Two grand prize winners and 10 second prize winners were announced for The HSUS' Fur-Free Pledge Contest, which added tens of thousands of names to the growing list of consumers who refuse to buy or wear fur. The contest challenged animal friendly fashion-lovers to persuade friends and family to pledge to not buy or wear fur.
The grand prize winners received tickets, transportation and hotel accommodation for themselves and friends to "Project Runway" winner Jay McCarroll's Fashion Week show in New York on Sept. 15. There, they will join celebrities and members of the fashion press for an exclusive first look at Jay's much-anticipated new collection, TRANSPORT.
Jay promises that TRANSPORT "will take the fashion consumer to a higher plane of consciousness and encourage people to see fashion from a different perspective." One such perspective shows that fashion and compassion go hand in hand; there is no need to make animals suffer to look good. The HSUS is proud to be the exclusive sponsor of Jay's Fashion Week show.
HSUS online veteran Theresa Galbraith gathered the most new friends for the animals, adding 123 signatures to the Fur-Free Pledge. She and her husband will fly to New York from Kansas City, Mo., and enjoy a prime seat at Jay's show.
Danielle Eastman of Chicago is a new pledge signer who won tickets to the show for herself and a companion. Although she doesn't always take action on the web, she said the fur-free pledge "looked like a good one."
In addition to the grand prize winners, 10 additional names were chosen at random from the pledges, and each of those chosen will receive an animal-friendly handbag designed by Jay.
Prizes aside, the real winners in the contest are the animals who benefit each time someone says no to fur. The Fur-Free Campaign will continue working with consumers, designers and retailers to make fur-free the only fashion. And the new pledge signers will learn how they can put their convictions into action and help convince others that animals need their fur more than we do.
