PHOTOS: World’s Largest Clothing Retailer Donates Almost $1 Million in Clothes to PETA-Promoted Program

PETA and Life USA Give Away Sweaters and Coats From Inditex After Angora-Free Pledge

For Immediate Release:
March 5, 2015

Contact:
Ben Williamson 202-483-7382

The world’s largest clothing retailer, Inditex, made history when it agreed not only to adopt a permanent ban on angora wool but also to donate its remaining stock of 20,000 brand-new angora wool garments manufactured in previous seasons to people in need. This week, PETA, along with Life for Relief and Development (Life USA), began distributing the sweaters and coats (which carry a retail value of approximately $878,000) to some of the 1.2 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Photos of the distribution are available here. More are available at Getty.

The distribution took place in the villages surrounding the Lebanese city of Tripoli, in the Beqaa Valley, and in the refugee camps of Majdal Anjar, Mar Elias, Sawiri, and al-Marj.

Inditex’s unprecedented move came following discussions with PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—and in the wake of a PETA Asia investigation that revealed how some rabbits used for angora scream in pain as their fur is ripped out, while others are cut or sheared and invariably wounded by the sharp tools as they struggle desperately to escape.

“PETA can’t bring back the rabbits who were slaughtered after their fur was ripped from their bodies, but we can still help the truly destitute,” says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. “Inditex’s gift will go a long way toward making the world a kinder place for the refugees—and the rabbits—who have all suffered greatly.”

“With 3.8 million displaced people from war-torn Syria, PETA and Inditex have helped both animals and people most in need,” says Life for Relief and Development’s chief operating officer, Mohammed Alomari. “When you have lost everything, something as simple as a new, clean, warm coat makes a world of difference.”

Inditex, which is based in Spain, owns brands such as Zara, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, and Bershka. It’s part of a growing list of more than 70 top brands and retailers—including French Connection, ASOS, Calvin Klein, Stella McCartney, and Tommy Hilfiger—that have permanently banned angora wool as a result of PETA Asia’s investigation.

For a complete list of retailers that have ceased angora sales, please click here or visit PETA.org for more information.