Dallas – J.C. Penney Co. removed some fur-trimmed coats from its racks around Christmas after animal-rights activists objected that the fur came from wild dogs in China.
This month, the department store put the coats back on the racks – but only after directing employees to use pens to blot out the line on the label that identified the trim as raccoon fur.
The fur-collared leather coats were sold under the house brands a.n.a. and St. John’s Bay.
By putting the coats back on the racks, Penney is charting a different course from rival Macy’s, which last month pulled Sean John jackets after they turned out to contain the same fur. Macy’s said it has a policy against selling products with dog fur.
Animal-rights groups are using the incident to pressure Penney to drop sales of all real fur, including fox. But Penney, with more than 1,000 stores catering to middle- income shoppers, has no plans to alter its selections.
“We do sell a few fur-trim items. We will continue to do so,” said Darcie Brossart, a spokeswoman for the company, based in Plano, Texas.
Penney also downplays any link between Lassie and the animal whose fur is used on some garments. That animal is often called a raccoon dog because of its full coat and dark patches around the eyes.
“Asiatic raccoon is the species name,” Brossart said. “It’s on the Federal Trade Commission’s list of fur that is legal to sell in the United States. It’s not a dog.”
Animal-rights advocates counter that although it looks like an oversized, fluffy raccoon and isn’t kept as a pet, it is a canine breed – something Penney doesn’t dispute while noting that foxes are canines too.
Brossart said company lawyers determined it was legal to sell the coats as long as they didn’t claim that the fur came from a particular species. A new order went to stores this month, and the word “raccoon” was blotted out from the labels.
“We always knew we were selling real fur,” she said, “but we didn’t want any customers to think they were wearing raccoon.”
