Farfetch Has a New Shareholder—And It’s PETA

Stock Purchase Allows Group to Push Luxury Retailer to Ditch Fur

For Immediate Release:
September 21, 2018

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

After British online luxury fashion retailer Farfetch was listed on the New York Stock Exchange today, PETA became one of its first shareholders—a move that will allow the animal rights organization to attend the company’s annual meetings and urge it to end the sale of fur garments on its website.

“The fur industry is headed for the history books, as modern, high-end designers are saying no to pelts and yes to beautiful and innovative vegan fabrics,” says PETA U.K. Director of Corporate Projects Yvonne Taylor. “PETA is taking the campaign against Farfetch’s website of horrors—which includes vile products made from foxes, coyotes, chinchillas, and badgers and even fur garments for children—straight to its annual meetings and demanding a ban on fur sales.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—notes that on fur farms in Europe, in China, and elsewhere, animals are confined to tiny wire cages, denied the opportunity to do anything that’s natural and important to them, and killed by electrocution, neck-breaking, or drowning. Some are even skinned alive. In the wild, animals are caught in steel-jaw traps that slam shut on their limbs, often cutting to the bone, and can suffer for days from blood loss, gangrene, and attacks by predators before being shot or bludgeoned to death.

Many top designers—including Vivienne Westwood, Versace, Gucci, Stella McCartney, and, most recently, Burberry—have policies against using fur in their collections, so there’s no excuse for Farfetch to continue to allow unscrupulous labels to peddle cruelty on its site. Last year, PETA commended rival luxury retailer YOOX NET-A-PORTER GROUP for banning the sale of fur across all its websites in response to calls from customers. Although PETA has met with Farfetch executives, the company has yet to make the same compassionate and business-savvy decision.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.