Tom Brady Urged to Retire … His Canada Goose Parka

PETA Sends QB a Luxe Animal-Free Jacket to Wear Instead

For Immediate Release:
January 8, 2020

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

This morning, PETA sent Tom Brady a letter urging him to use his unexpected time off to reflect not just on football and his future but also on his fashion choices—and to pledge to stop wearing cruel Canada Goose coats until the brand goes fur- and feather-free. To sweeten the deal, PETA also included a warm, cruelty-free parka from luxury vegan outwear brand Save the Duck, the group’s 2019 Company of the Year.

“As a leader on and off the field, everything you do inspires millions of fans—and when you promote Canada Goose, you’re showing support for the cruel fur and down industries,” writes PETA’s Lewis Crary, a Boston native and lifelong Patriots fan. “If you commit to shelving your Canada Goose jackets (perhaps in your closet next to your white cleats), you’ll send a message to the company that it needs to grow and make changes this year, too.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—notes that coyotes can suffer for days in painful steel traps before they’re bludgeoned or shot to death. Ducks and geese used for down are typically shipped in all weather extremes to slaughterhouses, where they’re stunned, their throats are cut, and their bodies are dunked into scalding-hot defeathering tanks.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

PETA’s full letter to Brady follows.

Dear Tom,

We’re sorry to see the Patriots finish the season without a playoff win. It was a tough loss on Saturday, and it doesn’t feel like the postseason without you. But you can look at this as a time to grow, reflect, and maybe make some changes—like letting Canada Goose know that you won’t promote its products until it stops supporting violence against coyotes and birds.

The fur that lines Canada Goose jackets comes from wild coyotes who can suffer in painful steel traps for days before they’re shot or bludgeoned to death. Mothers caught in these traps—desperate to get back to their starving pups—have even been known to attempt to chew off their own legs to escape. We’re grateful that you removed your fur trim after learning of this, but it’s not just the coyotes who suffer. Ducks and geese used for down are inevitably sent to the slaughterhouse, where standard practice is to hang them upside down, stun them, and slit their throats—often while they’re still conscious. Canada Goose tries to downplay the senseless violence, but the truth is coming out, and its stock is suffering. We’re hoping you can deliver one more hit.

As a leader on and off the field, everything you do inspires millions of fans—and when you promote Canada Goose, you’re supporting the cruel fur and down industries. If you commit to shelving your Canada Goose jackets (perhaps in your closet next to your white cleats), you’ll send a message to the company that it needs to grow and make changes this year, too.

Here’s hoping for an animal-friendly GOAT next season!

Best regards,

Lewis Crary

Assistant Manager at PETA and Lifelong Member of Pats Nation

P.S. Gisele has great style, so we doubt you’ll need help finding animal-friendly outerwear, but keep an eye out for a nor’easter-proof Save the Duck jacket coming your way.