Ralph Lauren Bans Mohair
After PETA urged Ralph Lauren to ban mohair, the New York–based retail giant joined over 280 brands worldwide that have pledged not to sell the cruelly obtained material.
A colossal brand that needs no introduction, Ralph Lauren sells its merchandise in nearly 13,000 locations around the world. The ban applies to all the company’s brands, including Ralph Lauren Home, Polo Ralph Lauren, Chaps, Club Monaco, and American Living.
Ralph Lauren’s compassionate business move follows PETA’s first-of-its-kind video exposé of the mohair industry in South Africa, which is the source of more than 50 percent of the world’s mohair. The exposé revealed how hasty shearers—who are paid by volume, not by the hour— left angora goats with gaping wounds. Workers then roughly stitched the animals up without giving them any pain relief.
Unwanted goats died in agonizing ways.
A PETA Asia eyewitness saw one worker slowly cut their throats with a dull knife while they were fully conscious and then break their necks, hacking one animal’s head off. Others were hauled to a slaughterhouse, where they were electrically shocked, hung upside down, and slashed across the throat.
PETA has asked law-enforcement agencies in South Africa to investigate and file charges, as appropriate, for potential violations of that country’s Animals Protection Act, 1962. An investigation is underway.
Other brands that have banned mohair include Brooks Brothers, Diane von Furstenberg, Gap, Banana Republic, Topshop, UNIQLO, Overstock.com, and Zara, among hundreds of others.
PETA’s exposé pulled back the curtain on the mohair industry to reveal gentle baby goats crying out in fear and pain as they were sheared for mohair sweaters and scarves. No company should ever support this.
