Paris Fashion Week: Activists ‘Plucked Alive’ Speak Out Against Feather Cruelty

Paris Fashion Week: Activists ‘Plucked Alive’ Speak Out Against Feather Cruelty

Paris – As Paris Fashion Week began today, three PETA France “birds” wearing little more than “feathers” and “blood” protested in front of the Palais Garnier. The goal? To raise awareness of the painful live-plucking endured by birds in the down industry and to call on Paris Fashion Week to remove feathers and other animal-derived materials from its catwalks. The activists held signs that read “Feathers Live-Plucked”, “Leave Birds Their Feathers” and “Paris Fashion Week: Go Vegan!”

Photos of the action are available here. [photo credit: Michel Pourny]

“The feather trade, in which birds are plucked alive or slaughtered in abominable conditions after a lifetime of suffering, is just as cruel as the fur industry,” says PETA Vice President of International Programmes Mimi Bekhechi. “Fashion is meant to celebrate elegance and beauty, not suffering and torture, which is why PETA is urging Paris Fashion Week to showcase only vegan, cruelty-free collections on its catwalks.”

A PETA exposé of farms in China (from which come 80% of the world’s down and feathers) revealed that workers stood on the delicate wings and necks of geese to keep them from struggling as they tore out their feathers by the handful. The birds were left with bleeding wounds.

Vegan materials are widely available on the market today, including eco-friendly fillers made from recycled or recyclable fibres. These materials are often lightweight, warm, and high-quality – the perfect option for durable and stylish vegan garments that no animal had to suffer for.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Contact:

Sascha Camilli +44 (0) 20 7923 6244; [email protected]

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