypocrite.
Well it is better than killing defenseless some poly ester! My leather purse has lasted 12 years it will decompose if it ever ends up in the dump!
When are they going to start asking if your clothes are from Shein? "Sorry you can't come in here because your clothes exploit people and contribute to huge amounts of trash in landfills!"
So if you are vegan you can eat meat from old cans? How old should the cans be to be allowed? How about dried milk properly preserved?
I would think they should eat them then letting it rot...
Load More Replies... I was in the fur trapping industry for twenty years. We were doing our job as humainly as possible. Mostly for our own sense of right to life. We were making a living killing possums that were eradicating our native trees and some fauna. Then cleverer people decided to tar everyone with the same brush. Our pest eradication/livelihood disappeared overnight. Now New Zealand buys 90% of the worlds production of 1080. AKA monosodium fluoro acetate. We lace carrots and cereal baits with three and a half to four tonnes of 1080 and drop it onto our native and introduced animals every year. Maybe you could learn about the humanity there and consider that what animals have died for in the past might be respected while the clothing lasts.
I would love to ask them what to do with old existing animals products like fur coats or snake leather boots. Is it really better to destroy them and wearing plastic (fake leather and fur) instead?
I wouldn't wear the fur coat but I don't see the point in destroying it. That really would be a waste. (A vegan wearing it though, is hypocritical to say the least. What I do struggle to understand is where 'wool' comes into this conversation. Animals aren't killed fot their wool . There was a sheep in the news recently, it had got trapped beside a river for two years. When it was rescued it was struggling with its overgrown fkeece and was sheered to give it a chance to freely move about again. Are you trying to suggesr that is cruel?
I will not judge her for wearing vintage fur. I wish we could give each other grace because no one gets this perfectly. Peace
I'm not saying she is wrong, but it just isn't the smartest thing to do
If you're a vegan you respect the life of animals. If you don't, don't call yourself a vegan... how disgusting, an old animal fur. Call it vintage and it's ok to wear it? Lol. God knows what was living in it...repulsive
There are many people who are okay with second hand or vintage leather/fur, because that animal is already dead and there is no changing that, and this way they won’t have died for nothing. It is also more sustainable because real leather and fur will last for decades if well cared for, whereas pleather and fake fur will last…a decade? Even if taken good care of. Those are made of essentially plastic and not good for the environment. The lower the demand for new leather and fur goods, the lower the supply. Eliminating it entirely is unlikely to happen, but encouraging people to look for secondhand leather and fur rather than new is a step in a more animal friendly and sustainable direction.
Hmmm. A bit contradictory here. Two quotes from what she said which seem like she's looking for attention, and that she *knew* that wearing fur is problematic. It has been for many, many years: "And I feel like I didn’t get the memo that wearing fur in New York is, I guess, really offensive" followed by "I know some people don’t agree with that."
LMAO! A vegan wearing a fur coat...that is OUTRAGEOUS!!! So that's were the line has been drawn at!?! They want people not to eat them but it's ok to wear them...ok got it! I love how the excuse is "it's vintage" LOL...Well I'm gonna eat this aged steak right now, it's ok it's vintage
I love being warm in the winter, so it's coyote and bear for me. Won't catch me in the northern hemisphere during winter wearing some faux nonsense.
You claim that you are a VEGAN? Huh? You might, oh . . . I don't know, want to look up the definition. So according to your philosophy here, it's okay for you to, say, eat meat if it were frozen or freeze dried for many years? Oh no? STFU! Girl you don't know what you are. If you're vegan you wouldn't be caught dead in real fur. Sit down, figure your s**t out and then move on. I'm glad you were refused entrance. That it caused you to actually stop and think for a damn minute. Personally I think vegans are self- righteous, pretentious AH's all around so yea, YTA glad you asked.
She won't have cows milk but she'll wear the corpses of multiple animals draped across herself? Alrighty then!!
Wearing vintage fur promotes people wnting to wear new fur. Don't wear fur. Also their bar their policy.
So a vegan can wear fur but not eat animals ... sounds as dumb as she looks
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