Luxury Canadian retailer to stop selling furs and exotic-skin materials by the end of the year. Holt Renfrew will stop selling animal furs and exotic skins by the end of the year. The announcement, part of a larger initiative to promote sustainability by the Canadian luxury retailer, signifies a marked shift for the company, which was founded as a furrier in Quebec City in 1837. “This is a really big deal,” Sebastian Picardo, president and CEO of Holt Renfrew, said via a virtual call. “Holt Renfrew started 184 years ago as a fur shop. So, for us to be exciting this is obviously a very important decision.” The move away from the product categories was “100 per cent based on insight,” according to Picardo. “From our customers, from our teams and from our brand partners,” Picardo says. “What we’re hearing is that people are highly concerned with the impact that certain materials have on people and the planet. As a result, we think that this initiative is 100 per cent customer-centric, rather than something that we are imposing on the customer.” The company worked with the Humane Society International/Canada to outline the exit of the materials. “Holt Renfrew’s progressive suite of sustainability commitments, including ending the sale of animal fur and exotic animal skins, is a tremendous step forward for animal protection and also a sign of changing consumer habits,” Rebecca Aldworth, the executive director of the society, said in a statement. “Today’s consumers are increasingly informed and motivated to ensure that their purchases are cruelty-free and sustainable.” Holt Renfrew’s retail partnership with brands that feature fur elements, such as those from the Canadian outerwear offerings Canada Goose and Moose Knuckles, will evolve in order to accommodate the changes, according to Picardo. “We are working very closely with our brand partners,” Picardo says. “I think everyone, even though brands are at different stages in their journey to sustainability, everyone realizes the importance of this. And the fact customers, employees and other partners they interact with want to see change.”   The retail executive says he’s confident that all brands will get on-board with the company’s sustainability initiatives. “Because it’s not only the right thing to do,” Picardo says, “it’s also the future of retail.” On Thursday, Canada Goose announced it would end the use of fur on its products by the end of next year. The decision to drop furs and exotic skins were among several points outlined in a recently released set of “science-based” sustainability targets approved by Science Based Targets initiative, which is a partnership between the not-for-profit organization CDP, the UN Global Compact, World Resources Institute, and the World Wide Fund for Nature. ” ‘Science-based’ is really about bringing credibility and scrutiny to the work that we’re doing so that it has real impact and it’s transparent and credible,” Picardo explains. Additional targets include reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by 65 per cent by 2030 (using 2019 as a base year for comparison) from Scope 1 and 2 operations, which are categorized as “owned or controlled sources,” as well as purchased energy such as electricity and heating/cooling, according to Carbon Trust. A further reduction target on emissions for Scope 3, via the company’s value chain, is set at 28 per cent by 2030. “The targets that were set are aligned with the Paris Agreement,” Picardo explains, referencing the global agreement that outlines the reductions required to hold global warming at 1.5 C. “Two-thousand-and-thirty may look far away, but it’s actually ambitious to deliver those targets in this length of time.” Picardo pointed to the company’s discontinuation of the sale of beauty products with plastic glitter on June 8, to coincide with World Oceans Day, along with its recently launched partnership with TerraCycle that sees beauty product packaging receptacles available in its seven stores across Canada, as already completed actions among the company’s sustainability mission. The list of targets, Picardo says, build off the greener plan first pioneered by the retailer’s in-house H Project department, which sees a “curation of products” that are ethically and environmentally focused offered among the more traditional luxury brands. “We feel we have an opportunity, and a responsibility, to take a leadership role — not only because of our expertise in the market for over 185 years, but also because we’re part of the Selfridges Group, which has the scale and the global knowledge to be able to do it,” Picardo says. “As COVID-19 impacts start to ease, we actually predict a sprint toward sustainability in the coming months and years. “And we want to be at the forefront — not just in Canada, but globally.”