Update: Nadaam Nixes False Cashmere Claims Following Cease and Desist From PETA

For Immediate Release:
February 14, 2023

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Less than one hour after receiving a letter from PETA demanding that Naadam stop falsely advertising its cashmere products as “cruelty-free”—given that it sources cashmere from producers that use a process that typically involves painfully tearing out goats’ hair with sharp metal combs and eventually sending them to slaughter—the company removed the claims from its site. In response to PETA’s letter, CEO Matthew Scanlan wrote the following:

Confirming that the below statements have been removed from the below pages:

• “Responsible and cruelty-free. From hand combing to providing veterinary care, we promote ethical conditions for the animals behind our raw materials.”
• “We treat our goats the way we want to be treated: responsibly, with love, and without cruelty.”
• https://naadam.co/pages/soft-stuff (this is an old page so I turned it off completely as well as removed the text)

Please find a statement below from PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman:

“Removing false claims about the hair torn from goats’ skin is right to do, but Naadam must now stop selling goods that involve cruelty towards animals and switch to selling items made of luxurious animal-free materials instead.”

New York — Because Naadam sources cashmere from producers that use a process that typically involves painfully tearing out goats’ hair with sharp metal combs and eventually sending them to slaughter, PETA fired off a letter to the retailer today, demanding that it stop falsely advertising its products as “cruelty-free”—giving the company until February 28 to comply.

In its letter, PETA notes that federal law forbids misleading advertising and that animal welfare experts like those at the Australian Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals even describe combing as “a prolonged procedure that can lead to bruising and skin injuries and cause unnecessary and extended pain, suffering and distress in goats”—contrary to assertions made by Naadam.

“Investigations reveal that live goats are tied up and their hair is painfully ripped out as they struggle, yet Naadam misleads consumers about this reality,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is demanding that Naadam remove these deceptive statements and stop ‘humane washing’ the cashmere industry’s inherent cruelty.”

A PETA Asia investigation into cashmere farms in China and Mongolia—which together are responsible for 90% of the world’s cashmere—revealed that terrified goats were pinned to the ground while workers ripped out their hair so violently with metal combs that the animals screamed in pain and sustained bloody cuts. In China, goats deemed no longer profitable were slaughtered after workers hit them over the head with a hammer in an attempt to stun them. And in Mongolia, workers dragged them by one leg onto the slaughterhouse floor before slitting their throat in full view of other goats.

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, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.