LONDON — With the world’s eyes on COP26, Stella McCartney is joining political leaders and activists in Glasgow to continue fighting her mission to make the fashion industry more sustainable.
The banning of fur sales in her home of the U.K., a cause she has been fighting for over two decades, is high up on her agenda — as is promoting new material innovations and securing better investment and government incentives for the companies behind those innovations.
To make her case, McCartney unveiled an exhibition at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, dubbed “Future of Fashion.” As part of the showcase, the designer will display some of the new-generation materials she has been working with, all orbiting around a live fungi display. Some of the materials include Bolt Threads’ Mylo mycelium leather; the world’s first vegan football boots, created with Paul Pogba and Adidas by Stella McCartney; regenerative cotton from Soktas; and Econyl regenerated nylon sourced from post-consumer waste and ocean plastics.
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“The world’s eyes will be on COP26 and the decisions made by those present will have ramifications for generations to come. We must act now before it is too late. My goal is simple: increase private investment, government incentives and innovation, and reduce environmental impacts,” said McCartney.
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The showcase is part of the Prince Charles’ Sustainable Market Initiative and the royal joined McCartney for a tour of the exhibition, earlier Wednesday. The likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and London Mayor Sadiq Khan also attended the opening of the exhibition and listened in on a talk by McCartney and her material innovation partners at Bolt Threads, Evrnu and Soktas.
McCartney is also leveraging the momentum to further her campaign against the use of animal leather and fur, inviting delegates and the public to sign a pledge to end the use of animal leather and fur in the fashion industry. In a video released with PETA, she shares snapshots of her early antifur campaigns from over 20 years ago and explains that “not much has changed.”
“Over 100 million animals die needlessly and painfully every year for fashion’s use of fur and leather, taking their last terrified breaths in filthy cramped cages as they are violently beaten, electrocuted, skinned alive, and ultimately slaughtered,” she says in the video, explaining the link between climate change and the use of animal fur and leather. “Fur and leather come from animal agriculture, which is one of the largest drivers of the climate crisis, responsible for one fifth of human-induced greenhouse emissions. That means more floods, forest fires and extreme weather for you and me and less time for all of us.”
The solution? She is calling for the U.K. to join Israel and the state of California in banning fur sales and the industry at large to ban the use of fur and leather.
The brand’s exhibition in Glasgow will run until Friday and will host discussions by youth climate activists and the British Fashion Council in its space. It will then reopen Nov. 8 and 9 for “students and next-generation activists.”