Eco-conscious and environmentally friendly, that’s the message from a Dunedin fashion designer who’s started producing rabbit fur coats.
“It’s a choice whether to wear fur or not, and if you wish for the luxury of fur, then maybe you should be making an eco-conscious choice,” Lapin designer and owner Jane Avery says.
Unlike several other furs, rabbits are considered a pest, with councils across the South Island working to decrease a rapidly growing population.
Central Otago rabbiter Ray Moffat, who catches the rabbits for Avery, encourages the fashion option.
“If they’re getting killed anyway, they’ve got to go, so why not utilise the product that can come off them,” Moffat says.
Avery also believes the coats are a far better alternative, than that of faux fur.
“People are realising these days that synthetic furs are bad for the environment, they don’t biodegrade,” says Avery.
The coats, that can take up to six weeks to manufacture, use between sixteen and fifty-five rabbit skins to produce.
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