Breaking: PETA U.K. Interrupts Burberry’s Annual Meeting Over Cashmere Industry Cruelty
For Immediate Release:
July 16, 2024
Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382
Moments ago, PETA U.K. supporters stormed Burberry’s annual meeting, to call attention to the rampant cruelty inherent in the cashmere industry. The activists held signs that read, “Burberry: Cashmere Is Bloody Cruel,” and chanted, “Shame on Burberry! Cashmere is cruel!” until security escorted them off the premises. A video from the action is available here.
“Each fiber of a cashmere scarf was torn from a terrified goat who screamed as their hair was ripped out—just for a fashion statement,” says PETA U.K. Vice President of Corporate Projects Yvonne Taylor. “PETA is calling on Burberry’s new CEO, Joshua Schulman, to stop turning a blind eye to goats’ suffering and ditch cashmere immediately.”
PETA investigations into cashmere operations in China and Mongolia—including one supplier with ties to Burberry—revealed that goats screamed in pain and fear as workers pinned them down, twisted their legs, and ripped out their hair with sharp, rake-like metal combs, sometimes tearing off pieces of their skin and leaving them with bleeding wounds. Goats deemed no longer profitable were sent to slaughterhouses, where workers dragged them onto the filthy kill floor, bashed them over the head with hammers, and slit their throats in full view of other goats before leaving them to slowly bleed out.
In 2021, the company reported that a biodiversity baseline assessment highlighted that its use of leather, cashmere, and wool “have the most significant impact on biodiversity as well as accounting for a high proportion of Burberry’s carbon footprint.” PETA U.K. supporters have disrupted Burberry fashion shows twice since last fall to call on the industry titan to switch to plant wools and vegan leather.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—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.
