Animal Mistreatment Looms Over lululemon’s Upcoming Annual Meeting

For Immediate Release:
June 5, 2024

Contact:
Rachel Hershkovitz 202-483-7382

Vancouver, British Columbia –

Tomorrow, lululemon’s board will vote on a shareholder resolution put forth by PETA calling on it to commission a report examining whether the company is damaging its reputation and losing sales by continuing to sell down, sheep’s wool, alpaca wool, and cashmere despite investigations revealing that these animal-derived materials are cruelly produced. At lululemon’s virtual annual meeting, PETA will call out the company for promoting deceptive “animal welfare” certifications that executives know are meaningless.

PETA wool investigation in Australia showing a lame sheep on their side, panting hard in a pen — *An image from a PETA entity investigation into the wool industry. Credit: PETA*

“The bogus standards lululemon is hiding behind are worth less than the paper they’re printed on,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on this company to hold itself to a higher standard and stop trying to trick kind consumers into stomaching animal suffering.”

PETA has shared with lululemon that workers hacked at birds with a dull axe on a farm certified by the Responsible Down Standard, shearers were charged with cruelty to animals following a PETA undercover investigation into the world’s largest privately owned alpaca farm, and multiple investigations by PETA Asia revealed across-the-board violence involving knives, hammers, and sharp metal combs in the cashmere industry. Furthermore, the group has released 14 exposés of 117 wool industry operations on four continents, including ones certified by the Responsible Wool Standard, showing that sheep are punched, kicked, mutilated, and skinned alive.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—reminds lululemon that the demand for ethical consumerism with an emphasis on animal- and environmentally friendly fashion continues to skyrocket, with the market for vegan materials projected to surpass $11 billion in 2027.

PETA points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.