Topshop, Dr. Martens Among Top Brands to Ban Down Feathers Following PETA Exposé

More Retailers Than Ever Refuse to Sell the Feathers Ripped out of Struggling Birds by the Fistful

For Immediate Release:
July 25, 2016

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

What do Topshop, Topman, ASOS, Dr. Martens, Miss Selfridge, Adolfo Domínguez, and Cath Kidston have in common? They’re all among the top retailers that have pledged to keep down feathers out of their future collections. PETA has been alerting retailers to its new exposé, which reveals that workers in China—the source of 80 percent of the world’s down—pin geese down and rip their feathers out as they struggle and scream, leaving the animals with gaping, bloody wounds.

“Today’s compassionate consumers want nothing to do with an industry that rips out live birds’ feathers,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA will continue to work with retailers around the world to follow Topshop’s lead and ditch down in favor of cozy, high-tech synthetic fillers.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—notes that birds used in down production often spend their entire lives in crowded, filthy conditions and are denied everything that’s natural and important to them, including water to swim and bathe in, the opportunity to forage for food, and, sometimes, even enough room to turn around. All the farms in PETA’s latest exposé have connections to retail suppliers that are certified by the so-called Responsible Down Standard, which prohibits the live plucking of geese—raising concerns about the legitimacy of the certification.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.