Ten years of fur free fashion shows

As part of ACTAsia’s 20 Years, 20 Wins series marking two decades of groundbreaking work for animals, people and the environment, this piece looks at a decade of fur-free fashion shows, and how ACTAsia’s fur free agenda became part of the industry’s own calendar.

When ACTAsia first began fur-free fashion shows, it had to explain why a charity was putting on a fashion show at all. Ten years later, its fur-free message is written into the official programme of three of China’s Fashion Weeks.  #10 of 20

A first for a charity

Beijing 2014 saw ACTAsia’s first-ever fur-free fashion show. This was a radical first, with fashion shows typically only being run by brands and industry bodies, not NGOs. ACTAsia built its own prototype and grew it into an annual fixture, staging five shows before the format was interrupted the Covid-19 pandemic.

Founder and CEO Pei Su remembers the scepticism it drew at the start:

“When we started our first fashion show, people thought, ‘You’re a charity – why are you doing a fashion show?’ But, through Compassion in Fashion, we give people alternative choices. We show brands with progressive thinking and ethical choices, with One Health in mind, so consumers have that choice.”

The clearest sign the format had found its footing came in 2020, when Stella McCartney – a fur-free, cruelty-free designer with global name recognition – opened that year’s Festival with her own catwalk show, then spoke publicly about ACTAsia’s work educating consumers and retailers. It was the high point of the standalone-show era. 

From running an alternative show to being part of the mainstream ones 

The pandemic ended ACTAsia’s run of solo events. Rather than restart its own show once restrictions lifted, ACTAsia changed its approach: instead of building a platform from scratch each year, it began collaborating with designers to bring fur-free fashion inside events the industry already ran.

In 2022, that shift came to life with fur-free fashion appearing on Shenzhen Fashion Week’s official agenda for the very first time. By 2025, ACTAsia had added Chengdu Fashion Week to the list, giving it an official presence across three Fashion Weeks – Shenzhen, Shanghai and Chengdu. Along the way, brands within the Fur Free Retailer (FFR) scheme have used these platforms too: TUYUE (founded by Yang Yingying), a fur-free pledged Chinese brand, showcased at Shanghai Fashion Week in support of the cause, with ACTAsia’s backing.

Beyond this, the list spans the rest of the industry,  from independent design houses like TUYUE, which built its identity around fur free design from the start, to established names like ICICLE, which pledged back in 2019, well ahead of the wider industry, to Les Enfants, the first maternity and childrenswear brand in China to sign.

Why this matters

The shift from hosting a fur-free show to being embedded in three official Fashion Weeks is more than just a win of reaching bigger audiences. Rather, it is about the mainstreaming of the compassionate message. 

When ACTAsia ran its own event, fur-free fashion was something a charity had to import into the industry’s conversation, one show at a time. It is now built into the calendar of the industry. This is a decision made by the Fashion Weeks themselves, not a platform ACTAsia has to construct each year. This is the same pattern behind ACTAsia’s work getting compassion education written into a university degree (see Win #6): a true marker of success isn’t merely ACTAsia’s consistency, it is that institutions build the work in themselves.

What’s next

What began as an alternative fashion show is now a fixture across three of China’s Fashion Weeks. Explore ACTAsia’s fur-free fashion work and sign the Fur Free Pledge to support the next decade of change.

20 Years, 20 Wins 

If you would like to support compassionate education and the fur free movement, learn how you can get involved and consider donating today. 

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