Real or Fake? Until now people who wanted to avoid buying fur products had few….

Until now people who wanted to avoid buying fur products had few ways to discern the difference. But thanks to a new federal law, humane-minded consumers can make more informed choices. Since 1951, companies haven’t been required to label the species and country of origin on clothing with a certain amount of fur, defined today as $150 or less.

As a results, thousands of garments may have been sold   each year with no identification of what they’re made of: pelts of animals trapped inhumanly in the wild or raised in small cages and killed in gruesome ways.

While the ever-increasing sophistication of faux fur has been an exciting development for  conscientious fashionistas, the phenomenon has had a flip side. Through microscopy, mass spectrometry, and other detection methods, Humane Society staff have discovered rampant marketplace misinformation: fur garments promoted as faux or with incorrect species information—or not labeled at all. Armed with these findings, The Humane Society secured support for a bill to close the labeling loophole from consumer protection groups and companies such as Gucci, Burberry, and Overstock.com.  Major retailers like Saks Fifth

Avenue, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s also signed on when settling consumer deception lawsuits filed by the Humane Society.

Signed into law in December 2010, The Truth in Fur Labeling Act takes effect this month. As to whether companies will comply, they only to look to the example of the 300-plus retailers, designers, and brands that have joined the Humane Society’s fur-free list.