Victorious

Snowflake Furs

Evicted

from The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver

PETA’s Worst Dressed Celeb of the Year: Catherine Zeta Jones – Has-been Star, Has-been Style

After 17 years of leasing space in the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, Westmont Hospitality Group will NOT be renewing Snowflake Furs’ lease this September forcing them to look for another location. Today, Snowflake Furs confirmed to an undercover activist that they are in the process of trying to find another spot downtown to lease, although they admit they are not sure whether they are going to be staying downtown, or even in Vancouver at all. The reason for this change of plans? The two year campaign launched against Snowflake Furs which has loudly communicated, both to Snowflake Furs and the city of Vancouver – that fur is simply not an acceptable industry to support. Don’t sell it – don’t buy it.

Tacky, needlessly cruel, wasteful – fur is DEAD.

The campaign against Snoflake Furs has demonstrated the SHAC model in action: target, target, target, then target the accomplices. The Fairmont Hotel was guilty by association in this filthy fur affair. They only needed their rent – not the public humiliation of being associated with animal abusers, resulting in their eventual choice to evict Snowflake Furs. Activists exposed the Fairmont Hotel for their monetary gain in the business transaction through weekly demonstrations, also paying a visit to Mark Andrews at home to remind him of the cruelty he was playing a part in supporting.

HERE is a prior interview with a co-owner of Snowflake Furs, Megan Halprin.

So to all those who don’t think that “standing in the street” does anything (cough*women’s rights*cough), and to all those who look down at those involved in social movements as “crusaders” (cough*hypocritical hippies*cough) – demonstrating is effective. Be loud, be clear. If you want to see real results, then drag your real butt out of the house and get a sign.

If anyone would like to support the campaign against Snowflake Furs, please send a thank you to the landlords at Westmont Hospitality Group and the Fairmont CEO William Fatt, reminding William Fatt that Snowflake Furs still needs to be removed from the other 2 locations, Whistler and Banff.

aly.damji@whg.com, kenneth.gibson@whg.com, mohamed.thowfeek@whg.com, mark.davies@whg.com, william.fatt@fairmont.com, bill.fatt@frhi.com

Dawn of a New Canada

Snowflake Furs: Proudly Archaic

Interview with Megan Halprin, co-owner of Snowflake Furs:

Megan Halprin

(What’s funny is that Megan wouldn’t give me her name and wanted to be referred to as “someone from Snowflake”. Why doesn’t Megan want to stand behind her views?)

This is a summary of Megan Halprin’s answers, because after initially agreeing to be on camera she then refused. Megan’s feathers were clearly ruffled when I entered the store as she tried to identify who I was. She asked who I was with and I replied that I was there as an individual (my pins and stickers barely concealed). She asked what my opinion was on the protest and I said it didn’t matter because I was here to collect her opinions – here they are:

• What is your opinion on the protesting happening outside your store right now? I think it’s uncalled for and hypocritical. Fur is no different than leather or silk. They are targeting us when many other retailers sell animal products and they themselves are not entirely free of using any animal products.
• Why do you think there is such a backlash against fur over other animal-derived clothing? Because people don’t have cows, goats, and sheep as pets. They see the small, furry animals as cuter, more relatable.
• Have the protesters had any negative impact on your relationship with Fairmont Hotels? No. They have had no media attention. We have been with Fairmont for thirty years.
• Except for me. No offense, but you’re not really media.
• Right. I’m small press, but several hundred people read this blog (update* over 1000 a day)
  
• Do you wear fur? Yes. I don’t think we’re doing anything wrong. We’re not trying to cover up what we’re selling (though Snowflake no longer displays any fur in their windows). We don’t say we’re selling fake fur and have it mixed with real fur. We don’t sell dog fur, or fur from endangered species, or seal fur.
  
• Would you consider selling seal fur? Seal fur has been worn in this country for a long time. When the native cultures hunt it they use the entire animal.
• Are you aware that in Canada’s commercial seal hunt, where 300 000 seals are killed every year, the seals are killed for their skins and then simply discarded? That’s called culling. If they didn’t do this, the marine life would be off balance.
• The protests have been going on for along time now. Are they affecting you? I just think that people have the right to make up their own minds. Everyone has the right to choose for themselves. If they want to wear fur and shop here, that’s their decision. It’s their right to make their own choice.
• But then (the protesters) also have the right to stand in the street and protest, right? They don’t have the right to yell at people and berate our store. The way they’re acting is harassment.
• I think the reason they’re behaving in a harassing fashion is because they feel that the animals are being subjected to even more harassing practices. How would you feel if people kept harassing you at work, calling and hanging up and trying to ruin your business?
• I think if I was working in a store in which I may have overlooked something about the product I was selling, I might be open to what the callers were trying to say. I haven’t overlooked anything. I don’t think it’s okay to call a person’s store and hang up, or affect the business of Griffin’s Restaurant beside us – they don’t have anything to do with this. (The Shac Model in action!) People have the right to get information, but the protesters are distorting the facts. They don’t know who our suppliers are. They don’t know where our fur comes from.
• I think they’re trying to express that all fur production is inhumane…

(I decided to end the interview here.)

Some self-insight from Snowflake:

“What will the future bring? Rokie is trying to spend less and less time in the office and is hoping to leave more and more of the day-to-day running of the company to the Head Office Team. She is still President and CEO, and continues to hold the overall vision of the company. Megan Halprin sits in the chair as CFO. With the support of our suppliers, agents, and staff we will continue to grow and thrive. Simply the best in great Canadian design has been our catch phrase for over a decade. We will continue to grow into it.”

So the questions become: Who are Snowflake’s suppliers? Who are its agents? Its staff? And would these people take their business elsewhere if they were persistently faced with the stress of being reminded of the moral implications behind the products they are selling?