22nd November UPDATE:

The organiser of the 'Boycott Ede and Ravenscroft' campaign, Toby Crisford, has apologised for making "an assumption" that Ede and Ravenscroft import farmed fur. The CUSU and King's JCR motions to boycott Ede and Ravenscroft may now be subject to revision.

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CUSU have moved to back a boycott of the Cambridge retailer Ede and Ravenscroft.

The vote was passed last night at the third CUSU council of Michaelmas to back a new campaign against the store on the grounds that it sells fur products.

The ‘Boycott Ede and Ravenscroft’ Facebook group accuses the store of selling fur products, even though these were not the product of fur farming.

CUSU voted to "to support a boycott of Ede and Ravenscroft and encourage the hiring or purchasing of gowns from Ryder and Amies instead" as well as publicise the boycott Facebook group, which currently has over 150 likes.

King’s College JCR were the first Cambridge union to support the boycott, voting on the 10th November to support the boycott and refrain from publicizing Ede and Ravenscroft in information emails to first year undergraduates and graduating students.

They have also recommended Ryder and Amies as an alternative supplier due to its strict anti-fur policy. On their website, Ryder and Amies state that they “feel very strongly that the breeding of animals for their skins is not justified, particularly with the quality of artificial fur now available.”

Toby Crisford, part of the Cambridge University Vegan Society, proposed the vote to CUSU. He emphasised that students are a large percentage of Ede and Ravenscroft’s market and thus “are very important customers …it puts us in a strong position to ask them to change.”

Crisford continued to outline his hope that the successful vote by CUSU will be “the start of a national level campaign, lobbying universities and colleges to disassociate themselves from Ede and Ravenscroft when it comes to buying graduation gowns or photography services for graduation day, until Ede and Ravenscroft agree to adopt a fur free policy.”

The boycott is also part of a wider campaign within the city itself, “Fur Free Cambridge”, which will be officially launched later this week and will try to stop the sale of fur in all Cambridge shops.

Ede and Ravenscroft are the oldest tailors in London, first founded in 1689, and currently have premises in London, Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh. The company provides academic robes as well as legal and clerical gowns, and holds the Royal warrant as "Purveyors to the British Royal Family" as robemakers to the Queen, Prince Philip and Prince Charles.

20th November - This article was amended to clarify that Ede and Ravenscroft do not sell farmed fur imported from abroad or bypass EU regulations, as was implied by the "Boycott Ede and Ravenscroft" campaign.