Free People Targeted in New Call to End Cruel Angora Sales

PETA Urges Urban Outfitters–Owned Company to Drop Angora Wool in Light of Shocking New Report of Chinese Farms

For Immediate Release:
October 12, 2015

Contact:
Lakisha Ridley 202-483-7382

Retailer Free People has yet to join more than 110 top brands—including another Urban Outfitters–owned company, Anthropologie, as well as Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Ann Inc., H&M, and Inditex—in permanently dropping angora wool from its stores. In response, PETA is launching a new campaign encouraging its more than 3 million members and supporters to take action by calling on Free People to end its angora sales immediately.

“Shoppers now know that all angora wool is the product of cruelty to animals and that rabbits suffer immensely—and even scream in pain—as the fur is violently ripped from their sensitive skin,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “As buyers drop angora wool in ever-increasing numbers, companies unwilling to move with the times will be left behind.”

As detailed in a new report, staff and a veterinarian from PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—conducted unannounced inspections of five farms in China’s Shandong and Zhejiang provinces, which had been audited only weeks before and deemed “humane,” and found abuse even worse than previously documented. The group found that rabbits not only had their fur ripped from their skin, leaving them in distress and their bodies bare, but also suffered from painful medical conditions, including eye infections, inner-ear infections, debilitating neurological diseases, heat stress, and respiratory diseases. The veterinarian found that rabbits were being denied basic veterinary care and relief from heat in excess of 100 degrees. Photos are available here.

PETA’s report is available upon request. A complete list of companies that have banned angora wool is available here. For more information, please click here or visit PETA.org.