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By James Roberts
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Four young boys under the age of 14 attacked three puppies in Guangdong province, China, in June, then attacked the mother while she tried to crawl back to them. The footage spread across Chinese social media within hours and crossed international headlines within days, drawing protests in various cities.
This incident sits inside a much larger catalogue of cruelty footage shared online. Researchers at the Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition (SMACC) logged more than 80,000 links to cruelty footage circulating online in a single year of monitoring. Somewhere inside that record is an argument the fashion industry has spent a long time avoiding: that a culture willing to watch this is a culture that has already decided what an animal is worth.
Fashion has never been a passive reflection of society. Luxury houses have spent generations deciding what the world admires, from the silhouettes that define an era to the materials that become shorthand for wealth and status. Their influence extends well past the runway, shaping cultural aspirations and determining which values become desirable. That influence is precisely why the luxury industry now finds itself confronting what prestige should represent in a world increasingly asking brands to justify not only what they create, but how they create it.
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With 92 million tonnes of textile waste now produced globally every year (as reported by the UN Environment Programme), sustainability in fashion has shifted from a niche concern to a commercial imperative, especially as younger buyers place greater weight on transparency and conscious consumerism. Europe is tightening environmental regulations aimed at reducing textile waste, while fast fashion’s contribution to overproduction and resource consumption continues to attract scrutiny from policymakers. Luxury, once insulated from these conversations, is finding itself at the centre of them.
Discussions around carbon emissions and circular production often dominate the advocacy landscape. Yet Anya Oleynik, founder of 4NML, believes animal welfare has been pushed to the margins, despite the fashion industry farming and killing an estimated 100 million wild animals each year for fur alone. The issue, she argues, has long remained deeply intertwined with the industry’s history and identity.
While social media has become a boon for exposing disturbing cases of animal cruelty to audiences, it also prompts unsettling questions about what society has become willing to normalize or even consume as entertainment. Oleynik believes fashion now has the opportunity to encourage those questions.
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“We’ve never really acknowledged how animals are often seen as objects. I want people to stop and think about why that feels normal,” she says. Still, Oleynik has little interest in telling consumers what to believe. Instead, she wants luxury itself to become a vehicle for reflection. If fashion has influenced what society celebrates, she argues, it can also influence what society values.
Coming from an academic background spanning biology, psychology, business administration and quantitative finance, Oleynik approaches fashion through scientific, commercial and behavioural lenses simultaneously. Each informs her belief that cultural attitudes toward animals are learned, reinforced and ultimately capable of changing.
“I definitely feel like we’re hearing about more abuse cases now,” she says. “But it feels like empathy has declined. We’re seeing images of taxidermied raccoons, and it’s perceived as comedy. Social media has normalized things that would have been unimaginable years ago, and I think we have to ask ourselves why.”
Those questions eventually informed the foundation behind 4NML, a luxury streetwear house built without animal-derived materials. According to Oleynik, the garments are produced through a made-to-order model, intended to reduce textile waste. The materials, she adds, are cut from materials such as apple-fiber leather alternatives and raw, untreated Candiani denim, with at least half of the company’s profits sponsoring animal welfare charities. At its core, the company asks whether luxury can actively create value for the lives it once extracted from.
“Many vegan brands have removed animals from the equation, which is important,” she explains. “What we’re asking is whether animals can become beneficiaries instead. Luxury has historically profited from them. Why can’t luxury help support them?”
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With mindfulness discovering its place as one of the defining currencies in luxury today, Oleynik’s perspective gains greater relevance. Consumers are increasingly showing greater appreciation for craftsmanship and durability as a result of conscious purchasing attitudes, while brands are reassessing production models that once relied on excess inventory and constant consumption. True exclusivity, Oleynik argues, may not have to lie in scarcity anymore, but in making thoughtful decisions that carry lasting significance.
Her years working in finance continue to shape that thinking. She recalls one question regularly posed to clients during her time as a financial advisor: “What do you want the power to do today?”
“I’ve always remembered that,” she says. “Luxury doesn’t end with having more money, but with what that money allows you to do. Some people use it simply to accumulate things. Others use it to create something meaningful. That’s the opportunity luxury has.”
Fashion has always determined what carries prestige. Fur once symbolized status because luxury houses made it desirable. Oleynik argues the industry now holds the baton to elevate something else entirely.
“If people finish reading this and find even a moment to stop and think, then that’s meaningful,” she remarks. “Are we willing to stand up for what’s right, even if it isn’t what has always been popular? Or are we going to keep following the same path because it’s familiar, yet harmful?”
With luxury now confronting a broader reckoning over the values it promotes, its new defining statement, Oleynik believes, will ultimately arrive from the standards the industry chooses to reward, and from whether influence is used merely to shape demand or to shape culture itself.
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