Milan sponsor exits over fur

Visa has ended its Milan Fashion Week partnership, becoming the third major sponsor to leave the event over its continued use of fur. (fashionnetwork.com) The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade said Visa’s exit followed earlier withdrawals by DHL and Wella. FashionNetwork reported the Visa decision on April 15, and Ethos reported on April 14 that the three departures had stacked up within the same anti-fur campaign. (fashionnetwork.com) (the-ethos.co) Wella told activists on January 24, 2026 that it would no longer sponsor Milan Fashion Week, according to Plant Based News. Agence France-Presse later reported that DHL and Wella had both pulled out in late January after pressure campaigns. (plantbasednews.org) (france24.com) The target of the campaign is the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, the trade body that organizes Milan Fashion Week. Its own site says it coordinates and promotes Italian fashion, and the current Milan Fashion Week site still lists official partners for the February 24 to March 2, 2026 women’s shows. (cameramoda.it) (milanofashionweek.cameramoda.it) Activists have been pressing that body to adopt the kind of fur-free rule already used elsewhere. The British Fashion Council says London Fashion Week is fur free, and its 2018 announcement said no animal fur would be used on the official schedule. (britishfashioncouncil.co.uk 1) (britishfashioncouncil.co.uk 2) The pressure campaign moved from letters to street actions during Milan Fashion Week in late February and early March. FashionUnited reported 14 protests were planned during the week, with another two or three actions a day outside official events. (fashionunited.com) Agence France-Presse reported that protesters demonstrated outside the Giorgio Armani show on March 1, even though Armani itself stopped using fur about a decade ago. Activists said they wanted big Italian brands to push the Milan organizer to bar labels that still use fur. (france24.com) Milan’s organizer has not adopted a blanket fur ban, and that leaves sponsors exposed in a way that designers are not. The current partner page for Milan Fashion Week still shows sponsor categories, underscoring how much the event depends on corporate backing as it heads toward future men’s and women’s seasons. (milanofashionweek.cameramoda.it) (the-ethos.co) For now, the anti-fur campaign has shifted from the runway to the balance sheet. Three sponsor exits in less than three months have turned Milan’s fur policy into a business problem as well as an image fight. (fashionnetwork.com) (france24.com)