Faux fur has emerged as one of the most talked-about materials of the AW25 season. Once relegated to fast fashion racks and ironic streetwear, it’s now playing a central role on the runways—from Balenciaga’s fuzzy coats and oversized hoods to Diesel’s shaggy trims and puffed-up collars. Yes, fashion’s cold-weather darling is back, and this time it’s luxe, high-tech, and often indistinguishable from the real thing—which, incidentally, has also made a low-key return to the runway this season. See Gabriela Hearst’s coat, made by repurposing real vintage fur in the name of sustainability. Fashion has declared these new iterations of the material guilt-free glamour. But are they?

“Faux fur has often been positioned as bridging the gap between ethics and luxury, and pledges from myriad brands to go fur-free have further solidified faux fur as being the ‘guilt-free’ option,” explains Katie Devlin, fashion trends editor at Stylus. “However, mainstream awareness around sustainability in fashion has caused many consumers to reexamine the ethics and implications of plastic-based fauxs.”

Scratch beneath the surface of fur’s return, and what emerges is a deeper, more complex story—one that reveals fashion’s ongoing identity crisis when it comes to sustainability, ethics, and taste.

This faux fur revival is as much about materials as it is culture. “The reality is that people like a furry, fluffy aesthetic and that’s particularly clear at the moment,” says Emma Håkansson, activist and founding director of Collective Fashion Justice. “There is nothing wrong with enjoying an aesthetic drawing inspiration of animals—we don’t criticise people for wearing cheetah print—but there is an injustice in placing aesthetics over ethics, and this is what happens when we wear animal fur.”

This faux fur revival is as much about materials as it is culture.

In many ways, this shift reflects a rising backlash against what some critics call “performative sustainability” or “woke consumerism.” There’s a growing sense, especially among younger fashion audiences who spend more time online, that the relentless messaging around ethical consumption is not only exhausting but often paradoxical. “Consumers can be left feeling like they would need to compromise their morals one way or another if they were to buy into this trend,” says Devlin.

In this climate, faux fur becomes a symbol of resistance: a plush, defiant “yes” in a world of climate-conscious “no”s. It lets consumers engage in maximalism again, without the guilt of real animal harm. “If consumers are looking for a substitute for real fur, there are already many environmentally friendly alternatives on the market, such as next-gen or plant-based materials,” notes Yvonne Nottbrock, wild animal campaigner at FOUR PAWS. But are these genuine solutions, or just a fashionable form of cognitive dissonance?

A 2023 report from Humane Society International found that the environmental impact of real fur considerably outweighs that of other materials, and the garment industry has been called out as one of the most polluting in the world. “Like other intensive farming systems, the raising and killing of thousands of animals on fur farms has a severe ecological footprint, requiring high levels of energy consumption, as well as land use, water, feed, and other resources,” explains Nottbrock. But what about secondhand fur? In theory, it could be a more responsible and circular way to get the look because you avoid virgin polyester materials and give new life to something old in the process, but the optics still don’t work, as Nottbrook explains: “Even if wearing used fur does not directly fuel the fur trade, it may increase the acceptance of fur fashion in society and could, in the worst case, help to pave the way for a comeback of animals’ pelts.”

Even if wearing used fur does not directly fuel the fur trade, it may increase the acceptance of fur fashion in society.

– wild animal campaigner, FOUR PAWS

At first glance, faux fur may seem to check the boxes of modern fashion ethics: cruelty-free, animal-friendly, and vegan. But dig deeper, and the material tells a different story. Most faux furs are made from synthetic fibres like acrylic, polyester, nylon, and modacrylic, which are all derived from fossil fuels. These plastic-based materials are energy-intensive to produce, can shed microplastics into waterways, and do not biodegrade. Although it’s worth noting that the nature of faux fur being rarely washed means it sheds fewer microplastics over time than frequently laundered synthetics.

Devlin believes that fashion needs to find a way to appeal to both aesthetic tastes and ethical values. “Consumers are willing to spend more on sustainable products, especially if there’s no compromise on quality and they feel like justifiable investments,” she says. “As faux furs become more innovative and move away from plastic, they will also be of a higher quality, meaning that in theory, they’re more likely to last long enough to be passed down through generations the same way real furs have been in the past.”

Beyond politics, there’s another reason faux fur is back: fashion is once again embracing drama. The minimalist aesthetics that dominated the early 2020s are giving way to a bold new maximalism that’s nostalgic, ironic, and often knowingly artificial. “The recent fur resurgence feels like a deliberate celebration of excess and unapologetic hedonism, perhaps signalling a pendulum swing away from quiet luxury aesthetics towards lavish indulgence,” notes Devlin. Faux fur fits perfectly within this mood: decadent, tactile, and Instagrammable.

The faux fur revival is more than a trend; it’s a mirror. It reflects fashion’s fractured, often contradictory attempts to reconcile beauty with impact, identity with ideology. But where does this leave sustainability?

Some would argue that without systemic changes in production, recycling, and waste management, these aesthetic shifts are little more than surface-level tweaks to a fundamentally unsustainable model. Fur remains such a polarising topic: “Real or fake, wearing fur [for some people] still feels like a somewhat radical and rebellious statement,” says Devlin. What’s needed now is a deeper reckoning with how fashion defines value, luxury, and responsibility in a world on the brink.

Feature image via Pexels. Good On You publishes the world’s most comprehensive ratings of fashion and beauty brands’ impact on people, the planet, and animals. Use our directory to search thousands of rated brands.