Hey, Topshop! What About Wool?

Topshop is famed for its cutting-edge faux furs, imitation exotics, and vast range of vegan knitwear. Its owner – Arcadia Group – was also the first company to ban mohair following PETA’s recent exposé of angora goat farms in South Africa. The brand’s progressive stance on animal-friendly fashion has spared the lives of countless foxes, rabbits, goats, and alligators and won it legions of compassionate fans around the world.

Now, the fashion-forward retailer is learning why there’s no place on its hangers and shelves for another animal-derived material: sheep’s wool. PETA’s eyewitness exposés have shown that the suffering endured by sheep for wool is every bit as horrific as that experienced by animals in the mohair, angora, and fur industries. Animals should never be abused for fashion, and it’s time that Topshop took the bold, compassionate, and logical next step of becoming the first major British retailer to swear off all wool!

Around the globe, sheep who are exploited for their wool are subjected to cruel treatment – from food and water deprivation before and during shearing and transportation to slaughter to mutilations such as castration and tail docking, without any pain relief. This abuse is taking place right here in the UK, too, as PETA Asia’s new eyewitness investigation reveals. In the footage, workers are shown beating, stamping on, kicking, mutilating, and throwing around sheep. A farmer can be seen dragging two sheep who were unable to walk into a shed. He left them without veterinary care, and they eventually died. Several others died during shearing of a condition that a farmer called a “heart attack”.

PETA has already exposed rampant abuse in shearing sheds across Australia, the United States, and South America – sheep were jabbed in the face with sharp metal clippers, and lambs were even skinned alive. It’s simple: the production of all wool – no matter what country it originated in or what “ethical” or “responsibly sourced” claims are made on its label – means extreme suffering and death for millions of gentle sheep and lambs.

So Why Is Topshop Still Selling Wool?

That’s the question that you – Topshop’s animal-loving fashion fans – keep asking PETA every time a wool-industry exposé reveals the horrific suffering of sheep and lambs. The retailer has told us that it uses very little wool and is currently considering whether to use any in future collections. Your huge responses to our angora and mohair exposés have helped spare millions of rabbits and goats extreme suffering – and now, we need you to take a stand and speak out for sheep, too.

Please send a message to Topshop’s Customer Care Team to let it know that you want the brand to go 100 per cent wool-free!

This action is closed pending discussions with Topshop. Please stay tuned.