QVC Shareholders to Face Pressure From PETA Over Alpaca-Wool Sale

For Immediate Release:
June 5, 2023

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

Tomorrow at the shareholder meeting of QVC owner Qurate Retail Group, a PETA representative will ask when the company will ban the sale of alpaca wool, which is cruelly obtained, just as it axed mohair and angora wool, which are also obtained through the egregious abuse of animals.

An undercover PETA investigation into the alpaca-wool industry shows workers slamming alpacas—some of whom were pregnant—onto tables, tying them tightly by the legs to a rack, and nearly wrenching the animals’ legs out of their sockets. The terrified alpacas spit, cried out, and vomited in fear as workers grabbed them by the ears, roughly sheared them, crudely stitched up their bloody cuts, and threw them to the concrete floor.

“If QVC played footage of animals being roughly shorn, cut open, and left bleeding, no viewer would call in an order for alpaca wool,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “Previous PETA entities’ investigations led Qurate to shun angora wool and mohair, and an alpaca-wool ban is the next way the company can prove its commitment to sustainability and ethically obtained materials.”

PETA will point out that the Higg Materials Sustainability Index ranks alpaca wool as the second most environmentally damaging textile and that nearly 80 brands worldwide have banned it. These include Qurate peers Ann Taylor, Chico’s, Pottery Barn, and UNIQLO.

The full text of PETA’s shareholder question is available upon request.

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.