Push for Down Ban Heads to Restoration Hardware Boardroom

As a Shareholder, PETA Will Call for the Retailer to Stop Selling Bird Feather Pillow Inserts

For Immediate Release:
June 26, 2017

Contact:
Sophia Charchuk 202-483-7382

There’s no reason to continue selling down inserts for decorative pillow covers: That’s the message that PETA, as a Restoration Hardware shareholder, will take to the upscale furniture retailer’s annual meeting on Tuesday. A PETA representative will urge the Corte Madera–based company to commit to exclusively offering its luxurious down-free option for its pillow inserts and to eliminate the cruel feather-filled ones.

When:    Tuesday, June 27

Where:    Restoration Hardware Headquarters, 15 Koch Rd., Corte Madera

“What would be a simple step for Restoration Hardware is a matter of life– or– death for the birds, who are often scalded to death in defeathering tanks for down,” says PETA Director Anne Brainard. “PETA urges the company to commit to using only down-free materials so that compassionate customers can rest easy knowing that their homes are both stylish and cruelty-free.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—notes that birds used for down are often restrained while workers yank out fistfuls of feathers from their delicate skin. A PETA exposé of the down industry in China documented that workers left sick and injured chicks, geese, and ducks to die slowly. Dead birds were found decaying in crates and ponds or tossed outside like trash.

Modern, innovative down-free options are widely available—including at Restoration Hardware, which already offers Luxury MicroMax Down-Alternative as an option to fill its decorative pillows. Today’s alternative materials come in plush, environmentally friendly options and are often made with recycled materials.

Restoration Hardware has 85 retail and outlet stores in 30 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.