New York Fashion Week: Nutria Fur On the Runway

Year after year, some of PETA’s strongest activists have waited outside the hottest runway shows during Fashion Week to splash red paint on those luminaries daring to wear and design with fur. But this year, the animal-rights organization may have little to complain about—a new politically correct and eco-friendly fur called nutria is finding new fans in designers from Oscar de la Renta to Michael Kors. Nutrias are large beaver-like, semi-aquatic rodents from South America, which fur trappers imported to Louisiana in the late 1880s. The business failed to take off and many nutria were released into the wetlands of the Gulf Coast. More than a century later, the population is ruining the ecosystem by devouring marsh grasses and causing erosion. The Coastwide Nutria Control Program, introduced in 2002, is currently paying $5 for each nutria tail turned in. Now coastal trappers, who have been struggling after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, are able to make a living. De la Renta used the material for a vest in his last collection, while Kors used the fur to line raincoats.