Project Runway’s Host Tim Gunn Supports NYC Fur Ban

Fashion legend Tim Gunn—host of series Project Runway for the last 16 years—is expected to testify during a hearing on Wednesday in favor of Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s proposed legislation to ban fur sale and manufacturing across New York City. The New York Post obtained a draft of Gunn’s testimony, which leans heavily in favor of the ban. “Now it’s time to safeguard all the other animals from such gratuitous violence … as lawmakers have already done in Los Angeles and San Francisco,” Gunn is expected to say during the hearing. The famed television personality will explain that the fur industry is declining in popularity in New York City, where only 14 garment district storefronts sold fur in 2018—a decrease from 450 such businesses operating in 1977. “Designers are finding it increasingly easy to be creative without being destructive,” Gunn will say. “Hundreds of fabrics have been developed that are more eco-friendly and animal-friendly. Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Armani, and Chanel have enacted fur-free policies, as have dozens of mass-market brands like H&M, Zara, Gap, Nine West, and The North Face.” In addition to Johnson’s proposed city legislation, New York assemblywoman and animal-rights activist Linda Rosenthal introduced a bill on the state level in March that would ban the sale and production of fur across New York by 2021.