Kohl's sorry faux fur on jacket was real raccoon dog
An investigation by The Humane Society of the United States has found that a men's parka sold by retailer Kohl's with the description "faux-fur trim" uses real fur from raccoon dogs.
The Humane Society tested the men's R&O Hooded Parka that was purchased online for testing on June 23.
"Raccoon dog fur is the species we'd consider the most misrepresented," said PJ Smith, the Humane Society's corporate outreach manager. He said the raccoon dog traces back to Asia and is in the same family as the domestic dog, fox and wolf.
Once the coat was purchased online by investigators, Smith said it was sent to a lab that determined with "a great degree of certainty that it was this particular species."
Kohl's apologized to its customers Tuesday, saying the company was unaware of the real fur.
"Kohl's will honor returns, no questions asked, for any customers who no longer wish to keep them," the company said in an e-mailed statement to USA TODAY Network.
It's the second time in a year that the Humane Society has used investigators to reveal real fur marked as fake fur from Kohl's — on Cyber Monday in December 2013, the organization released a consumer warning that the retailer was selling handbags lined with real rabbit fur.
Kohl's is not the only company caught mislabeling fur. In 2011, The HSUS filed a Federal Trade Commission petition resulting in enforcement action against Neiman Marcus, Revolve Clothing and DrJays.com, which could result in fines of $16,000 an instance if they were found mislabeling again.
The Humane Society claims Kohl's is in violation of the Fur Products Labeling Act that requires retailers to disclose the name and origin of the animal killed.
"This is obviously problematic for people who want to go to a store and buy something not associated with the fur trade cruelty," said Smith. "We believe the best way for retailers like Kohl's to correct these problems is to go fur-free because this is an industry-wide problem."
Kohl's released a full statement:
Kohl's standard vendor terms require that all merchandise must be free of any real animal fur unless expressly authorized in writing by Kohl's. No such authorization was given here. Once
aware that the product was made with real fur, Kohl's immediately removed the product from our website.
The parkas in question were sold online only and were not exclusive to Kohl's. Kohl's has never held these items in our inventories, as they are directly shipped from the vendor to customers. Fewer than 100 of these parkas have been purchased through Kohl's.
We apologize to our customers who would not have otherwise purchased these parkas. Kohl's will honor returns, no questions asked, for any customers who no longer wish to keep them.
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