Drop the Down: PETA to Call lululemon’s Bluff on Bird Welfare With Shareholder Resolution

For Immediate Release:
June 7, 2022

Contact:
Robin Goist 202-483-7382

Vancouver, British Columbia –

At lululemon’s annual meeting tomorrow, PETA will urge shareholders to support its shareholder resolution calling for the company to commission a report into the methods used to slaughter the ducks and geese in its down supply chain. The group points out that birds used for down are typically electroshocked and hung upside down in slaughterhouses, where their throats are slit and their bodies are dumped into scalding-hot water for defeathering. Despite all this, lululemon continues to hide behind the meaningless Responsible Down Standard (RDS) and to claim that the birds used for its down jackets are treated “humanely and with respect.” PETA investigations have connected RDS-certified suppliers with live plucking, in which workers rip feathers from conscious birds’ bodies—and workers even admitted to mislabeling the down in order to fool customers.

“Every down-filled jacket in lululemon’s stock represents the pain and fear of gentle birds who didn’t want to die,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on this company to stop touting empty welfare labels and compassionate yogic principles while selling violently acquired items.”

PETA notes that the down industry is inherently violent and deadly, and lululemon could eliminate enormous animal suffering by banning down outright instead of paying lip service to meaningless standards. The RDS still allows birds to go for more than eight hours without access to food or water, to die slowly without any treatment if sick or injured, and to be hung upside down and slaughtered in full view of one another. lululemon is well aware of the many warm and cozy vegan down options currently on the market, including Thinsulate, Climashield, and PrimaLoft.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.