‘Boohoo, We’re Coming for You’: PETA Urges Retailer to Stand By Decision to Ban Wool

For Immediate Release:

13 March 2019

Contact:

Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 222; [email protected]

‘BOOHOO, WE’RE

Following Company’s Ewe-Turn, Group Launches Campaign to Save Lambs and Sheep

London ­­– Following boohoo group’s decision to withdraw its ban on wool, PETA has launched a   urging the global retailer to stand by its original decision. The group – which includes the brands boohoo, boohooMAN, PrettyLittleThing, and Nasty Gal – previously told PETA that “as of AW19/20, we will not knowingly source any wool products”.

Despite knowing that sheep are subjected to shocking, systematic cruelty in the wool industry – and that wool is one of the most environmentally damaging materials – boohoo group still made the unethical decision to reverse its ban.

“It’s time boohoo group proved that it’s a real leader in global retail by standing by its compassionate initial decision to ban wool,” says PETA Director of Corporate Projects Yvonne Taylor. “PETA’s supporters and other kind shoppers agree that no jumper or scarf is worth kicking, punching, and killing gentle sheep on the shearing floor.”

Since 2014, PETA has released 11 exposés of 99 sheep-shearing facilities on four continents, including in the UK, and systemic abuse was found in every one. The most recent exposés – recorded on sheep farms in Australia, the world’s largest exporter of wool – reveal that workers beat petrified sheep, mutilated them, and slit the throats of fully conscious animals. One sheep kicked for nearly a minute after the manager began cutting her throat, and he said that some kick for a “bloody couple of minutes”.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – notes that the wool industry also wreaks havoc on the environment: manure generated by farmed animals has significantly contributed to the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases, large-scale grazing has led to vegetation change and soil erosion, and faecal matter and sheep “dip” (a toxic chemical used to rid sheep of parasites) pollute local waterways. The “Pulse of the Fashion Industry” report ranks wool in fifth place on its list of materials that have the highest cradle-to-gate environmental impact per kilogram.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

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