Most people outside of the fashion industry will not have heard of this ‘deluxe’ fur. Designers adore its soft texture and its tight curls . Astrakhan fur comes from Karakul sheep; a distinctive fat-tailed breed from Central Asia. However, astrakhan fur takes its name from the city of Astrakhan in Southern European Russia. Karakul baby lambs from this region are the source of this fur. Furs from other sources can also be termed ‘Persian wool’.
I have no qualms with the use of wool or sheep skin if the animal has lived for a decent period of time, killed humanely and used for meat. The Karakul lamb, however, experiences none of these. To achieve the highest prices in the fashion industry, astrakhan fur must be taken from either a fetus or a lamb of a maximum of three-days-old. After three days, the lamb will darken in color and loose the softness and tightness of its curls. Because their unique, highly prized curly fur begins to unwind and straighten within three days of birth, many karakul lambs are slaughtered when they are only 1 or 2 days old. The rest don’t even make it that far. In order to get a karakul fetus’s hide - ”called “broad-tail” in the industry and valued for its exceptional smoothness - ”the mother’s throat is slit and her stomach slashed open to remove the developing lamb. A mother typically gives birth to three lambs before being slaughtered along with her fourth fetus, about 15 to 30 days before it is due to be born. As many as 4 million karakul lambs are slaughtered for their fur every year.
This practice should not continue. We are, completely depriving lambs of life in order to fulfill our aesthetic needs. What right do we have to exploit baby lambs pelts to satisfy our want for aesthetic luxury, for clothes , Accessories and material possessions? These are not possessions. These are not objects. These are baby animals; cutest creatures on the earth and we can not create a beauty with destroying the other beauty and enjoy it . we all know using exotic and luxury material is our secret weapon to create a jaw dropping product but we forget that we are designers and they are always many ideas to work around to keep a product beautiful , successful and unique with not using a material that we know it’s a result of a very cruel process .
please think, there is always another option .
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