One Designer Wants You to Wear Road Kill

As a vegetarian, I'm pretty staunchly against fur (also, I think it's ugly, but that's beside the point). However, designer Pamela Paquin is trying to make us re-consider whether fur can ever be ethical. Her brand Petite Mort sells fur items made from road kill. Yup, you read that correctly. That dead squirrel on the side of the freeway could be your next fur coat.

Although the idea of wearing a dead animal makes my skin crawl no matter the circumstances, you have to admit that this concept is pretty rad. A Modern Farmer article on Paquin reports that according to Culture Change, 1 million animals are killed by cars every. single. day. “It’s so much a part of everyday life to see these animals,” Paquin told Modern Farmer, "Who of us doesn’t look away? You don’t want to see it because when you fully soak in the meaning of what happened, it’s emotionally draining.”

As terrible a phenomenon as that might be, I think it's admirable of Paquin to try and turn the tragic into something positive by trying to circumvent the cruelty of the fur industry, which brutally kills 50 million animals for their fur each year, according to Liberation BC. While I would be totes cool with never seeing a fur coat again in my life, there's no denying Paquin is making a strong statement here. She sources many of the animals herself and even does most of the "prep work" (i.e. skinning) on her own, choosing to come face-to-face with the animals that make up the muffs, jackets, hats, and warmers that her company sells.

So, if you'd rather wear roadkill than skip the fur entirely, Petite Mort seems like the brand for you. I'm certainly down with anyone who seeks to take a stand against a large industry and try to make the practice of selling fur clothing more ethically sound.