Quince’s Deceptive Humane Claims Prompt Legal Warning From PETA

For Immediate Release:
July 13, 2023

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

A just-released new PETA Asia investigation reveals goats screaming in pain and terror as their hair is violently ripped out for cashmere garments, and a previous PETA investigation had already revealed alpacas being left with gaping, bloody wounds after shearing, so today PETA sent a warning letter to Quince demanding that it stop misleading consumers by advertising its cashmere products as “non-harmful” to animals and its alpaca wool products as posing “no harm” to animals—giving the company until July 24 to comply.

The just-released investigation into 12 cashmere industry operations in Mongolia—the second-largest cashmere producer in the world and where Quince gets its cashmere—shows workers tying goats’ legs together, violently pinning the animals down, and tearing out their hair with sharp metal combs, a process that can take up to an hour. Once the adult goats were no longer considered profitable, they were sent to slaughter. Workers hit them over the head with a hammer and slit their throats, leaving them to twitch in agony for over four minutes as they bled out. An earlier PETA exposé of the cashmere industry in China—the world’s top cashmere exporter—and Mongolia also documented that goats screamed in pain as workers tore their hair out before slitting their throats.

A PETA investigation into the world’s largest privately owned alpaca farm, which is in Peru—the source country for Quince’s alpaca wool—uncovered workers hitting the animals, slamming them onto tables, and shearing them with such speed and carelessness that many were left with deep wounds, which workers sewed up with a needle and thread.

“Quince is pulling the wool over consumers’ eyes with its misleading marketing, as time and again PETA entity investigations have shown screaming, terrified goats suffering for cashmere and alpacas left with bloody, gaping wounds for their wool,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on Quince to delete these deceptive statements and stop ‘humane washing’ the cashmere and alpaca industries’ inherent cruelty—and is urging consumers to buy only luxurious and animal-friendly vegan materials.”

Earlier this year, retailer Naadam removed similar false claims about its cashmere from its marketing less than one hour after receiving a cease and desist letter from PETA.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information about PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.