Boston company Using roadkill for fashion. US designer uses roadkill for clothing

Boston company Using roadkill for fashion. US designer uses roadkill for clothing.

Pamela Paquin wants to transform the fur industry. The U.S. designer uses roadkill to make fur accessories. Could this be the new chic?

Pamela Paquin makes muffs, wrist cuffs, hats and more from roadkill - which she calls ‘accidental fur.’ Whenever the U.S. designer hears of a dead animal by the side of the road, she goes to remove the pelt, and then leaves the animal’s body where she found it, as food for other animals. She finds there is nothing distasteful about her job. Her aim is to transform the fur industry. As the founder of ‘Peace Fur,’ Paquin is hoping to show the fashion world that killing animals for their pelts is unnecessary. A typical day for the designer can begin with skinning a rabbit by the side of the road, and end at a high end fashion shoot. People in the fashion world are taking note of her unusual sourcing technique and praise the designer’s down to earth approach.

The owner of Petite Mort Furs creates hats, purses and leg warmers out of animals run over by cars in Boston.

"All this fur is being thrown away," she said. "If we can pick that up, we never have to kill another fur-bearing animal again."

Each piece comes with a note explaining where and when the animal was found.

Paquin, who left an office job to start her company two years ago, works with animal control specialists to collect the carcasses.

She skins many of them herself, but doesn't like people calling them roadkill.

"It's a turnoff," Paquin said. "It cheapens my product."

The fur industry is worth around £23bn worldwide and much has been done in recent years to try to curb the sale of fur in many countries.

"A business that promotes wearing real fur as fashionable and acceptable may well create more demand for fur from all sources, and could give all fur wearers a shield from legitimate criticism," said Virginia Fuller, of the Boston-area Citizens to End Animal Suffering and Exploitation, or CEASE.

Paquin counters that the stigma around fur has eroded in recent years.

Greater spending power in China, Russia and elsewhere, as well as greater use of fake fur trimmings on clothes and accessories, has revived its popularity.

That demand, she said, is part of the reason she chose to jump into the industry despite having no background in fashion or design, and after working mostly office jobs for environmental and sustainability organizations.

The Fur Information Council of America said the U.S. alone recorded $1.5 billion in fur sales in 2014. Globally, it's part of an over $35 billion industry.
"Clearly advocacy had failed," Paquin said.

"Alternatives must be found. Making use of animals that would otherwise be thrown away is sensible."

Peta, the animal rights group, said that there's "never an excuse" to wear fur, but that it's "far better" to wear roadkill than farmed fur.

"Production of fur in North America is highly regulated with guidelines set through years and years (and millions of dollars) of scientific study," he said via email, declining to comment on Paquin's company or the general idea of using roadkill for fur. "In fact, the populations of every species used by the industry today are as abundant, or more abundant, than they were a century ago."

Animal rights groups also have mixed feelings about roadkill fur.

"We'd just say it's in very poor taste," said Kara Holmquist at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, declining to elaborate.

Lisa Lange, a senior vice president at People for the Ethical Treatment for Animals, or PETA, said that there's "never an excuse" to wear fur, but that it's "far better" to wear roadkill than farmed fur.

Others worry her products could only serve to prolong the industry they've spent decades trying to defeat.

Products by Petit Mort, which means "the little death" in French and also describes the sensation of orgasm, are decidedly high-end, ranging from $800 to $2,000, depending on the product and type of fur used. They can be found online and on Boston's fashionable Newbury Street, where the company rents display space in a handmade goods market.

"The value that these products have is that they're handmade, local and last a lifetime," Paquin explains. "That's not just couture and high end, but that's also sustainable."

Each piece comes with a personal note explaining where and when the animal was found.

Paquin works with animal control specialists to gather the carcasses, but skins many of them herself. She considers the process almost sacred and doesn't care much for the "roadkill" label.