Update: Lacoste Bans Angora

Check out PETA’s complete list of companies that have banned angora

Update: French clothing company Lacoste has just confirmed to PETA U.K. that it is removing all angora wool products from its shelves and has requested to be added to PETA U.K.’s list of retailers that do not sell angora. “[W]e can confirm that Lacoste has no plan to use angora fibers in its coming collections,” the company said in a statement. PETA U.K. sent a box of vegan chocolates to Lacoste’s headquarters in Troyes, France, as a thank-you for sparing rabbits’ lives.

The move comes just weeks after U.K.-based retail giant French Connection announced that it will no longer produce garments made with angora wool after receiving more than 100,000 e-mails from supporters of PETA entities worldwide. The two retailers join dozens of other companies, including Gap Inc. (which owns Banana Republic, Old Navy, and Athleta), Lands’ End, QVC, and Express, Inc., in banning angora.

Originally posted on January 8, 2014: 

Retail giants Forever 21 and Eddie Bauer are the latest companies to confirm that they are permanently banning products made with angora wool. The move comes after PETA released undercover video footage showing how workers on angora farms violently rip the fur out of rabbits’ sensitive bodies. U.K.-based New Look also announced that it has banned angora.

A PETA Asia undercover investigator visited almost a dozen angora rabbit farms in China, the source of 90 percent of the world’s angora fur, and found rabbits screaming and writhing in pain as workers ripped the fur out of their skin. Rabbits endure this terrifying ordeal every three months for two to five years before being killed. After they have been plucked bald, the rabbits lie motionless inside their tiny, filthy cages, stunned and in shock. There are no penalties in China for animal abuse on rabbit farms and no standards that regulate the treatment of animals.

So far, more than a dozen kind companies have completely banned angora, including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, IZOD, H&M, Limited Brands, Marks & Spencer, and more.

What You Can Do

You can help animals by banning angora wool (and other cruelly produced fashions) from your closet. For help putting together a fabulous, animal-friendly wardrobe, check out PETA’s How to Wear Vegan shopping site.