The clothing company VINCE has been called the "quietest billion-dollar brand in the business," and has a cult following, including celebs like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. I too was a huge fan. Their cotton T’s were my biggest wardrobe staple. But I was shocked to see that VINCE's recent collections feature garments made from real fox and rabbit fur.

I thought we weren’t doing this anymore. Modern consumers are educated about the heinous cruelty inherent in fur farms, and most major brands in the same sector have pledged not to use real fur (Ralph Lauren, Eileen Fisher, J. Crew, Rebecca Taylor, to name a few). So why is VINCE using it now?

Let’s let VINCE know that real fur is not fashionable. Please join me in urging VINCE to pledge not to use real fur.

Fur farms are horrifying operations, where animals live in cramped cages, without adequate water or food. Many go insane or fight each other to death, but those who survive go on to suffer gruesome slaughter methods, which keep their pelts intact but pay little attention to the degree of their pain while they are being killed.

What’s worse, VINCE’s website describes these fur items as simply "imported" but their labels say that some of the fur is from China. China's fur farms are famous for their outrageous cruelty. It is well-documented that foxes and rabbits bred for their fur are often skinned alive, sometimes taking 10 to 15 minutes after skinning to die. If VINCE’s fur is being farmed in China, where there are virtually no welfare laws to animals on fur farms, one can only imagine the torture these animals must endure. Meanwhile, some VINCE fur comes from Finland, where just recently fur farms were exposed for heinous cruelty.

The VINCE brand may have flown under the radar until now, but it has been growing and is now a publicly traded company sold in over 2,500 stores. As VINCE continues to grow, so will the suffering of helpless foxes and rabbits killed to meet the demands of distribution. We cannot allow them to keep this “understated” reputation when they are causing needless suffering.

Please join me in asking VINCE to pledge to cease the use of any real fur in all future collections. And join me in boycotting the brand until they do so. VINCE already has some fake fur products, so let's encourage them to switch to all fake fur.