It's not clear that there’s a "need" to wear such a coat, especially when so many artificial fibers are available that are warm and don't require animal bloodshed! Another distinction could be made between using cows and using foxes: using cowhides to make leather is good use of the animal, since we also use cows for food. But foxes the only reason we kill foxes is to get their coats. The rest of the poor animal get thrown away. The same is true of clobbering seal pups to make fancy, seal-skins coats. We use the fur off the pups and toss the rest away. So you could argue that wearing leather is less heinous than wearing fur, simply because we use the whole animal in one case and not the other But what about other uses of animals, like wearing cosmetics and perfumes? These products either come directly from animals, or are marketed after experimentation on animals to test the safety of the products. Either way, animals are killed so that we can wear them. Again, there are a couple of possible views here. One view is that it’s immoral to use and abuse animals for human purposes, period. Another view is the "gradualist" one I’ve already mentioned: that we can determine the morality of wearing animals by trying to figure out how serious and pressing the need is. Using animals for cosmetics and perfumes doesn't seem to match up with the leather shoe example because, again, we're talking about using animals for pretty frivolous purposes. Wearing lipstick and rouge? Smelling good because we buy outrageously expensive perfume? These "needs" hardly seem to pass the litmus test of meeting human needs! Animal rights activists who belong to organizations like Greenpeace and PETA aren’t often seen going after people who are wearing leather shoes or belts-their concern seems to be with the less justified, more frivolous uses of animals for fur coats and cosmetics. Maybe that alone tells us something.