Winners Working to Take Dog Fur Off the Floor

Winners Slow on the Uptake to Remove Fur… but on the Way to a WIN

In response to customers continuing to find dog fur in Winners stores, Winners is working to remove ALL fur marked Asiatic racoon in locations all across Canada. This is huge progress for both Winners and fur-bearing animals.

You can help Winners become dog fur free by checking labels at your local Winners. If you see a garment marked Asiatic racoon, bring it to the counter and remind them of the memo being circulated – that all dog fur is to be removed from the floor.

Rabbit Fur Earmuffs Sold at Winners

When businesses like Winners make a pact to actually remove fur from their floor immediately, and not only promise to no longer purchase it in the future, it shows that they are serious about keeping their word. We hope that Winners will continue to work hard to comb through their merchandise for remaining dog fur items.

To encourage Winners to remove the fur of other animals from their store, anyone is welcome to join as concerned activists come together on Sunday the 13th of February to demonstrate outside of Winners’ Granville Street location in Downtown Vancouver. Please contact the VADL for further information at:

vancouveranimaldefenseleague@live.ca

and/or join the Facebook Group @

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7792476869

It’s important to encourage Winners to go fur-free because since they sell such a variety of merchandise, there is no need for them to sell fur. Also, because Winners is basically the garbage dump of fur fashion (selling what can be sold nowhere else) so they have no accountability in selling fur that is derived from any type of set standards. They are a blind third party.

Winners Lies About Selling Dog Fur

Winners Continues to Sell Dog Fur After Promising Customers that they Don’t Sell Dog or Cat Fur

Raccoon dog fur photographed at Winners

The VADL (Vancouver Animal Defense League) has had two victories this winter: Aritzia has officially stopped selling fur, and so has the Robson location of Bang-On (other Bang-On locations will hopefully soon follow suit). The VADL and many other concerned B.C. citizens are now in dialogue with Winners to encourage the corp. to go fur-free.

Winners sells fur from many different species of animals like rabbits, raccoon dogs, mink and foxes, raised on fur farms in several different countries including Canada, Greece, Finland and China.

When contacting Winners in the past regarding their sale of fur they have stated “as long as it is in style, we will continue to sell out sell it.”

When a concerned customer contacted them in regards to a raccoon dog trimmed jacket they were sold, the customer was specifically told by Winners staff that it is FAKE FUR.

Here is Winners’ official response:

Thank you for your email.  We appreciate the time you have taken to contact
us and have taken your comments very seriously.  Your voice does count, and
we will continue to evaluate the sale of fur in our stores.

As a retailer, our goal is to provide our customers with the widest
selection of merchandise, while providing the best quality and value.
Therefore, as a retailer with a diverse clientele, we make every attempt to
understand and satisfy the needs and concerns of all of our customers.

Please be assured WMI does not condone the unethical treatment of any
animal. Our buyers only purchase fur products from reputable manufacturers
in the industry.  We have very tight systems in place to ensure that we do
not purchase or sell any merchandise containing dog or cat fur. Whenever
possible, our buyers purchase domestically produced goods, where it is
illegal to use dog or cat fur and any new purchases require manufacturers’
documentation that no dog or cat fur is involved.

Our Buyers travel to China periodically throughout the year and tour many
of the factories, however we have Agents who live there that we pay to
protect our interests and to ensure our vendors are abiding by our
agreements.  Be assured we have all of our Vendors sign an agreement that
indicates no fur from endangered species, dog, cat, racoon dog, asiatic
racoon, etc…  will be a part of any product offered to, shipped to or
sold to our Organization by them or their affiliates.

We hope this information answers your concerns.  If you have any other
inquiries, please feel free to contact our toll free Customer Service line
at:  1800-646-9466 in order to speak to one of our representatives.

Winners has now stated that they do not sell ASIATIC RACCOON.  The problem is that we were in Winners on December 23rd, 2010 and found a whole rack of winter jackets with raccoon dog trim labeled as ASIATIC RACCOON.

Raccoon dog label photographed at Winners

Please email Winners staff that they need to come clean about selling fur:

mike_faulkner@winners.ca, leslie_berg@winners.ca, shannon.johnson@winners.ca, liz.mcdonald@winners.ca, bob.cataldo@winners.ca, sherry.zaremba@winners.ca, Teresa.kakish@winners.ca, mike.kinnon@winners.ca, andrew.todd@winners.ca, judy.schroffel@winners.ca, katie.dryburgh@winners.ca, cheryl.zamalynski@winners.ca, andrea.little@winners.ca, kevin.hale@winners.ca, brenda.mackirdy@winners.ca, brenda.berg@winners.ca, graem.rolfe@winners.ca, kim.stark@winners.ca, connie.johnson@winners.ca, marsha.loft@winners.ca, pat.steed@winners.ca, gary.burney@winners.ca, lauren.henry@winners.ca, brandy.ross@winners.ca, tulin.aulgin@winners.ca, ray.nero@winners.ca, shahin.fooladbary@winners.ca, sharalyn.landon@winners.ca, maura.cowie@winners.ca, gary.howell@winners.ca, cam.badwal@winners.ca, rene.pichett@winners.ca, rob.sewell@winners.ca, helen.abdullah@winners.ca, darlene.abukar@winners.ca, kevin.roberge@winners.ca, debra.sikorski@winners.ca, don.phinney@winners.ca, jason.baird@winners.ca, doug.kleininger@winners.ca, , pat.stead@winners.ca, patty.harris@winners.ca, lori.markel@winners.ca, shannon.pagen@winners.ca, barb.hayes@winners.ca, joel.lohr@winners.ca, joanne.lafrenier@winners.ca, edma.grasfler@winners.ca, lori.kennedy@winners.ca, karen.ramo@winners.ca, kasia.orlow@winners.ca, cservice_department@winners.ca, michael.case@winners.ca

As for Winners touring Chinese factories and fur farms?

The VADL contacted the manufacturer Soia and Kyo whose fur trimmed jackets are for sale in Winners right now.  They told us that Winners has not ever inspected any of their factories, let alone a fur farm, as they are an independent manufacturer.  So Winners has NO IDEA where they source their fur from, or how the animals are treated.

Love Letters to Corporate Giants

At 5″4

I’ve always liked them

Tall

And a little Omnipotent…

Dear Steve Madden,

Shoe King

Designer of my high school clogs

How I want to love you

as I wander into your new store

in my neighbourhood mall.

Before only in the US.

But alas your foot covers

I cannot wear

Almost all made of

Skinned slaves.

Creatures who are not shoes to me.

Dear Amex,

Am I hallucinating?

Or did you change the text inside

those giant burger buns

that hang pervasively from mall walls

from: Not just for “foie gras”

to  – Not just for “gourmet fare”?

I think you did.

I think you are listening.

I celebrate your Bar Mitzvah

from afar.

Dear Winners,

The Paris Hilton of clothing stores

You have no personal style.

I ravage your racks

and come across

Real Fur!

You sell-out bitch.

Pawn off the unsellable scraps

on tacky people,

you try to.

You won’t get away with this.

Shoplifters Unite.

Dear Redken,

Your Color Extend

Is a silky dream.

I wept when you discontinued

Active Express.

And yet – in any passionate love affair

The mystery must be kept,

and your secret is out.

My lacuna can avert itself no more:

I know  you test on animals.