In a campaign of emotional appeals, who will prevail in the attempt to ban fur sales in Denver?
share
DENVER — When Marie, the last Queen of Romania, arrived at Denver's Union Station November 10, 1926 donning a massive fur coat, the Rocky Mountain News reported that she was “not in the slightest bit perturbed by the lack of formal dress by those attending daylight functions in her honor.”
One of those functions was a luncheon at Boettcher Mansion, where Marie sat through what the Rocky called a “very effective and unusual” five-act pantomime on the history of Rocky Mountain settlements. The third act was all about the fur trade.
This November, 98 years after Queen Marie’s luncheon, Denver voters will have a chance to write a new chapter in the history of Colorado’s fur business: Ordinance 308, if approved by voters, would ban the sale of new fur products in Denver.
The campaigns on both sides of Ordinance 308 are making emotional appeals to voters.
Those advocating for the ban are centering animal welfare, sharing images of caged mink and captured rabbits.
Opponents, conversely, are emphasizing Denver’s cowboy culture and Native American history — the opposition campaign is called Hands Off My Hats, a reference to the rabbit and beaver felt cowboy hats that would be banned if 308 passes.
Natalie Fulton, a spokesperson for Pro-Animal Future, the animal rights organization responsible for getting Ordinance 308 on the ballot, said the fur ban would signal forward progress, a “moral evolution” through technological achievement.
“When we invented cars, we stopped with horses. When we invented kerosene, we stopped hunting whales. Now that we have new technology and new materials for fur, we don't need to do this to animals anymore,” she said.
The opposition campaign, meanwhile, is spotlighting Colorado’s history, not its future.
“[The ban is] sort of an attack on our Western culture and our city's brand,” said Landon Gates with Hands Off My Hats. “You know, it is kind of our Western heritage — it's our independent nature, if you will — that has attracted many people to this city.”
Fulton said her organization's ballot measure was inspired by legislation in California, which in 2023 became the first state to ban the sale of new fur products after a series of cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, had passed similar legislation in the preceding years.
In 2021, Boulder voters narrowly approved a fur ban in the city with 51% of the vote. Fulton said the campaign wants to “replicate” the Boulder ban.
“And yes, we definitely want to work up to statewide bans in Colorado and as many states as possible,” she said. “We want to see the fur industry left in the past where it belongs.”
Ordinance 308 would not ban secondhand fur, repurposed used fur, leather, wool or shearling.
“I personally don't think we should treat any animals as objects … so I think we should move away from this industry entirely,” Fulton said. “That being said, we want to run measures where the public agrees with us, and most people are not there yet. They think that it's acceptable to kill some animals but not other animals.”
Despite the exemptions in this ballot measure, Fulton doesn’t mince words when describing her organization’s goals for the future. The fur ban, she explained, is a small step in the larger effort for humans to “stop seeing animals as objects that we can treat however we want.”
“And I think that a lot of farmers and ranchers see that as a threat to their way of life, because it is a threat,” Fulton said. “We are trying to tackle the corporate meat industry and the fur industry, and we are not going to stop fighting until these industries are banned.”
Fur — at least, the kind of fur that would be banned if 308 passes — is not pervasive in Denver.
Neither Denver nor Colorado is home to any furriers. Within the city, you can count on one hand the number of stores that stock products featuring fur from animals like mink, foxes, rabbits, raccoons and beavers.
“There are about three stores in Denver,” Fulton said. “Louis Vuitton is one of them, and these are fur coats that are thousands of dollars. So the everyday person is not buying these coats.”
(Louis Vuitton sells a mink crewneck sweatshirt for more than $30,000. As of October 23, it was out of stock at the retailer’s Cherry Creek location.)
The Pro-Animal Future site, though, claims there are “at least six local businesses” in Denver selling fur. One of the businesses mentioned, Neiman Marcus, a luxury department store with a location in Cherry Creek, committed to stop selling fur products more than a year ago.
This ban would also prevent Denver residents from purchasing new fur products online. Even so, many retailers — from more affordable options such as Gap to high fashion like Versace — no longer sell fur.
(It is worth noting that the fur aesthetic — even if it’s mostly faux-fur — is making something of a comeback in the fashion world, according to recent reporting from Vogue and The Washington Post.)
Hands Off My Hats is less concerned about Joe Namath-esque fur coats than it is with what the campaign is elevating as a symbol of Denver and the American West: cowboy hats.
“Imagine the Stock Show with no hats,” the campaign website reads. “The hat is as much of a part of a cowboy’s iconic image as the National Western Stock Show is to Denver.”
Ordinance 308 does not explicitly ban cowboy hats, but it would ban the sale of certain materials frequently used in western wear.
Felt cowboy hats — as opposed to straw — are primarily made of wool, rabbit pelt, beaver pelt or some combination of the three. Hats made from 100% beaver are considered the best quality and are often the most expensive. If 308 passes, cowboy hats made of rabbit or beaver could not be sold in Denver.
“Most cowboys and cowgirls will try to find a hat with as much beaver in it as possible just because beaver is the most durable and it's the most water resistant and will hold up,” Gates said.
The morning of October 18, the same day he spoke with Rocky Mountain PBS, Gates paid a visit to Coleen Orr to pick up a cowboy hat.
Orr is the owner and sole employee of Cowboy Up Hatters, a custom hat shop specializing in cowboy hats made of rabbit and beaver pelt. She has been making hats in Colorado for almost 30 years.
Orr, originally from Alberta, Canada, lives in unincorporated Adams County, just a few miles from the Denver County border. Her workshop is on her gated property, at the end of a sweeping driveway.
The shop is filled with century-old equipment — steamers, irons and wooden blocks used for shaping hats. The walls are lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves stocked with cowboy hats.
Outside, the driveway is lined with campaign signs encouraging people to vote against 308.
“I mean, it directly affects me,” Orr said about the fur ban.
Orr sells around 300-350 handmade hats each year, she told Rocky Mountain PBS. The pricing starts at around $600, but the 100% beaver hats cost more. Her prices are comparable to felt hats from established brands such as Stetson and Resistol.
Because her shop is based in Adams County, she wouldn’t have to shut down the operation. But Orr said the ban would negatively impact her business because she would not be able to accept online orders from Denver, or ship her products to Denver.
“Three weeks ago I was doing a private event at an attorney's office in downtown Denver,” she said, referencing work that would be banned if Ballot Measure 308 passes. “I have already had to turn down work in Boulder.”
The organizers of the National Western Stock Show, Denver’s nearly 120-year-old rodeo and livestock show, are some of the most vocal opponents to Ballot Measure 308.
Paul Andrews, the CEO for the stock show and Doug Jones, the stock show’s chairman of the board, wrote an editorial in The Denver Post explaining their opposition to the ban.
Andrews and Jones argued that the “the proposed ban could drive exhibitors, vendors, and visitors away from the National Western Stock Show, depriving Denver of significant revenue and jeopardizing the long-term viability of the event.”
They also argued that the ban would, “limit the ability of Native Americans to share and sell traditional crafts and goods.”
Ballot Measure 308 includes an exemption for “a Fur Product purchased for traditional tribal, cultural or spiritual purposes by a member of a federally recognized or state recognized Native American tribe.”
“While we do feel that all fur is unnecessary, we also recognize that sovereign Indigenous nations should have the right to govern how they want to and that these conversations need to happen more as a community,” Fulton said.
Gates argued that the Native American exemption is too narrow because “many Native Americans are not officially registered … with a tribe.”
Ernest House Jr., the former executive director of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs and member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, told The Denver Post that “a majority of American Indians are self-identified” and not officially enrolled in a recognized tribe.
Fulton’s campaign is fighting an uphill battle. While the Republican and Democratic parties in Denver do not agree on much — they have the same stance on just three out of 12 ballot measures — the opposition to Ballot Measure 308 is one of the few instances where the parties are aligned.
The ballot guide for the Denver County Republicans reads, in part, “We should not limit or prohibit these traditional western businesses. It is anti-free- enterprise!” The Denver Democrats’ guide simply says “Oppose.”
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, a Democrat, also opposes the ban, as does The Denver Post Editorial Board, which argued Ballot Measure 308 is “misguided.”
Many groups did not take a stance on the fur ban. Service Employees International Union Local 105, which represents thousands of janitorial workers in Denver and is one of the fastest-growing unions in the city, took a neutral stance on Ballot Measure 308 in its voter guide.
The progressive Colorado Working Families party did not take a stance on the fur ban either.
The Denver chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, meanwhile, supports the ban, largely for environmental reasons. The left-wing organization writes in its voter guide, “despite environmental concerns around faux furs made from plastics, real fur ranks as having
an environmental impact approximately five times greater than faux fur.”
The fur trade’s environmental impact is well-documented.
In Colorado, European American settlers annihilated the state’s beaver population in the late 18th century and early 19th century as part of the fur trade, which led to “critical damage on wetlands,” according to the Colorado Encyclopedia.
As the market for beaver fur waned in the late 1830s, bison popularity surged, leading to another ecological slaughter.
The modern fur trade also has a noticeable impact on our climate. A 2023 study published in the journal “Environmental Pollution” detailed the ways in which mink farming affects local watersheds — the farms are associated with elevated bacteria and viruses in nearby waterways — and how the practice poses a COVID-19 risk to humans.
Denmark, the world’s largest mink producer, killed 17 million mink in 2020 after officials discovered a COVID-19 mutation in the animals.
Concerns have been raised about faux fur, on the other hand, because of its dependence on synthetic materials.
Concerns have been raised about faux fur, on the other hand, because of its dependence on synthetic materials.
“Most of the faux fur available is just an amalgamation of acrylic polymers, polyester or nylon,” said Lucianne Tonti, a consultant for sustainable designers, in a piece for The Guardian about the hidden plastics in our clothes.
In other words, plastic produced by fossil fuels.
Nevertheless, a Dutch study from 2013 found that the climate impact of a natural mink coat is at least six times that of a faux fur coat.
Fulton’s stance on fur farming — that it should be banned — is largely supported by public opinion. Data For Progress, a progressive think tank and polling firm with a high rating from the polling aggregator 538, found in a 2022 survey that 61% of likely voters think the practice of raising animals in order to make fur clothing should be banned.
Orr is quick to point out that the fur she uses for her hats does not come from fur farms. She said the rabbit pelts are a byproduct of the European meat industry — “[Europeans] eat it like chicken,” she said of rabbit — and the beaver pelts come from trappers.
“The beavers are still going to sink whether we use their furs or not,” Orr claimed. “We must keep them in check.” It is legal to trap beaver and other furbearers in Colorado, so long as people hold the correct permits.
Orr says her beaver cowboy hats, if taken care of, can last for decades. She views her hats as a counter to the world of fast-fashion, which is responsible for more carbon emissions than “all international flights and maritime shipping combined,” according to Princeton University.
Fulton said the best option is to get clothes and accessories secondhand.
“I think in general any time you buy used is better, because there's just so much waste in the fashion industry,” she said. “And, you know, I'm not quite there yet, but a lot of my friends don't buy any clothes. They get everything secondhand. And I think that is something that we should all aspire to, just because there's so much waste and so many clothes that already exist.”
But whether people are inheriting their grandmother’s mink coat, or snagging a faux fur-lined parka from the thrift store, Fulton worries about the message wearing those products will send.
“In terms of environmental cost, I don't necessarily think that buying used fur would be bad,” she said. “But in terms of the social progress and the evolution of our morality, I would like to see people not treat animals like objects.”
Colorado allows voter registration through Election Day. More information is available here.
The deadline to vote by mail in Colorado has passed. If you have not voted yet, you can return your ballot to a drop-box, vote early at a polling center, or vote in-person on Election Day at a polling center. If you don't know where to return your ballot, click here for information from the Colorado Secretary of State's Office. November 5, Election Day, is the last day to vote.
Colorado allows voter registration through Election Day. More information is available here.
The deadline to vote by mail in Colorado has passed. If you have not voted yet, you can return your ballot to a drop-box, vote early at a polling center, or vote in-person on Election Day at a polling center. If you don't know where to return your ballot, click here for information from the Colorado Secretary of State's Office. November 5, Election Day, is the last day to vote.